The heavy criticisms of this film against its straight male gaze are clearly justified. While there are surely women who enjoy those scenes as well, the context certainly reveals that these scenes were made with the prurient desires of cishet men in mind. The improbability of some of the scenes shows who this is for. And that detracts heavily from the film, but the truth is, it's more than just the sex scenes.

This is the lesbian Call Me By Your Name.

An underage girl--that the film makes sure we know is underage--begins a relationship with an older woman, and in the end, she's crushed by it. It's melancholy and supposedly sweet and about maturation and love and... blah. Knowing…