What’s the first thing that comes to mind when thinking of cannibals? Chances are you thought of Hannibal Lecter hissing at Clarice Starling through the prison bars in The Silence of the Lambs. The concept of people eating other people is difficult to spin into anything other than a horror/thriller film where cannibalism is presented as a deeply disturbing practice.

But that is just the idea that Bones and All chooses to subvert in an unexpected manner. The 2022 feature, directed by Luca Guadagnino and starring Taylor Russell and Timothée Chalamet, views the world of cannibalism from a fresh perspective, presenting an unexpectedly moving love story to audiences in the process. Let's take a look at how the film manages to do so.

Bones and All's Literary Inspiration

Timothée Chalamet and Taylor Russell in Guadagnino movie Bones and All
MGM

Bones and All is not a stand-alone original movie. Rather, it is the cinematic adaptation of a 2015 novel of the same name written by Camille DeAngelis. That means the filmmakers had a rich, detailed world to draw from rather than depending on a shallow screenplay where the idea of cannibals is used to trot out regular horror movie tropes as an easy method of making the audience uncomfortable.

Related: Timothée Chalamet Reveals Details About his Character From Bones and All

In the book, readers are introduced to a social group called “Eaters.” As the name suggests, Eaters are people who eat other humans, sometimes after killing them, sometimes while they are still alive. The two main characters of the novel (and the movie) are Maren and Lee, whose overwhelming instinct to consume human flesh has kept them as social pariahs until they find each other.

Moral Quibbles Over Cannibalism

Anthony Hopkins as Lecter feeding Ray Liotta his brain in Hannibal
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer

The vast majority of stories about cannibals naturally do not even try to present the practice as anything other than horrific. The practitioners are shown to be either insane, belonging to a savage culture, or so completely morally bankrupt that there is no point in even trying to explain to them why it is wrong to eat humans. For instance, you never see Hannibal Lecter being in two minds about whether to eat his victims.

Here, Bones and All departs from tradition by actually trying to present cannibals in a somewhat humane light, even when it's not using cannibalism as an allegory for something bigger. The story ponders the moral implications of cannibalism rather than presenting it in terms of moral absolutes. The lead characters are cannibals, and their struggles against their base nature makes up large chunks of the movie. It can be difficult to root for such bizarre lead characters, but Bones and All does a good job of putting the viewers in the shoes of the cannibals.

Love Threads Bones and All Together

Timothee Chalamet and Taylor Russell in Guadagnino movie Bones and All 2022
MGM

The main question faced by Taylor Russell's Maren in Bones and All is whether her inclination to eat human flesh will allow her to live a regular life. The movie starts with Maren being abandoned by her father because he is unable to deal with her habit of eating people and the negative impact that has on their lives.

Related: Exclusive: Bones and All Director on His Cannibal Romance Film Starring Timothée Chalamet

In a quest to find the only other family she is aware of, Maren sets out in search of her missing mother. Along the way she meets Lee, who is a cannibal like her, and who has also been forced to turn his back on society due to his dietary habits. In the unlikeliest of places, Maren and Lee feel drawn to each other with the unexpected burgeoning of young love.

The Love Story Inside the Cannibal Story

Timothee Chalamet shirtless with blood in Bones and All
MGM

This is when Bones and All stops being a horror story about cannibals, and transforms into a coming-of-age love story about two outsiders. As Maren and Lee spend time together, they are finally able to feel the sort of safety and tenderness with each other that they had been craving their whole lives.

The film’s director, Luca Guadagnino, fully intended for his movie to be viewed mainly as a love story rather than a traditional horror. “[The audience] should hear first, 'love story'," the filmmaker told Radio Times. "They should hear it first like a fable, like a dark fable about trying to thrive with love.”

A Story About Finding Kinship

Timothee Chalamet and Taylor Russell walk in Guadagnino movie Bones and All 2022
MGM

In the same interview, Guadagnino explains that when he first read the film’s script, he did not see a horror story, but rather a “beautiful love story between two kids who are disenfranchised and burdened by a kind of nature that they cannot escape somehow.”

Following that train of thought, Bones and All ends up going into some very dark territories, but always in service of something emotional and moving. Maren and Lee identify with the pain the other feels, and they are able to find love and companionship with each other even as their very nature threatens to tear that love apart and consume it.