Call Me by Your Name is based on a 2007 novel by André Aciman, which was also the subject of great critical acclaim—though it was not until the release of the film that Aciman's novel received widespread attention. While the film adaptation remained quite truthful to Aciman's original version, it did go through several changes in its transition from page to screen.
When Aciman's novel was released, it was met with mostly positive reviews, with many critics noting its eroticism. Stacey D'Erasmo of The New York Times opened her review of the book with, "This novel is hot" and called it, "exceptionally beautiful." When James Ivory initially was tasked with adapting the screenplay, he sought to keep the spirit of the book alive. He wrote a voiceover of Elio looking back at the affair as a narrator, just as Aciman had written it. When Guadagnino came on as the director, he chose to abandon this structure, as well as eliminate a great deal of the nudity Ivory had written in. When Ivory spoke out to critique Guadagnino's omission of the nudity, Guadagnino countered, "I thought that the display of nudity in this specific movie was absolutely irrelevant and I understand that for James it would have been relevant but that is his vision, what is clear is that we had no limitations on what we wanted to do.”
The resulting film is very loyal to Aciman's novel in plot and tone, but remains sparse, a completely different animal than the 256-page novel. In an interview about the adaptation of his work, Aciman noted how verbally sparse the film was, suggesting that film and the novel are completely opposed in form. He said, "Cinema can be an entirely magical medium. What I do as a writer, and what Guadagnino does as a film director, is more than speak two different languages. What I do is chisel a statue down to its finest, most elusive details. What a film director does is make the statue move."
