Timothee Chalamet and Armie Hammer star in a scene from the movie "Call Me by Your Name." The Catholic News Service classification is O -- morally offensive. (CNS/Sony Picture Classics)

By Catholic News Service

Set in Northern Italy during the early 1980s, this coming-of-age drama chronicles the romantic relationship between the precocious 17-year-old son (Timothee Chalamet) of an archaeology professor (Michael Stuhlbarg) and the graduate student (Armie Hammer) who lodges with the lad’s family while serving as the professor’s temporary assistant.

Amid a hothouse atmosphere, beautiful scenery and dialogue designed to show how highly cultured all the characters are, director Luca Guadagnino’s adaptation of Andre Aciman’s novel, written for the screen by James Ivory, veers between discreet sensuality and outright vulgarity. All the while, the film invites viewers to accept with perfect equanimity its young hero’s sexual experimentations, carried out, nearly simultaneously, not only with the hunky houseguest but with the youth’s local-bred girlfriend (Esther Garrel) as well.

A misguided outlook on human sexuality, strong sexual content, including brief graphic underage activity, aberrant acts, as well as upper female and rear nudity, a mild oath, several rough and at least one crude term. The Catholic News Service classification is O — morally offensive. The Motion Picture Association of America rating is R — restricted. Under 17 requires accompanying parent or adult guardian.

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