Visions of Gideon

The essay transcribed:

In Call Me By Your Name, the music is it’s own narrator--the heartbreaking last scene proves this point.

As Timothée Chalamet’s character Elio stared into the fire he reflected on everything that happened between him and Oliver that summer and how he had changed his life. Elio also comes to terms with the ending of their romance and Oliver's new engagement to a woman and how they can never rekindle their romance.

Visions of Gideon perfectly describes Elios reflection of his feelings and brings his thoughts out loud. The song opens with the line “I have loved you for the last time” referring back to the song “Mystery of Love” that played when Elio and Oliver were together. 

Mystery of love opens with “The first time that you kissed me” and Visions of Gideon ends with “And I have kissed you for the last time”. The connection of these two songs reflects the arch of their relationship and the end. The line “is it a video” reflects Elios replaying of the memories through the arch of their relationship and how vivid the memories are to him and how they play back as vividly as watching a video.

The meaning of the title Visions of Gideon reflects Elio and Oliver’s Jewish faith and their relationship. Gideon was a military leader, a judge and a prophet who received visions from Yahweh before battle assuring victory was certain and the freeing of the people of Israel from oppression. Similar to Gideon, Elio followed his visions for Oliver which was his desire. But with Oliver being gone his memories--as vivid as videos-- are only visions of what could have been between him and Oliver.

In an interview with Pitchfork, director Luca Guadagnino described how singer-songwriter Sufjan Stevens’ song “Visions of Gideon,” was so crucial to the last scene. Guadagnino explained how he, “was with [his] editor , Armie and Timothée, and [they] were shocked by the beauty, commitment, and attitude in [the songs Stevens had shown them].[They]  immediately felt that “Visions of Gideon” was the perfect song for [the] moment in which Elio thinks of his life. And, it was.

While they were filming the scene director Guadagnino made Timothée Chalamet wear an earpiece that played the song to him.