Peach from call me by your name

Aside from age gap concerns and questions over straight actors playing gay, the one aspect of the big-screen adaptation that really ignited discussion was the scene in which Elio (Timothée Chalamet) uses a peach from his garden as a masturbation aide.

In a new clip for the Toronto International Film Festival, the book’s author Andre Aciman discusses the importance of the moment for Elio and Oliver’s relationship, and why it played out slightly differently in the movie.

“The peach scene is very essential, partly because it’s so shocking, but also at the same time because it is the most intimate moment between the two men,” he explains.

“In the book, Oliver eats the peach, and he says, ‘I want every part of you. If you are going to die, I want part of you to stay with me, in my system, and that’s the way I’m going to do it’. So it is a very powerful moment.

“In the film, he just puts his finger in and almost licks it, and that is good enough for cinema, we don’t need to see more.”

André explains that despite the awkward eroticism of the peach, the most important part of the scene is Elio’s contrasting reaction afterwards, where he breaks down and tells Oliver that he doesn’t want him to leave.

“It’s a magnificent moment, and the film does this all the time,” he continues.

“It takes a very physical almost lust-y moment, and finds its emotional equivalent right away, so it never allows you to dwell on the physical without giving you the emotional counterpoint to it.”

Timothée Chalamet fiddles with the peach in the jaw-dropping scene from Academy Award Winning film, Call Me by Your Name

Filmmaker Luca Guadagnino's film, Call Me by Your Name (based on the novel by André Aciman) has been circulating the film scene since it’s Sundance debut at the beginning of 2017. It is just now starting to creep its way back into the mainstream thanks to its reintroduction to the Tik Tok generation and the viral “#TimotheeChalamet” challenge.

The tender, vulnerable, and outright genuine film follows the blooming relationship between the seventeen-year-old Elio Perlman (Timothée Chalamet) and a visiting grad student Oliver (Armie Hammer). The film is an artistic bundle of emotions that highlights the value of relationship, the importance of self-exploration, and the beauty of living in the present and taking chances. 

Almost 155,000 Letterboxd users favor the film with nearly 89,000 users giving the film a five-star rating. It’s no secret that the film has been well-received, but there is one scene from the film that has sparked debate among critics and fans alike. One of the more memorable scenes takes place in a detached building from Perlman's villa in the middle of an Italian summer afternoon. We see a shirtless Elio laying on a mattress placed on the floor in the empty room where he is listening to music and reading. Suddenly, he reaches for a peach and begins fiddling with it, thinking intensely about what he is going to do next. 

Then, he plunges his finger into the peach and juice from the fruit begins dripping onto Elio’s body as he continues to violate the fruit with his fingers. He removes the pit, throws it across the room, and stares intently at the peach and the gaping hole he has created in it. I bet you can guess what he does next. 

Chalamet and Hammer star opposite in Luca Guadagnino’s adaptation of the novel by Aciman.

I watched this movie with a group of about 28 people and all 28 of our jaws dropped to the floor as Elio lowers the peach past his abdomen and underneath the band of his shorts. Although the camera does not show it, the squishing sounds that echo through the empty room and the facial expressions Elio is making indicate that he is indeed masturbating with the help of the prune. After he is finished violating the peach, he sets it down on the bedside table, rolls over, and falls asleep. 

The debate revolving around the “controversial” scene is split between those who see the scene as an unnecessary, pornographic element that only exists to add a shock factor, while others interpret it as an artistic element that is essential to the development of the characters and the plot of the film.  There are valid arguments on both sides of the debate, but essentially, only one of these sides is correct. Sorry, but if you think that this scene is more pornographic than it is artistic, your opinion is wrong!

In order to understand the artfulness of this scene, you must first understand the context of the film as a whole and the major themes evident in the story. In this scene, we can see that Elio is a curious teenager and is experimenting with his sexuality. If anything, Elio’s peach-love-making scene was one of the most vulnerable, human scenes in the entire film and this statement is further supported by the actions that follow the aforementioned peach sex. Oliver, Elio’s love interest, comes in as Elio is sleeping and wakes him up by performing oral sex on him. 

Oliver asks Elio about the peach taste and Elio avoids the question. Elio’s attempts to cover up what he has done fail when Oliver peers over at the peach sitting on the table and puts the pieces together. Elio then asks a question that lets us know that there is something much deeper to this scene than just the shock of fruit-rape. 

Oliver picks up the peach and examines it as Elio asks, “I’m sick, aren’t I?” With this one line, we discover that Elio is confused about sexuality in general. We can infer this, even more, when Oliver tries to consume the semen-filled peach in an attempt to be deviant and Elio tries relentlessly to stop him. So much so that it gets to the point where Oliver is physically restraining Elio, preventing him from interrupting his eating of the peach. Before Oliver gets the chance to ingest the peach, Elio breaks, leading to the revelation that this scene is more than what it appears to be. Elio’s emotional breakdown allows us to experience the same confusion, frustration, and embarrassment that he feels. 

Timothée Chalamet, who plays the role of Elio, agrees with this side of the argument. “When Elio mindlessly makes love to this fruit it illuminates this idea of boundaryless love awakening in this growing adult,” Chalamet says. “What made André’s book so powerful and new, to me, was this ambiguity it had to any sort of strict views on sexuality. The peach scene really is this idea in the film that everything is of the Earth. Life is just organic. I don’t know what side of the peach debate that puts me on...”

Don’t worry, Timmy! We know what side that puts you on! The writer of the book, André Aciman, and director of the film, Luca Guadagnino, both included this scene in their works for a reason—they found that this scene was a crucial piece of a puzzle that is comprised of authentic, human moments. In my opinion, that is the very definition of art.

What is a peach a metaphor for?

What did Elio do to the peach?

Why was Elio so upset about the peach?

Why does Oliver want to eat the peach?