Timothee Chalamet and Armie Hammer star in Call Me By Your Name (Picture: Sony Pictures)

A month after the Twitter storm between James Woods and Armie Hammer (in which Woods questioned the film’s ‘decency’), Call Me By Your Name has finally landed at the London Film Festival.

James Woods tweeted his disgust at the film’s age gap, suggesting that it was somehow chipping away at ‘decency’ and referencing the North American Man/Boy Love Association, a ‘pedophile and pederasty advocacy organisation’.

Ingrid Goes West: Seeing life through an Instagram filter

But the film is about a gay relationship between two men (17 and 24) and, as others would go on to point out, an age gap is not something that Woods seems to be concerned about (if it’s an older man and a younger woman, that is).



Armie Hammer, who stars in the film as the older of the two men, responded with a tweet that noted Woods himself had been in a relationship with a woman decades younger than he was – and that didn’t seem to have bothered him at all.


Didn't you date a 19 year old when you were 60…….? — Armie Hammer (@armiehammer) September 11, 2017

Amber Tamblyn followed up with a tweet about how Woods had tried to pick her up when she was 16, and how her age actually seemed to please him even more.

James Woods tried to pick me and my friend up at a restaurant once. He wanted to take us to Vegas. "I'm 16" I said. "Even better" he said. — Amber Tamblyn (@ambertamblyn) September 11, 2017

Perhaps unsurprisingly, Twitter went crazy – because the age gap was clearly not the problem.

At this week’s BFI London Film Festival press conference, Hammer was asked about the interaction and how important he thought films like this were.

He said: ‘If this movie can challenge a perspective, or what someone thinks, or allow someone to think from someone else’s shoes that’s an amazingly powerful testament to what Luca [Guadagnino] was able to do.’

Guadagnino, the film’s director, then added that he would urge Woods to actually see the film.

And, unsurprisingly, the ‘controversy’ surrounding the film is utter nonsense. (I can say that now, having actually seen it!)

If Armie Hammer’s character was in any way predatory, or had started a relationship with a 13-year-old (boy or girl!), there might have been some ground to this ridiculous argument that their relationship was somehow an offence to decency.

However, Hammer’s character is a young man in his twenties who happens to fall for a 17-year-old in the house where he’s spending the summer.

It seems pretty obvious that if this love story, set in Northern Italy in the early 1980s, was about a 20-something man falling for a beautiful 17-year-old woman, there would have been no controversy at all.

There’s nothing ‘indecent’ about that, right?

The 17-year-old in Call Me By Your Name knows his own mind and is in no way ‘coerced’ or manipulated. The relationship develops in a totally organic way – they are clearly both drawn to each other and are struggling with what it means to have feelings for another man in a society that expects them to be heterosexual.

Again, nothing controversial about that.

If anything, the most ‘controversial’ and unexpected thing about this film is that nobody around them is telling them they should be ashamed.

(Picture: Sony Pictures)

The people orbiting the pair are all supportive and open-minded. They see two people falling for each other, see how happy they are when they are together and appreciate the beauty in it.



Call Me By Your Name is a beautiful love story, superbly told and beautifully portrayed by the two actors, Timothee Chalamet and Armie Hammer.

It’s everything you want from a great love story: intoxicating and immersive, delightful and bittersweet.

But there are people out there who will miss out on this incredible film simply because it’s about two men.

And, sadly, there’s nothing controversial about that.

MORE: Noomi Rapace explores identity in Netflix original, What Happened To Monday

MORE: Farewell to Orphan Black – and all its complicated women

MORE: From Patty Jenkins to Sofia Coppola via Elizabeth Banks: 10 female directors you should know