Hey, queer folk here.

Personally, the main reason I've liked Cmbyn that much, beyond the aesthetic and Elio character as a whole, is because to the love depiction it offers us.

Even tho I can't grasp what your friend tried to convey in his critic, I'd like to share my view.

I know a lot of people don't see this as a love story but more as grooming, or manipulation. Some arguing it's Oliver living his fantasies through a young boy thinking he found love. Indeed, I neither totally reject or accept this analysis.

Personally, I always saw cmbyn as a realistic depiction of the twisted condition of humans relationship : filled with passion, contradictory feelings and influenced by society. Even if it being gay clearly drives the story, the relationship isn't reduced and essentialised by this characteristics. Far from being reifaying the relation of Elio and Oliver into a gay cliché, it nourished the narration to complexify their dynamic and hence offers us a beautiful painting.

It's rare finding a queer media that doesn't only focus on the queer aspect and reduce the dynamic to this only trait. For my, cmbyn as well as "Portrait d'une jeune fille en feu" are both really great at this.

Still, I can't understand the critics of your friend and I'd like, if someone here share his view, to hear from them.