WARNING! This article contains spoilers for Bones and All.Bones and All is an intense story about cannibals on the surface, but below that, its real meaning is extremely beautiful. The movie follows Maren (Taylor Russell) and Lee (Timothée Chalamet) on a Midwestern road trip as they fall in love while eating to survive. Technically, Bones and All falls under the horror genre, but it is just as much a romance despite its bloody and violent exterior. The romantic connection between Maren and Lee, along with their journeys of growth and identity, is what makes the movie work so well.

Luca Guadagnino does a good job using the horror of cannibalism as a disguise for a coming-of-age story that lots of people, especially young people, should be able to relate to. 2022 has been a major year for horror, but one thing that lots of the biggest horror movies have in common is that they are packed full of profound messages. Bones and All is no different. The reason why many people will feel such strong emotions after watching a pair of cannibals is that the movie is really about what it's like to feel different from others and how good it feels to find somebody that understands.

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Bones & All Is A Love Story, Not A Cannibal Story

Timothee Chalamet and Taylor Russell in Bones and All

Combining horror and romance is a mix of genres that isn't seen quite often, but it works well here because the horror serves as more of a stylistic tool and one that makes the romantic story effective. Bones and All's leads may be cannibals, but the story doesn't have anything to do with cannibalism. Call Me By Your Name was a Guadagnino romance that took a more straightforward approach, telling what might be a controversial love story but one that is easy to comprehend. This time, Guadagnino uses cannibalism to represent something that society looks down upon, so the audience can understand that the two leads are different from everybody else. Most people wouldn't find a story about cannibals relatable, but many can relate to feeling different from others. That's the movie's beating heart, not that Maren and Lee are cannibals, but that they love each other because they can see each other for who they are. It's also why the ending will leave so many heartbroken because Maren losing Lee and eating him as one final gesture of their love for each other is extremely powerful when one can understand what fuels that love.

What Eating Someone "Bones & All" Really Means

Taylor Russell in Bones and ALl

The concept of eating someone "bones and all" is introduced in the movie by Jake, one of many cannibal characters in Bones and All. Michael Stuhlbarg does a phenomenal job playing Jake in this scene, creating an extremely unsettling atmosphere. He describes to Maren and Lee that Brad, with whom he appears to have a romantic relationship, was not originally an eater, but Jake turned him into one. Afterward, he tells Maren and Lee that they have to eat somebody "bones and all" and that it will have a life-changing effect on them. This makes it seem like eating someone that way is a part of growing up, but "bones and all" could also have significance for the love story in the film.

Throughout Bones and All, Maren and Lee hide themselves from everybody who isn't a cannibal. Before meeting Lee, Maren encounters Sully, whose attraction to Maren is confirmed at the end of the movie. However, Maren never reciprocates the feelings that Sully has for her. Instead, she is extremely cautious around him. But, on the other hand, she completely opens herself up to Lee and has nothing to hide from him. That's why Maren's first time eating someone "bones and all" is at the end of the film when she eats Lee. "Bones and all" sounds very similar to the phrase "warts and all," which refers to all of someone's qualities, including the bad. This means that in the romantic context, eating someone "bones and all" could refer to sharing love with someone where both involved accept each other completely for who they are, just like Maren and Lee.

Bones & All's Road Trip Is Really All About Home & Identity

Timothee Chalamet at a gas station in Bones and All

The movie's road trip initially starts with Maren searching for her mother. However, the journey to meet her mother has a messy ending when her mother tries to kill her. Thankfully, Maren and Lee's trip across the United States Midwest has much more significance to the movie's meaning. It's not the first time this year that a horror movie's setting has a significant meaning. One of the main themes of Bones and All is identity, specifically how these two young characters are figuring out who they are in this highly complicated world. The concept of home is very important for their identities for different reasons. Maren is on a journey of self-discovery and figuring out who she is without her father in her life anymore, and part of that process is finding a place to call home. This is accomplished, at least for a while, when she and Lee settle down at the end of the film. For Lee, he is constantly visiting his younger sister back home. It's symbolic of how someone's home is always a part of them, whether it be because of family, memories, values, or something else.

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On the other hand, the Midwest setting ties into a universal message the film is sending about identity. Jake and Brad's romantic relationship, along with a scene that features a sexual encounter between Lee and another man, hint at the fact that the story is trying to send a message about being gay in America. There's been lots of LGBTQ+ representation in media this year, but the messages in Bones and All can apply to any group that has been discriminated against. As mentioned earlier, feeling different from others is a pretty universal emotion, but knowing that others view someone differently might lead to that person covering parts of themselves up. The American Midwest has lots of prejudice and often hatred toward marginalized communities. That's why Bones and All's setting being there is purposeful. Many gay people can relate to having to hide parts of themselves, similar to the cannibals in the movie, just like many other people in the LGBTQ+ community and other communities can.

Bones and All will be too much for some viewers, but it is far from what someone would expect a movie about cannibalism to be. While films like Fresh use cannibalism to create an anti-romance, this one makes possibly the most romantic story of the year. Bones and All is thematically rich, ensuring that people will analyze the movie for deeper meanings for a long time.

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