Editor: Alloe Mak

* The following article contains major spoilers for Bones and All. 

A delicate romance between two teenage lovers, crafted in the quiet countryside of 1980’s USA. The lovers embark on a road trip to unbury their past and determine their future. Nights are spent in cottages, carnivals, and cars. They share clothing, food, a blue pickup truck, a sick desperation for a sense of belonging, and an occasional tendency to eat people. 

At surface level, Luca Guadagnino’s Bones and All is a simple romantic horror movie about two cannibals in love. Maren (played by Taylor Russell) has a history of cannibalism dating back to her adolescent years. After being abandoned by her father for her inability to control her cannibalistic urges, she meets Sully, another “eater.” Maren places tentative trust in this dangerous stranger simply because he is the first eater—other than herself—that she has ever met. Eventually, Maren ditches the man and meets Lee—a younger, wilder spirit—who, in their first interaction, offers Maren the remains of one of his victims to eat. 

Lee is running from a troubled past. With coaxing and reassurance from Maren, he recalls how he killed and ate his abusive, alcoholic father, and hid the evidence from the rest of his family. Living with this secret puts a strain on Lee’s relationships. Consequently, Lee distances himself because of his guilt and to protect those he loves because he believes himself to be dangerous. 

When Lee and Maren first meet, it’s clear they are drawn to each other because of how similar they are. Together, they embark on a road trip across the country. They travel through states, meet new people, and lead average adolescent lives. Their clothing is pale-coloured, and frilly, and soft. The beautiful scenery is emphasized as much as possible, with shots of large canyons, lush forests, and blue lakes. Without the blood and guts, the movie seems like nothing more than an romantic coming-of-age film starring two complex teenagers resolving their trauma.

However, the blood and guts are what sets this movie apart from a typical coming-of-age. Guadagnino does not shy away from gore; the audience witnesses a detailed shot of Maren biting her friend’s finger off in the first eight minutes of the movie. From then on, we see shots of characters with blood running down their mouths and necks as they feast on the dead bodies of other humans with their clothing necklines stained red. It feels compelling to look away during these scenes—partially because of the gore—but also because they feel intimate and secretive, like something viewers shouldn’t be seeing. 

The scene in which Lee reveals his violent past to Maren accurately depicts the juxtaposition within the movie. The two lovers sit close together on a blanket, overlooking a quiet canyon and a sunset. The music in the background is soft and a breeze ruffles Maren’s tangled hair. A trace of laughter dances across Lee’s lips and Maren hugs his elbow tight as he recalls, in violent detail, the night in which he killed and ate his father. The visuals are soft and delicate compared to the words coming out of Lee’s mouth. This scene fully encapsulates the way pure beauty and gruesome horror coexist in Bones and All.

Their cannibalism is a barrier that stops Maren and Lee from forming a deep bond with anyone else other than each other. It is a dark secret—their shared shameful desire—that forces them away from the rest of the world while simultaneously pushing them closer and closer together. They find comfort in sharing the thing they are most ashamed of. 

At the end of the movie, Maren and Lee appear to have found some sense of peace with who they are, their actions, and their past trauma. They decide to bury their urges to the best of their abilities and lead a relatively average life as a couple. However, it is revealed that Sully has followed Maren to her new life, and a gory fight ensues between the three. Both Sully and Lee are killed in the struggle. As Lee dies, his final request to Maren is that she eats him, “bones and all.” At first, she refuses, but eventually, gives in. 

Bones and All boasts a powerful message: Isolated love is beautiful—but dangerous. Lee and Maren were two people completely cut off from society because of this grotesque, disgusting, and inhumane thing that was an innate part of their identity. This isolation fed into their love and made it special and beautiful, something symbolized by the stunning cinematography and physical beauty of the film. But this dark desire they shared was ultimately what killed their bond. Maren giving in and eating Lee despite her vow to not “eat” again is a dark reminder that one cannot push down their darkest desires, for they will inexorably resurface and cause damage.