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To the Bone

Romessa Nadeem
Dec 9, 2017
3 min read

Rating: 7/10

Directed by Marti Noxon

Starring

Lily Collins as Ellen

Keanu Reeves as Dr. William Beckham

Carrie Preston as Susan

Liana Liberato as Kelly

Alex Sharp as Luke

We’ve seen films dealing with depression before; Perks of Being a Wallflower, Prozac Nation. But what happens when depression begins to eat you from the inside out, quite literally? To the Bone is a film which deals with eating disorders and it does so boldly while exhibiting a keen understanding of the psychology of those that go through the problems portrayed. Without talking down or condescending to those that suffer through them, it manages to be a deeply effective film.

This is not a movie that pretends to know why people that develop eating disorders do so. Instead, it tells the story of Ellen, a girl struggling with severe anorexia. She can’t eat and she’s emaciated to the point of imminent death. She’s been in and out of treatment programs her whole life, growing desensitized to efforts for rehabilitation. Until she enrolls in a treatment facility led by Dr. Beckham and meets other struggling people, as well as a boy who’s developed a keen interest in her, Luke.

Right from the get-go, we know that this isn’t a movie that’s going to take the easy way out. The first scene is brilliant in setting the tone of the movie. A group of girls (including Ellen) sit in a treatment center room, with one girl whining about magazine content promoting skinniness. It’s exactly what people think of when they conceptualize a person’s need to be thin; young women with low self-esteem brought on because “I so want to look like Kate Hudson!”

Ellen however snarkily responds, because psychological disorders are never that simple, nor attributable to a single cause or superficial element. Ellen refuses to let this girl simplify her situation, much like Noxon refuses to let the audience think that eating disorders are just a “fad” diet silly girls go through.

Lilly Collins is a strong, sympathetic character as Ellen, losing weight to rival even that lost by Christian Bale for The Machinist. We are invested in Ellen’s story, and her life which is monumentally messed up. One particular scene with Ellen and her mother near the end of the film is particularly haunting. Reeves’ character is blunt and direct, however we don’t get to see the “unconventional” methods he employs, other than asking his patients to dance under a stream of water (I’m still not sure how that helps).

While some might think it a glaring error that the stories of all the other girls in Ellen’s treatment center are never explored, the movie had already established that disorders are profoundly complex, and efforts to simplistically go through their issues would have completely defied the point. Meanwhile, a romantic sub-plot, awkward at best and unnecessary at worst, between Ellen and a borderline irritating Luke tones down the urgency of the story vastly.

Perhaps it feels like a personal and profound journey because it is; Noxon herself has admitted to struggling with an eating disorder. She brings her own experiences to the screen with harrowingly disturbing imagery, and a grip on the terrifying complexities of eating disorders. Despite all its flaws, To the Bone is a film bolstered by Collins’ outstanding performance and its treatment of a problem very rarely discussed in the larger mainstream media, if at all.

If you liked To the Bone, check out The Edge of Seventeen, a coming of age film about a young girl as she navigates her way through the struggles in her life.