‘Bones and All’ was released in 2022, and features Timothee Chalamet and Taylor Russell-James who play Lee and Maren, a love-struck couple travelling around Midwest America. But it isn’t a sweet movie; it’s passionately dark, and deals with themes of crippling isolation.
We first meet Maren as she sneaks out behind her father’s back to go to a girls’ sleepover. The scene misleads us into thinking that Maren is a sheltered girl who longs for company outside of her controlling father, until a few minutes later when we see exactly why her father is so controlling. Maren ends up hurting another girl in a cannibalistic attack. This proves to be the last straw for her father who abandons her the next morning.
This leaves Maren grappling with her place in society as she has nobody left. Cannibalism forces her to live on the fringes of society which mirrors the self-isolating experiences we’ve all had. Eventually, Maren goes on a search for find her mother and this leads her to meet Lee. When they first meet, Lee can sense the same cannibalistic ‘eater’ urge in Maren. They never hide what they are from each other.
Luca Guadagnino curated a perfect blend of horror and romance that goes beyond surface-level shock horror. Maren and Lee’s bond conveys the deep longing we all have to just fit in, and how good it can feel when somebody finally does understand you. It didn’t matter that Lee and Maren were different to everyone else; they saw each other as a reflection of themselves. Their hunger stood in the way of their relationships with everyone else, but it only makes Maren and Lee stronger.
A key theme in ‘Bones and All’ is the idea of being products of our parents. Maren’s cannibalistic urges stem from her mother who became admitted at a psych ward. Despite her father trying to suppress the same desire in Maren, he fails and ultimately abandons her. Similarly, Lee’s cannibalistic desires stem from his abusive father who died at his hands. Parental influence remains a central theme of the movie, showing that we cannot hide the traits that have passed down for generations. They form an intrinsic part of our identity. Additionally, the idea that the ‘eater’ urge is a gene passed down can also be a metaphor for addiction. Addiction tends to run deep in family trees, and can have a stubborn way of returning. Maren and Lee’s eventual end of their ‘eater’ lifestyle at the end of the movie ultimately has no meaning when their past comes to haunt them and leads to Lee’s death.
Maren and Lee’s love is a tumultuous, destructive relationship where all boundaries are crossed and they lose themselves in each other. It symbolises Maren’s acceptance of her identity because with Lee she doesn’t have to hide and instead indulges those desire with him. Together, they explore a level of freedom they can’t with anyone else. The scene that lives rent-free in my mind is the closing scene. Maren and Lee have come to live a domestic life and decide to ‘live like real people do’. It’s a heart-warming ending that lulls the watcher into a false pretence of security until a person from Maren and Lee’s past resurfaces to haunt them. In a desperate fight, Lee is injured and dying in Maren’s arms which he comes to accept. In accepting his fate, he urges Maren to eat him ‘bones and all’. It’s the first time Maren has ever eaten someone whole, and the fact that Lee is her first makes it all the more moving. It conveys Maren’s all-consuming love for Lee, and by consuming him, he remains a part of her soul forever. Loving him ‘feeds’ her. She absorbs Lee and their identity becomes one.
What made this scene all the more interesting was that it diverges from the book. In the novel, Maren loses control of her attraction to Lee and eats him. It reinforces the theme of an overwhelming desire for love and how Maren can’t escape her destructive nature no matter how far she runs. It shows that a desperate hunger for love can be both fulfilling and fatal.
‘Bones and All’ is not the typical horror movie, but is one that I recommend everyone should watch.