To the Bone

When I heard about this movie I was sceptical. I am a male who has suffered from Anorexia since I was 14 (I am 25 now) and have been in 2 inpatient units during this time. I have gone from a weight that literally caused my heart to stop to one that is normal according to society and have recently graduated to become a doctor.

To The Bone starts off with an all too familiar look into the life of someone with an eating disorder in an inpatient unit. Once she is 'let loose' into the world she is clearly no where close to recovery. We get some degree of insight into her life struggling with her condition. Lily Collins is perfectly suited to this role given her eating disorder history. I am slightly concerned that this role may have set something off in her mind to trigger a relapse (if not now, then in the future), but as long as she has been able to cope I am more at ease. The attention to detail into her character's daily life is incredible. From being able to recite calories in foods to the countless hours spent doing sit-ups in her room, I was amazed as to how accurate they wanted this movie to be. In my eyes, it was in no way an exaggeration and could be considered an under- representation as to the daily life of someone with an eating disorder.

As the story progresses the tone becomes a lot more serious. It makes it quite hard to watch at times, because you do feel concerned for the well being of the main character and her family. It certainly made me emotional at times because it re- surfaced memories of things I put me and my family through. Again, this just highlights how eerily accurate the film portrays the condition. I could literally put names of people I met during recovery to the faces of the characters (patients, doctors, nurses and family members included).

Aside from being concerned as to the well being of Lily Collins in this role, the other problem I had going into watching this movie was that it may glamorise eating disorders. However, after the first 10 minutes of watching it I knew this was not the case. It felt a lot more like seeing the world through a real anorexic's eyes.

The other obvious problem I had was that this may be potentially 'triggering' for people with eating disorders. I still have this reservation, however I cannot conceive any way a film like this could not have been triggering. Every person experiences an eating disorder differently and have their own personal triggers. Anything in this film could have been triggering for different reasons. What I know is that those without the condition will receive an invaluable insight into the life of someone with an eating disorder. In a world where awareness for such disorders is certainly on the up, many people still think eating disorders are a 'life choice' and that sufferers should just eat. i hope this film makes people realise the daily struggles of sufferers and that it offers sufferers ambition to recover.

Now, this is purely my opinion and if you disagree all the power to you. However, I have struggled with anorexia for most of my life, since I was seven in fact. I was lucky enough to never end up in a clinic, but I do know what they are like. This whole "we won't force you to eat or do room searches" just isn't accurate. If you do get to the point where you have to do inpatient, it's nothing like this. You can expect to sit with others and finish your food in a certain amount of time, and you have to (or say hello to the tube or soylent). You can expect room searches for things such as vomit stashes, diet pills, razors, and just about anything else. Forget trying to secretly burn calories because they will literally sit you down and have some one watch you to make sure you aren't so much as tapping a finger.

On the other hand I think this movie did it's best and I appreciate all the actors and directors hard work. However I really don't think this portrays what living with an eating disorder is like. The control aspect they definitely nailed, how family members handle disorders and inpatient treatment I feel was gravely off. Of course I only have my experience and those that have been willing to share theirs with me.

I am male, fat and old, yet I understood this movie. Not wanting to eat never made sense to me. Seems like the simplest problem to solve, I mean I eat pretty much non-stop and the idea of not wanting to eat is not easy to relate to for me. But I empathized with these characters. They weren't caricatures, and they weren't dumbed down. There was no pat ending, but that reflects the reality of anorexia in real-life.

I was especially entranced with Lily Collins and Alex Sharp. Both seemed like wise old adults in many ways until they would show images of their gaunt bodies and they are nothing but children.

I know a movie like this can only give a glimpse it this problem, but seeing humans I could relate to go through these problems made it more real than reading an article or a book.

I highly recommend this movie.

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.

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.