For when you've finished watching Emily in Paris

When this movie came out in 2017, I had never heard of Emily in Paris or Lily Collins, so that's probably why I hadn't seen To The Bone, a film about a young woman fighting anorexia.

What is it?
An arthouse film by Marti Noxon, a Hollywood screenwriter (she wrote, for example, Buffy, the Vampire Slayer) who herself suffered from ED (Eating Disorders) and wanted to look the beast in the mouth with this film. Not an easy ride, as lead actress Lily Collins has also suffered from this and had to lose 15 kilos for this role from an already not particularly creamy body.

Criticism is of course everywhere, because with a film like this you might make eating problems fashionable and wasn't it extremely irresponsible to throw a vulnerable survivor back into the world of extreme and unhealthy dieting? Marti Noxon replied that she wanted to make it insightful how an eating disorder can arise. There is often a deep, emotional cause underlying it, as with Ellen, the main character in To The Bone. Her mother had a postnatal depression after she gave birth to her that she had not processed well. Her father was absent at important moments in her life (just like Phil Collins in Lily's life), even during an important family session in the clinic where Ellen is treated. Her mother moves to another city where she starts living with a woman (which also happened in Marti Noxon's life).

I find it beautiful that Ellen ultimately goes to her mother and asks if she can weigh her and give her the bottle to heal old wounds and slowly rebuild life – and a healthy weight.

I have read that before. Also in Lady in Waiting (the biography of Anne Glennconer, the lady-in-waiting of Princess Margareth), Anne describes how she weighs her comatose son daily and gives him the bottle, bringing him back to life.

Lily Collins describes that she also found losing weight scary. Back to a dark period. But now it was ‘work’ and she did it for a role, surrounded by experts and a safety net of love. There is also applause and appreciation that there is attention for the disease and especially the emotional aspect of it. And anyone who finds Lily Collins a feather-light butterfly when it comes to her acting performances could watch this film because it does her justice as an actress.

The film premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in 2017 and is available on Netflix.

What is beautiful is that Marti Noxon has been able to overcome her eating problem and has baking as a hobby. That hobby is so big that she has a mill, Grist & Toll, where flour is ground and with which she supplies surrounding restaurants with their flour.

Do you struggle with food or your self-image or are you afraid that you might have an eating disorder? The website Proud2Bme.nl can help you find the right help.

Image: Netflix