Sufjan Stevens had two songs in the running for the 2018 Oscars Best Original Song award (the five shortlisted songs out of the longlist of 70 were announced yesterday, on January 23). Both songs were recorded for Luca Guadagnino’s critically acclaimed Call Me By Your Name (2017), which were nominated for four awards (out of the predicted six Oscar nominations). A fan of Stevens’ beautiful songwriting, Guadagnino had initially requested for one song to serve as the film’s emotional narrator: “He has beautiful lyrics, very pure music, his voice is so evocative.”
Stevens recently revealed to Vulture that he was careful to make sure that his songs cohered with the Italian director’s aesthetic (and that he was proud and honored when he saw how they were incorporated into the final cut for the film):
“Luca’s a real sensualist, and I very quickly keyed into that because I am, as well. There’s a physicality to his work that’s really profound, and there’s an emotional experience that’s occurring as well, and they have this divine interaction. So that’s really what I was working on, this idea of first love being really irrational and sensational, and feeling boundless in its experience.”
“Visions of Gideon” punctuated the end of the film, scoring the emotional aftermath of 17-year-old Elio (Timothée Chalamet) and graduate student Oliver (Armie Hammer) separation after a summer of revelatory sexual experience. Stevens’ haunting ode to lost love repeats its refrains like a mantra, with its timeless quality slightly marred by a modern technological reference: ‘I have touched you for the last time/ Is it a video? Is it a video?’
“Mystery of Love” was deemed to be the stronger contender and has predictably secured Stevens his first Oscar nomination for Best Original Song. An official music video with scenes from the film and additional footage from the Museo Archeologico Nazionale in Naples recently premiered on Pitchfork. Littered with Greek references, the song is an understatedly touching meditation on the nature of love. It emphasizes its transcendent nature (‘Oh, oh woe-oh-woah is me/ The first time that you touched me/ Oh, will wonders ever cease?/ Blessed be the mystery of love’), but also the unique misery that its fleeting nature often engenders: ‘And what difference does it make/ When this love is over?/ Shall I sleep within your bed/ River of unhappiness’. (As with the film, the songs omits the more carnal sensuality that can be found in the book - thus sacrificing queer specificity for universality).
All this sublime melancholic longing will leave you feeling like an enraptured scholar of the romantic ideals of Ancient Greece. The song is not assured of a win despite being a fan favorite, however, as it stands amongst some worthy competitiors: Common and Diane Warren’s “Stand Up for Something” (from Marshall, a rare nomination for a documentary score), Mary J. Blige’s “Mighty River” (from Mudbound), Robert Lopez and Kristen Anderson-Lopez’s “Remember Me” (from Coco), and Benj Pasek and Justin Paul’s “This Is Me” (from The Greatest Showman).
