Editor's Note: The following contains spoilers for Bones and All.

The Big Picture

• 'Bones and All' is a remarkable film that explores the romantic yearnings of young outsiders who are cast aside by society.
• Director Luca Guadagnino masterfully incorporates horror elements without relying on jump scares, resulting in an intense final act.
• The film's ending deviates from the novel, leaving Maren's next steps more ambiguous and hinting at the lingering power of her relationship with Lee.

Bones and All was one of the best films of 2022, even if it's not for the faint of heart. While the prospect of a “cannibal Romeo & Juliet” seems like an odd logline, director Luca Guadagnino does an incredible job at showing the romantic yearnings of young people who are trying to find a community but are cast aside as outsiders. If you combine the raw emotional qualities Guadagnino found in Call Me By Your Name, the stylized 1980s aesthetic he introduced in A Bigger Splash, and the body horror he created in the remake of Suspiria, then you have an idea of what an idiosyncratic project Bones and All is.

Based on the novel of the same name by Camille DeAngelis, Bones and All follows the young woman Maren Yearly (Taylor Russell) after she is abandoned by her father (Andre Holland) for being unable to resist her temptation to eat human flesh. As she struggles to find herself, Maren meets the young man Lee (Timothée Chalamet) and discovers that he is also a flesh eater. The two quickly fall in love and go on a cross-country road trip on the outskirts of society. Will their relationship be sustainable, and are their passions lifelong?

Despite its inherent violence and shocking moments, Bones and All is remarkably intimate and sincere. It doesn’t cast judgment on its characters, and addresses themes of body image, eating disorders, feminism, sexuality, and depression through the prism of 1980s Americana. Guadagnino does a great job at subtly incorporating the horror elements without any obvious jump scares, resulting in an intense final act. Here is the ending of Bones and All, explained.

Maren and Lee Commit to Each Other

Lee and Maren experience hardships in their relationship as they adjust to a series of revelations. Maren has lived in fear her entire life of becoming the monster that her father thought she was, and she’s infuriated by Lee after he eats a man who had a family. They briefly part ways after Maren tracks down her mother, Janelle (Chloë Sevigny). After a conversation with her grandmother, Barbara (Jessica Harper), she discovers that her mother was also a flesh eater. When she visits her mother in a facility, Janelle lashes out, forcing Maren to once again be alone.

However, a conversation with Lee reveals that she is not alone in her familial difficulties. She has been carrying a tape that her father recorded for her for the entire film, and Lee reveals that he recorded a similar tape for his own family. Lee has struggled in his relationship with his sister, Kayla (Anna Cobb). He wants the opportunity to teach her to drive, but he fears putting her in danger. Lee and Maren recognize that their love is sincere, and pledge to commit themselves together as they travel across the nation.

Who is Sully?

While the Academy Awards don’t often recognize horror movies in their major categories, it would be a shame if Mark Rylance’s incredible performance as the cannibal Sully is forgotten. Sully appears at the beginning of the film, where he introduces Maren to the world of cannibals and explains the code that they live by. He tells her to “never eat an eater,” but she fears that he may have more dangerous intentions. Maren abandons Sully at the beginning of the story, but that doesn’t mean his interest in her has faded.

After Maren briefly parts with Lee, Sully tracks her down on the side of the road and reveals that he has been following her all along. In a disturbing parallel to child predators, Sully corners Maren near his van and asks her to come with him. She repeatedly rebuffs him, and Sully lashes out in anger. He curses and insults her, forcing Maren to once again go on the run from the older cannibal.

Do Maren and Lee Die?

Despite what he said earlier, Sully intends to consume Lee and Maren. He tracks them to their home and pins Maren to the bed. Lee manages to overwhelm him, and they work together to kill Sully. However, the wounds that Lee earned in their final battle are too much for him to bear. While Maren insists that they should go to a hospital (despite the obvious danger that poses), Lee says that he doesn’t have time left. He asks Maren to consume his flesh as he dies. As the title suggests, she eats him “bones and all.”

A Different Ending to the Book

The film offers a slightly different conclusion to Maren’s journey than the one in the novel. The book indicates that Maren chooses to fully accept her animalistic nature and become a predator like Sully. After eating Lee, she realizes that she can’t help but eat other cannibals. It’s a haunting ending to Maren’s coming-of-age story. Despite what she always feared, she truly has become the “monster” that her father always imagined that she would be. However, Guadagnino chooses to keep Maren’s next steps more ambiguous.

Maren’s consumption of Lee is symbolic of the lasting nature of their relationship. Some youthful romances fade, but a powerful relationship like the one they had will linger within their memory forever. Interestingly, this is somewhat similar to the ending of Guadagnino’s Call Me By Your Name; Elio (Chalamet) accepts his heartbreak after a conversation with his father (Michael Stuhlbarg). Bones and All doesn’t indicate whether Maren will become a predator, but she’s depicted as being more heartbroken than enraged. In the book, she doesn’t seem to care that she ate Lee, and it’s not because he is dying.

Some readers may have felt betrayed by the novel’s ending, and so the film adaptation might be more satisfying. It’s hardly the first time that Guadagnino changed the source material he was inspired by in a radical way; Call Me By Your Name changed many of the events in the novel, and Suspiria is radically different in its stylistic impulses than the 1977 original by Dario Argento. While it’s definitely still a depressing ending, there’s always the possibility that Maren will find Kayla and tell her about her brother’s legacy. The novel does not have any sequels, so it's likely we'll never know what path Maren takes.