Love and Cannibalism in 'Bones and All'

 One way of thinking about eating, is as taking away a part of the world in order to keep ourselves going. ‘Bones and All’, the 2022 film about cannibals directed by Luca Guadagnino, takes this idea to its logical end. The two main characters, Lee and Maren, are part of a group of people called “eaters”, who have strong desires to eat other people. For Lee and Maren, to survive is to take someone away from the world. Ultimately, the film explores the destruction inherent in relationships: asking how far we will go to survive.

 Lee and Maren are drifters, who because of their desires cannot integrate into society. They have both left home, and most of the movie follows them travelling across America together. It is essentially a road trip film; they move from state to state with no real purpose or goal. At first, their relationship is a pragmatic one. They are both alone and are simply looking to survive; they recognise their solitude in each other and decide to help each other. Their sense of isolation stays with them at this point, since what sustains them and drives them is deplored by society. The problem for both of them is deciding which is more important to them: desire or acceptability. This is an impossible question for them both; their only solution is withdrawing from the society setting the standards of acceptability in the first place.

 The cinematography in the film evokes the isolation of the characters. It often places the characters in boxes or compartments; for example, there is a shot with Maren placed in front of a wall with two windows either side of her. Colour is used to this effect also; Lee stands out with the red associated with him, against the dusty palette of southern America.

 His red also stands out against the less bright colours associated with Maren; Lee is bolder in his acceptance of his violent condition than Maren, who tries to suppress it. As their relationship progresses, Maren becomes more and more uncomfortable with her own nature, as she sees herself in Lee. What she is afraid of is the destruction inherent in relationships. To be in love is to accept each other and be one, and this means embracing the condition which defines both of them. A relationship brings out the most violent parts of each of them; it bares everything to be seen.

 The closer they get, they more they change; in a way they are destroying each other. There is a scene about halfway through the film where Lee meets a man in a fairground. Lee seduces him, we see red light fall over the man’s face while he does this. After sleeping with him, he eats him. Through the acting of eating someone, there is a link established with destroying someone and forming a relationship with them. The use of red in that scene suggests that Lee’s lover is assimilated into him, just in colour at first but later on more literally. To be in love with someone is to alter them irrevocably. It is for two people to change each other and become one, so that after the relationship they are left with less of the person they used to be. To love someone we must destroy them, which is why cannibalism is such a pertinent, if uncomfortable, example. This idea connecting eating and relationships is one that Luca Guadagnino likes to use in his films: see the churro scene in ‘Challengers’ and *that* scene in ‘Call Me by Your Name’. 

 It is through their relationship that they can both find acceptance. Near the end of the film, they settle down in a town, living a peaceful life in a very white apartment. It is not that they don’t have these urges anymore, it is that they are at peace with them. Another way of looking at cannibalism in the film is seeing it as a metaphor for the damage we cause while looking for love. Under this interpretation, the characters simultaneously coming to terms with their cannibalistic desires while finding love and home makes perfect sense.

 The film becomes an ode to dedicating yourselves to the ones you love; otherwise the destruction and pain means nothing. If we are going through life destroying the world around us because we are alone, the only thing we can do is hold onto the bonds we form with others. In a world where Lee and Maren are rejected by society and have an inherent desire to inflict pain on it, all they have is each other; it is the only thing that provides a solution.

 So, it is a film about devoting yourself to the one’s you love, as well as the destruction in relationships. The message therefore becomes: destroy yourself. After all, this is the ultimate devotion. The tragic ending sees Lee dying, and as he dies, he tells Maren to eat him. For him, it is the best ending, he can devote himself entirely to her. He can also come full circle, in the sense that he is the eater becoming the eaten. In a way he atones for his violence by becoming the object of it. This is another aspect of the beauty of relationships that his film celebrates: how they instil a devotion for another person which can forgive all past crimes. By giving so much to another person we can make up for the past.