To The Bone Review
Marti Noxon’s anorexia drama doesn’t do enough to justify its subject matter
I came away from To The Bone, Netflix’s anorexia-focused drama, with little idea of what it was trying to achieve. The idea of social responsibility with a film like this is a difficult one, and not something I claim to have the answer to. There is, however, surely some artistic responsibility to say something even if it’s not perceived as the right thing. Writer/director Marti Noxon’s real life experiences with the eating disorder certainly lend the film some realism, but ultimately To The Bone doesn’t have anything insightful to add to the discussion surrounding a very real and complex issue. While some may find the film helpful, I fear others will find it equally damaging. Most, I imagine, will have a neutral response — the kind of unimpassioned reaction that is perhaps worse than loathing.

The film follows Ellen (Lily Collins), a young woman suffering from anorexia. After being repeatedly admitted to inpatient programmes to no avail, she finds herself in an ‘unorthodox’ treatment programme offered by specialist Dr Beckham (Keanu Reeves). I use inverted commas here because, other than the lack of a clinical environment (the inpatients stay together in a house rather than in a facility of some kind) the treatment doesn’t seem particularly unorthodox. Thankfully, I have no personal experience with such treatment, so this isn’t something I’m going to press, but I have seen similar reactions from those who do have experience. I would, of course, recommend you seek out those accounts for yourselves. There are definitely things the film gets right, though. The way the patients talk to each other about their conditions rings true, helped by the not infrequent use of dark humour. Their treatment of their own illnesses is in line with how someone would act in that situation and it’s important to reinforce that anorexia nervosa is a real condition that affects real people. And not only sufferers of the disease, but those close to them as well. To The Bone doesn’t shy away from the impact eating disorders can have on a person’s family and friends and the different reactions from Ellen’s family members also feel true to life. Her stepsister makes jokes because she doesn’t understand Ellen’s condition and uses humour to avoid confronting the fear and anger she harbours, whereas her stepmother repeatedly offers suggestions as to the cause of the issue, determined that if they can just find the problem, all will be solved. Marti Noxon shows her experience here, something which is compounded by her presentation of Ellen’s condition itself. Constantly reassuring people that “it’s under control”, Ellen doesn’t seem to understand herself and while there are hints at a number of traumatic psychological experiences throughout her development, Noxon highlights the complexity of mental illness by never offering a clear cut answer of what exactly is causing Ellen’s disorder. Beyond these strengths though, Noxon’s feature doesn’t offer its audiences anything interesting and some of the conclusions one could draw from it feel problematic.
Take, for example, the only male characters that appear in the film — Luke and Dr Beckham. The latter seems to be hailed as an eating disorder guru, a a man with the ability to fix any woman of her psychological troubles but we’re given no indication that this is the case. Rarely do we see him interact with any of the patients and, when he does, his only advice seems to be “you’re just scared to eat, so just toughen up and do it”. There was an opportunity here to inform an otherwise largely uneducated audience about the nature of eating disorders and perhaps even touch on such disorders being borne from the toxic, society-wide demands we put on women. While not exclusively, eating disorders are predominately a female issue and inextricably linked to our fetishising of femininity, and thin women in particular. Instead, though, the film just seems to reiterate the flawed, insensitive view many already have of anorexia. Luke (Alex Sharp), on the other hand, is a fellow patient of Dr Beckham’s and serves as Ellen’s love interest for the film. Not only does it strike me as slightly off that the sole male resident of the Threshold programme is the only one of the bunch to be seemingly making real progress with his illness, the very concept of adding a love interest to this story feels problematic. This feeling only intensifies when Ellen’s blossoming relationship with Luke is presented as a leading force in her recovery. The idea that a few good mates and a charming boy is all that a young woman needs to overcome anorexia massively trivialises a very difficult issue. In a similar vein, Noxon never really goes far enough with her depiction of the disease. Collins looks thin, yes, (and I’m not going to try and answer whether it’s right to ask an actress who has herself suffered from anorexia to lose weight for a role, but it’s worth thinking about) but her glossy hair and quippy don’t-give-a-fuck attitude never quite manages to encapsulate the sheer devastation an eating disorder can bring unto a person.
I mentioned social responsibility above and I think it’s worth talking about, even if briefly. Often when a piece of art is made with such a delicate issue at its core, especially when that issue hasn’t been covered countless times before, there is an onus placed on the artist to deliver a certain viewpoint. It is thought that they have a responsibility to act as a voice for the voiceless. This is much too difficult a question to answer in a short film review, but I would be cautious about insisting an artist has any obligation when creating their art. By the same token, if they are not obliged to conform to a particular message, their audience is not obliged to like what they have to say. Noxon is in an unenviable position here, though, with a subject matter such as anorexia where any media representation has the potential to trigger those afflicted. I think it ill-conceived to suggest filmmakers stay away from the topic altogether, but I do feel that an issue such as this demands a skilled approach that Noxon hasn’t quite managed. To The Bone is ostensibly a film about anorexia nervosa, but in truth it is a drama (complete with obligatory love interest) in which one of the obstacles the protagonist must overcome is anorexia nervosa. A subtle distinction, perhaps, but an important one. Ellen’s condition substitutes in as a dramatic device and is rarely treated as anything more than that, and certainly not with the depth and nuance that something as complicated as anorexia demands.
Marti Noxon supposedly drew on a lot of personal experiences when writing To The Bone and I genuinely hope that she was able to find some catharsis by doing so. I hope too that other current or potential sufferers can find something to help them here, but there is a concern the film will do more harm than good. I’ve heard there have been some calls for Netflix to pull the film from their service, though, and this is something I definitely do not endorse. Noxon has every right to make the film she wants to make, but that doesn’t mean I think you should watch it.

