mixed feelings

Rating: 8/10 (22 December 2017)

I was moved to tears by the last twenty minutes or so of this film. The father's speech and the final image of the youth were overwhelming. It is sadly the sort of film that attracts the sort of comment beginning, 'simply calling it a gay movie...' which is deeply patronising to LGBT people. That it is about how millennia of same sex hatred has poisoned many relationships, including this one is clear to me. Emotional abuse and loss of innocence are at the heart of this story, and the romanticism is soured. The actor who played Oliver was not a good choice. He had no ambiguity, and his heterosexual credentials were written like a badge all over him, but he will and has no doubt been praised for his courage on taking on the role. As for Elio he had more inner truth, but it was all acting and no BEING. It is yet another 'Gay' film in the pantheon of a half- hearted mainstream machine that wants to please everybody. Once Oliver was out of the way I felt something, and cried. With different male casting, and men who feel emotions from the INSIDE this could have been a masterpiece. And maybe another director. Too much Bertolucci in image and pace took up too much of the playing time. I like slow films. But too much scenery, and too much faux eroticism ( the male statues of antiquity for example ) ruined many a scene. I give it an 8 for the last part of the film. Before that I would have given it 5.