I honestly think this scene is the climax of the film, pardon the pun. It is a scene full of big realisations, where Elio finally understands nothing is ever going to be the same again.
When I first saw this scene in the cinema, I honestly didn’t know how to react. I probably laughed, honestly. What I would do to go back to a time where I could laugh at this scene rather than recklessly sob at it.
I know everyone learns of Oliver and Elio’s story in different ways and in a different order. For me I watched the movie, read the book and now I consume them interchangeably every chance I get. But truthfully, reading the book and how it depicted the entirety of the peach scene helped me understand the poignancy and weight of it all. If you haven’t read the book, this is me aggressively recommending it to you.
I believe with every cell in my body that every cell in yours must not, must never, die, and if it does have to die, let it die inside my body.
It was this line, given near the end of the book that made me realise how truly heart-wrenching the peach scene is. It completely and utterly embodies the key quote of the book; call me by your name and I’ll call you by mine. Elio and Oliver are one entity, they exist as one. By Oliver eating/licking the peach (depending on whether you’re referring to the book or the movie), it’s showing that there is nothing that is separate between them, even down to bodily functions. I think the passage from the book about them helping each other go to the toilet in Rome helps make what I’m trying to say, more clear:
abbys_little_whippersnapper 