Then let me say one more thing. It'll clear the air. I may have come close, but I never had what you two have. Something always held me back or stood in the way. How you live your life is your business, just remember, our hearts and our bodies are given to us only once. And before you know it, your heart is worn out, and, as for your body, there comes a point when no one looks at it, much less wants to come near it. Right now, there's sorrow, pain. Don't kill it and with it the joy you've felt.
Mr. Perlman: You too had a nice friendship.
Elio: Yeah...
Mr. Perlman: You're too smart not to know how rare, how special, what you two had was.
Elio: Oliver was Oliver.
Mr. Perlman: Parce-que c'etait lui, parce-que c'etait moi.
Elio: Oliver may be very intelligent but...
Mr. Perlman: Ah... he was more than intelligent. What you two had, had everything and nothing to do with intelligence. He was good, and you were both lucky to have found each other, because... you too are good.
Elio: I think he was better than mine, I think he was better than me.
Mr. Perlman:
I'm sure he'd say the same thing about you, which flatters you both.
We rip out so much of ourselves to be cured of things faster than we
should that we go bankrupt by the age of thirty and have less to offer
each time we start with someone new. But to feel nothing so as not to
feel anything - what a waste!