Dejected and in need of answers, Maren hits the road to locate her long-lost father, whom she learns is named Francis Yearly from her own birth certificate, a parting gift from Maren’s mother she also strongly suspects her flesh-eating is a paternal genetic trait. The next morning, she discovers that her mother Janelle has abandoned her, after years of cleaning up her gruesome eating habits and moving her from state to state to ensure her safety - an act of sacrifice first implemented when, as a baby, Maren devoured her overly-attached babysitter. The story begins on Maren’s 16th birthday, a lovely celebration between mother and daughter and an event that makes the main character feel “normal.” In first person narration, our protagonist Maren, a shy and bookish teenage girl, recounts her experiences as an “eater,” a person who is compelled to gobble up anyone who shows her affection “like an ogre in a fairytale,” as the author herself puts it in an interview with the website Responsible Eating And Living. However, the changes made from page to screen are significant and meaningful, and they ultimately make better use of the novel’s characters and situations. On the other hand, if a film strays too far from its origins, it’s hard to even see it as a version of its predecessor at all (think The Lawnmower Man, an in-name-only adaptation of a Stephen King story, so far removed from his work the author successfully sued to have his name removed from the film’s promotional materials).īones and All, the new film from director Luca Guadagnino and screenwriter David Kajganich, based on the novel of the same name by Camille DeAngelis, manages to stay in this precious middle ground, mostly sticking to its source in terms of plot, but straying just far enough not to completely alienate itself from said source. Rigidly faithful adaptations can be great films (think Rosemary’s Baby, though feel free not to think about Roman Polanski, ever), but by and large these movies can feel stale for anyone already familiar with the book.
It’s been said plenty of times before, but it’s worth repeating: the best cinematic adaptations of novels stay mostly true to their source material while at the same time carving out their own paths.
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