#ive had this answer written for a full hour btw. paused to take spanish test. we're back now

[youssefguedira]

Santamaria plays Eumeo, a pig farmer who shelters Odysseus when he shows up on the shores of Ithaca, then helps him by hiding him from his enemies, and taking him to the palace to meet his mother and Telemacus.

It's the biggest role in the film excluding Odysseus, Penelope and Atinoo, which is good for him.

Going back to CMBYN, most of the controversies where about the fact that Hammer was 30-31 when the movie was shot, way older than his character and way older than Chalamet (who was 20 at the time I think?).

Many people thought that the book and most of all the movie were borderline p€dophiliac or abusive for showing characters and actors with such an age difference in a gay relationship, which is nuts for so many reasons.

Chalamet is obviously the star in the movie, I agree with you, but the more I watched it, the more I found myself appreciating how Hammer played Oliver, his "I'm older than you so I should be wise and keep my distance but I'm starting to love you and though I am an adult I'm still only 24 so I'm mature-ish but not so much to actually be able to walk away from you before anything happens" behaviour. It was more subtle than Chalamet's performance, because that's obviously what the role required.

hammer's definitely doing a good job!! he's exactly as charismatic as he needs to be to make the role work, which is a pretty essential aspect: we need to somewhat get why elio is so into him so quickly, which only really clicked for me during the disco scene (mostly because of love my way shout out to love my way. he's bringing the right energy to his performance for sure as a more confident / settled kinda guy, which acts as a good parallel to elio's discovering of himself. sorry i just had to sit through my lecture on this film and i think you can tell.

the age gap is. it IS questionable in the context. of elio being 17. so mostly i didn't particularly find their scenes romantic i was mostly just on team i want elio to be happy and have 0 problems. the film does occasionally engage with this (oliver specifically makes an 'i hope i havent fucked you up' comment which i found super interesting) but like i said. it's gonna make some people uncomfortable. if anything i was side eyeing oliver throughout the film. and it's the sort of thing that's gonna make people uncomfortable. but the making of the movie itself.... if chalamet is 20 and hammer is like 30 that's whatever. there's age gaps like that in straight couples on screen all the time. chill the hell out. think most of the problematisation is from the elio being 17. which is very much understandable

BUT!! like i said!! it's a narrative device!! it's exploring someone's understanding of himself and how that changes!! something my prof brought up was the way oliver acts as a contrast to elio as in, again, being more self-assured and confident and seemingly knowing himself and his identity better in a lot of ways. elio starts to mirror him in a few different ways as he develops. the attraction is there from the start, but i also think it's interesting to view how the relationship is one of the forms in which elio is exploring who he is, and this comes through his interactions with an older man who is much more settled in himself. fascinating stuff! it'll ick some people out of the film entirely but thats ok. i don't think it's an inherently problematic movie. i wasn't particularly invested in the relationship beyond aforementioned being particularly invested in elio as a character have i mentioned how i just think he's neat. if it was a real actual relationship yeah i would probably be like. hm. don't like that. and there were definitely points in the film where i was going 🤨 at oliver. but its one of those things that requires slightly more nuance in its discussion imo.

anyway final note on timothee chalamet. it's mostly because i regularly forget he can act until i watch a movie with him and i go hey! this kid can act! (talking about a full grown man who is older than i am). i think you really do have to care about elio for the movie to work. and he is portrayed in just the right way to be endearing instead of annoying which is a risk. gonna watch the movie again tonight i think. thought it hadn't gotten to me but i have been chronically Thinking abt it since i watched it. so ill be doing that. right after i watch conclave 2024