Bones and All: longing and desire in rural America
Photo credit Yannis Drakoulidis
Slight spoilers for Bones and All ahead.
Your resident Timo Thee Stallion stan is reporting for duty! I’ve been waiting on this film forever and to see Timothée back on the big screen and am glad to say it’s one of the best of the year.
Bones and All (dir. Luca Guadagnino) follows Maren (Taylor Russell) who we quickly learn has an impulse to eat human flesh because she tries to bite her friend’s finger like a carrot within the first few minutes of the film. Her father knows about this impulse and they go on the run to escape the consequences of said finger incident but quickly he leaves her on her own. He gives her a tape talking about how he has known of this unique taste of hers for a long time but she needs to figure it out on her own. The true star of the film is Maren, who is an outcast, trying to travel on her own and make connections with people while trying to find her mother (Chloë Sevigny). Along the way she meets quite the crew of people including fellow eaters Sully (Mark Rylance) and Lee (Timothée Chalamet). Maren and Lee begin traveling together, falling in love along the way.
The theme I saw weaving through all parts of the film was that we are all longing for connection. Especially as young people, it’s easy to feel outcasted and on the outskirts of society. Maren and Lee were able to connect with each other, even if it was in pretty unconventional ways. They both obviously needed someone to lean on but had trouble finding people in their lives that they could *truly* relate to. They both have this instinct and desire of eating other humans and they finally have someone who understands. Growing up is lonely and I can imagine how much lonelier it is for someone like Maren who is always the new girl but also she might eat your finger. Maren is also not happy with this desire she has; she doesn’t want to harm or kill anyone but has this hunger that needs to be fed. We all have urges and desires that we might be ashamed of. Being a teenage girl is hard enough. Add on this bloody desire she has, it’s no wonder she feels alone.
My favorite aspect of this film was that the backdrop was rural Midwest and Appalachia. I think it says a lot of Guadagnino that this was his first film in the United States and he chose these locations where people are forgotten and victims of the government, lack of healthcare, the opioid crisis, etc. People are so quick to write off these areas, blaming them for things like electing Trump without understanding the real struggles that these people face. I have lived in Virginia almost my whole life but moved to New York City recently and had a conversation with someone and he claimed I should be lucky I live here now and got out of the South because of how awful it is. The South and Midwest are full of kindness and hospitality. Sure, it can be full of people who judge, like anywhere else. But there are so many people I know from growing up who are more kind and welcoming than most people. I loved seeing Maren and Lee’s road trip through these parts of the country and how it showed the quiet, loneliness and vastness of these places. But it also showed that they faced in these places but they finally had each other. The whole time Maren and Lee are traveling, they’re trying to escape and resist their reality of being eaters but they’re never fully able to escape. No matter how bloody and gory it is, it’s part of them. Guadagnino perfectly captures this tension and our need for connection. There’s a feeling of sadness and melancholy at the end of this film, like you need to stay in your seat awhile and catch your breath. Which is my favorite way for a film to end! Maren and Lee deeply touched me and I have another Guadagnino film to add to my favorites list.
This film made me smile, frightened, sad and proud to be from a forgotten place.
P.S. As I was watching this, I was thinking about how much Ethel Cain would be perfect on the soundtrack. Then she wrote a song about Maren and Lee!