Torn by strange impulses since her childhood, a young woman is spotted by a young man of the same condition and leaves with him, on the margins of society, on the roads of the American Midwest, in search of her biological mother.
A few decades ago, Catherine Deneuve and David Bowie embodied in The Hunger (The predators), by Tony Scott, contemporary vampires who occasionally needed to find human prey to survive. We find a somewhat similar dynamic in Bones and Allwith the difference that the protagonists eat their neighbor rather than just drinking the blood of their victims…
This – enormous – starting point allows Luca Guadagnino (Call Me by Your Name, Suspiria) to insert elements gore (but not too much) in its staging, and to draw a road movie set in the American Midwest of the 1980s, at the heart of which is an exacerbated love story. The term “cannibal romance”, decked out in this drama (inspired by the book by Camille DeAngelis), thus proves to be quite accurate.
Proposing a variation of a classic theme, modulated in all tones since the beginning of the history of cinema, the Italian filmmaker manages to take an approach that is still original, insofar as he flirts both with the codes of film of horror and those of a romance between two beings who recognize each other. He maintains a constant tension, provokes the expected effect on the viewer, without ever falling into complacency or excess. Nor is Guadagnino afraid of outbursts of lyricism.
At the same time, he realistically depicts the social context in which this story takes place, that of deep America during the Reagan era. On this plan, Bones and All is also a portrait of marginalized youth trying to find their place, a theme which, of course, always finds an echo, regardless of the era.
Facing Timothée Chalamet, always impeccable, Canadian actress Taylor Russell is a revelation. We will also highlight the remarkable presence of veteran Mark Rylance. As disturbing as it is fascinating, Bones and All will certainly not be to everyone’s taste, but Luca Guadagnino offers here a feature film that can haunt the mind for a long time. It’s a great quality.
At the Venice Film Festival, during which a first version of this text was published, Bones and All won the director’s prize, as well as the Marcello Mastroianni prize for best young performer, awarded to Taylor Russell.
Indoors
fantasy drama
Bones and All
Luca Guadagnino
Starring Timothée Chalamet, Taylor Russell, Mark Rylance
2:10 a.m.