To the Bone

I can imagine everyone that has had anorexia or knew or knows someone with it or comparable diagnosis will have a hard time watching this movie, but also will say it is true to it's theme.

This movie is hard-hitting, indeed, to the bone. I could not take my eyes off this movie, even though it is very hard to look at 'cause the look of Lily Collins and her co stars in the Strashhold are close to unbearable. But that is how it is so a story like this needed to be told. (Just like with 13 Reasons Why)

Everyone's performance is amazing and true to the characters. This needs to be seen, there are scenes that will make you bawl and probably help you being grounded more. It is also funny when it wants to be, which is not that often.

Loves this, waited for it for a year and it was worth it.

I was certainly sceptical about this movie before watching it for the first time. Having personally suffered from anorexia, I anticipated that the new Netflix original would misrepresent what it is truly like to be entrenched in the world of your own eating disorder. I was partially fearful that with the beautiful Lily Collins playing the focal role of Ellen, that the film might romanticise the extremities of such a fatal mental illness and send the wrong kind of messages to the diverse range of Netflix account holders much like '13 reasons why' managed to do. However, having personally worked so hard towards recovery, my main concern with regards to the movie was its potential trigger factor. I was so wary of watching the film because I know how to push my own buttons; I have been on and off battling with disordered eating for long enough to know that if I am having a bad day, or experiencing something totally out of my control, one can be easily influenced to restrict, and over-exercise. I did not want myself and other past sufferers, nor any impressionable viewers, to hop on some totally dysfunctional bandwagon of anorexia's practical 'tips and tricks' into losing a vast amount of weight in a short time frame, then use it to justify some sort of deep routed emotional battle. Nevertheless, I was pleasantly surprised. What won me over was the films focus on the sufferance of anorexia rather than how Ellen became ill or even why. The stigma that society has associated with anorexia in recent years must be abolished, thus I was pleased to not have had to sit through a an hour and 47 minutes of a pretty thin girl looking at prettier and thinner runway models etc. One of the greatest misconceptions of anorexia is that the illness stems from a persons desire to be thin – this is entirely subjective and often incorrect. Each person suffers in a different way, looks different, weighs different, and most importantly, has become ill as a result of a variety of reasons that are usually (and unknowingly) far more deep routed than a 'strive for thinness'. It is for this reason that I saw the film from an empathetic stance rather than an embittered and distasteful one. I was pleased to see that the place of Ellen's treatment housed patients suffering from an array of eating disorders such as bulimia and a binge eating disorder rather than just anorexia; an eating disorder is a mental illness, just because you may weigh more than someone else for example, does not make you as a patient any less sick than the next sufferer: you are allowed to hurt and you are allowed to connect and relate to another character in the film besides Ellen. The casting of a male patient in the home also caused me to sigh with relief: another huge misconception of eating disorders by society today is that this is merely a 'young girls' issue. I adored Luke's character and I think that any viewers who have been through similar traumas would easily warm to a lot of the characters, particularly Dr Beckham's patients. As result of this, I would rate 'To The Bone' as educational, not triggering, but nevertheless emotional (my eyes were leaking throughout the majority of the 107 minute run time). This movie was always going to be difficult for me to watch as I only stopped being treated for my eating disorder less than a year ago. During treatment and even after it I've relapsed several times and my friends and family have always been of great support, but if I had told my Mum I was going to sit down and watch one of the first films that actually focuses on the life of an anorexic girl, by myself, her alarm bells would have rung and she would immediately look for changes in my behaviour – she worries more than any Mother ever needs to as a result of the turmoil I have put her and my family through over the last three years. However, both the casting and characterisation of Ellen's dysfunctional family life, beautifully (and comically) represented the effect anorexia has on the loved ones of the patient and thus I would recommend any individual who has been or is currently affected by someone else's eating disorder to watch this film – it will allow you to empathise with characters such as Ellen's Stepmother, Mother, and half sister, but it might also teach you how to tolerate, comfort and help the individual so close to you that is unfortunately suffering from an eating disorder. Overall, given that this is the first film I have watched where the plot line is centred around the suffering, and effects of an eating disorder, Marti Noxon has touched on all I had hoped him to whilst evoking emotion and simultaneously educating a wide range of viewers.

This was the perfect opportunity to clear up so many myths about eating disorders, especially anorexia. But we saw Hollywood's version of recovery and their version of Anorexia Nervosa an often fatal mental illness.

They should have addressed so many real issues but they padded it out with fluff.

Eating disorder is a very serious yet common problem among teenagers. there are not much of the media (such as films or TV shows) that depicts about it. there are a few, but sadly it didn't got much attention. so, when i first heard of this movie, i was pretty excited. and when i finished watching this movie, i was... pretty confused.

no, it's not that the plot that is confusing, rather than the movie's quality. is this movie a better movie about eating disorder? YES. is this a great movie? i don't think so.

Let's start with the acting. well, i'm going to give me praise to lily collins. this is definitely a better performance from her. It showed how much she actually cares about this character and film. Keanu Reeves' performance is weak and at times forced. other supporting actors are doing a pretty good job. even they didn't really develop well, which brings out my main problem to this movie, development. characters which are far more interesting to know is drawn out, by you can guess it- cheap subplot romance.

i do expect a romance from this film when i watched the trailers. but i didn't think it's going to take much time that it drowns out the actual story i'm expecting. the first half of the movie, when the romance doesn't got involved, i'm pretty much in love. it portrays how much our main character is struggling. but after the whole romance got involved, it became unbalanced. those time could be used for actual things to make us feel more about the main character, but it dumbly got drowned out and only slipped by a line or two. i know that too much flashback is a pain, but seeing how this movie focuses on her struggle and journey, could you please at least show us a thing or two that make her struggling? at least, the ending makes it all up, it has some great emotional moments, that scene with her biological mother is somehow works out pretty well.

all and all, it's still a decent movie. and by this, i wish there are more movies about the topic.

Do NOT watch this if you have suffered from an eating disorder. It is vert difficult to handle even if the disorder has long been recovered from. The movie weirdly enough made me want to stop eating again. I had to stop watching it halfway through. I do NOT recommend! However, for people who have not suffered from eating disorders, please do watch! It helps people gain a better understanding, which is why I gave it a 6/10.