Earlier this week I laid in bed and watched Netflix’s To The Bone, the story of 20-year-old Ellen who seeks treatment for anorexia at a rather unconventional inpatient facility. It may have been a semi-autographical dramatisation of writer and director Marti Noxon’s story, but it also served as a stark reminder of my own battle with food.
I have been open about my anorexia for quite a while, and while I never needed inpatient treatment it wasn’t off the cards.
To The Bone’s release hasn’t been without controversy. It’s been accused of glorifying eating disorders, teaching ‘tips and tricks’ for weight loss, telling people how to hide harmful behaviour from treatment providers, giving people ‘thinspiration’ (which is apparently a word), and triggering people who have or have had an eating disorder. In reality, though, I think these criticisms miss the most important thing the film does – it gives us the opportunity to start a conversation.
What I think the film does really well is include a male patient. When I was younger (six or seven, I think) and my mother first tried to get me the help I needed she was told boys don’t have anorexia. Boys, of course, can be anorexic just like anyone else.
As for those criticisms, I don’t hold any of them to be true. There is no glorification in the harsh portrayal of anorexia in the film and anyone that perpetuates the idea that it could be used as a how to guide for weight loss need only spend a few hours on the internet to discover a whole host of pro-anorexia websites which are much more graphic in their content.
Lily Collins, who plays Ellen, has also fought through anorexia. In an interview with The Independent, she said:
Before I read the script I was hesitant to step back into those shoes when I’d gone so far away from them but I also figured it’s about telling a larger story, so I gave it a shot and when I did it hit me in the gut – the writing was so spot on; I could really relate to some of the experiences in it. It was witty and had this dark humour that I think only someone who’d gone through it could write. It was semi autobiographical for Marti [Noxon, the writer-director] so that made total sense, and when I finished it I called up right away and was like “I have to meet with somebody about this”.
I met with Marti who had no idea about my connection with it whatsoever; we started talking, had a little bit of a lovefest and I explained to her my association with it and what I could relate to. And that was it really, I went home and expressed my team my hopes of her liking me and she expressed her hopes of me liking her and it was kind of like a marriage from there.
To The Bone was my story. It is the story of thousands of other people.
I am recovering. One day, To The Bone won’t be my story, only my history.
If you’re living with an eating disorder or are concerned about someone you care about, there is help available.
And if you haven’t watched it yet, head over to Netflix and catch To The Bone now.
