A Lot or a Little?
What you will—and won't—find in this movie.
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Positive Messages
a little
As downbeat and violent as this film is, there are still messages to be found about how marginalized people find comfort together, and the pain experienced by those who hurt others.
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Positive Role Models
a little
Lee and Maren are relatable and tragic characters. They're caught in the grip of an irresistible impulse and only want to live their lives in peace. Even villains in this complicated movie have complex and understandable motivations.
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Diverse Representations
a little
One of the two main characters is a young woman of color; her race is never mentioned (she's played by Taylor Russell, who has a Black father and a White mother), but her youth and gender are referred to by others who think that makes her an easy target (it doesn't). The other main character and most side characters are White.
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Violence & Scariness
a lot
Extremely bloody violence: on-screen murder by bludgeoning and stabbing; scenes of people biting and eating bloody parts of a dead body (stringy goop comes out, along with pooling, dripping, and spouting blood and lumps of tissue). Cannibals enthusiastically eat dead bodies, resulting in bloody faces, tissue stuck between teeth, and horribly maimed bodies, both living and dead. A character masturbat*s another to the moment of org*sm and then slits his throat and kills him. A man menaces a much younger and smaller woman, holds her at knifepoint, then lies on her body and kisses her.
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Sex, Romance & Nudity
some
Romance is central, with a young couple frequently kissing and clinging to each other. Some of their passionate kisses come after they eat human flesh and have bloody hands and faces. In one scene, two characters kiss, and then we see one masturbating the other from behind with moans and suggestive hand movements before a throat is slit and blood spurts out (a clear symbolic stand-in for sem*n). Nudity includes a scene in which an elderly woman's dead body is naked on the floor while cannibals start eating her (viewers see her breasts at length), and one in which two people embrace while shirtless (a bare breast is seen from the side).
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Language
a lot
Uses of "f--k," "f--king," "s--t," and "a--hole," as well as a slur for gay men ("f--got") and a vulgar word for female genitalia that's also an insult ("c--t").
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Drinking, Drugs & Smoking
some
Multiple characters smoke cigarettes. In one scene, characters share a case of beer until they're all buzzed/drunk.
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Parents Need to Know
Parents need to know that Bones and All is an edgy romantic drama based on Camille DeAngelis' same-named 2015 novel about two young cannibals (Taylor Russell and Timothée Chalamet) on a road trip across America. The mood veers sharply from tender romance to extremely intense violence and horror and back again. There's also relatable interpersonal drama, which could give the violent scenes even more impact. Characters whom viewers get to know and sympathize with are suddenly and horribly murdered on-screen -- they're bludgeoned, stabbed, and bitten. Expect many close-ups of biting mouths and teeth and bloody, mangled flesh. In one scene, cannibals wait for an elderly woman to die (she's shown moaning and shaking in pain) before they start taking bites from her nude body (bare breasts shown). In another scene, one man masturbat*s another before slitting his throat at the moment of org*sm (suggestive hand movements, moaning). A man menaces a much younger and smaller woman, holds her at knifepoint, and then lies on her body and kisses her. Characters kiss and make references to sex, and multiple characters smoke cigarettes and drink beer. Language includes "f--k," "s--t," "a--hole," "f--got," "c--t," and more. To stay in the loop on more movies like this, you can sign up for weekly Family Movie Night emails.
What's the Story?
Directed by Luca Guadagnino (Call Me by Your Name) and based on the same-named book by Camille DeAngelis, BONES AND ALL introduces viewers to Maren (Taylor Russell), whose life is in tumult due to her irresistible impulse to eat human flesh. As she travels through the United States searching for her estranged mother (Chloë Sevigny), Maren meets up with Lee (Timothée Chalamet), a man who shares her taboo compulsion. Driven to kill and to cannibalize, can these two find a way to live with their urges and move forward into a less horrific future?
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about the violence in Bones and All, which is quite intense, especially for a movie that also has themes of romance and self-actualization. Did the amount of violence surprise you? Did it turn you off the film completely?
The movie's tone varies more than most, which tend to stick to a single genre: horror, romance, comedy, etc. Which tones are found in Bones and All? Do the comic and romantic moments make the horrifying ones more horrifying?
How do you think viewers are supposed to feel about Maren and Lee? Are we supposed to relate to them? Like them? Despise them? Pity them? A mixture of all of these emotions? How does the filmmaker evoke these feelings and signal characters' motivations and inner life?
If you've read the book the movie was based on, how do the two compare? Which do you prefer, and why?
Movie Details
- In theaters: November 18, 2022
- On DVD or streaming: December 13, 2022
- Cast: Timothée Chalamet, Taylor Russell, Mark Rylance
- Director: Luca Guadagnino
- Inclusion Information: Gay directors, Middle Eastern/North African directors, Female actors, Black actors
- Studios: United Artists Releasing, Warner Bros.
- Genre: Romance
- Topics: Book Characters
- Run time: 130 minutes
- MPAA rating: R
- MPAA explanation: strong, bloody and disturbing violent content, language throughout, some sexual content and brief graphic nudity
- Last updated: October 30, 2023
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