In Luca Guadagnino’s self-described ‘Desire Trilogy,’ the idea of love and lust are manifested in a variety of forms. The trilogy — which consists of 2009’s I Am Love, 2015’s A Bigger Splash, and 2017’s Call Me by Your Name — uses the backdrop of the Italian countryside to explore the lives of wealthy foreigners who struggle with understanding what they desire and why.

While the films are all different in their main storylines, they do share many commonalities: each film, draped in the gorgeous warmth of the Italian summertime, explores how yearning can have both transformative and damaging consequences, as desire is equal parts destruction and birth.