Light and Shadow

Whitman · January 13, 2022

Whitman · January 13, 2022

+ *StLouisOct* · January 13, 2022

7 hours ago, Whitman said:

Luca Guadagnino’s Call Me by Your Name is a sprawling, sun-dappled coming-of-age romance set in the 1980s, about a 17-year-old boy named Elio (Timothée Chalamet) who falls in love with Oliver (played by Armie Hammer), an American intern who comes to work with Elio’s father and live at the family’s Italian villa for the summer. And in one of the the most memorable scenes, Elio — overcome with desire for Oliver — masturbates using a pitted peach, one of the many that grow abundantly in the surrounding countryside.

The film is based on the cult novel of the same name by André Aciman, and peaches are featured prominently throughout the novel, both in the aforementioned masturbation scene and as a recurring motif. But when making the film, Guadagnino was unsure whether this seminal moment would translate well to the screen. “In the book, it is so strong and explicit that I thought it was a metaphor, something that couldn’t exist in real life.”

But, in the interest of artistic integrity, he decided to give it a go. “I was struggling with the possibility that you can masturbate yourself with such a fruit,” Guadagnino continues. “So I grabbed a peach and I tried, and I have to say — it works.”

Turns out, Guadagnino wasn’t the only one who decided to take a Method approach. When he brought up the scene with Chalamet, the young star was one step ahead of him.

“I went to Timothée and said, ‘We shoot the scene, because I tried it and it worked,’” Guadagnino says. “And he said, ‘I tried, too, and I already knew it worked.’”

SOURCE: The Cut, October 4, 2017

Well yes, but the kid in the photo isn’t holding a peach.

Whitman · January 13, 2022

8 minutes ago, StLouisOct said:

Well yes, but the kid in the photo isn’t holding a peach.

Oh, I think he is. It's a particularly red peach, but that's not uncommon. And the skin looks shiny (more like a nectarine skin) but I think that's juice--whether from the peach or the boy.

+ *StLouisOct* · January 13, 2022

2 minutes ago, Whitman said:

Oh, I think he is. It's a particularly red peach, but that's not uncommon. And the skin looks shiny (more like a nectarine skin) but I think that's juice--whether from the peach or the boy.

Ah, it’s all clear to me now. Lots of juice from an abused red peach. 😋