"Bone" opens with a shot of the bucolic veneer of affluent white America. There is something glib and greasy in the ease with which the Beverly Hills couple, Bill and Bernadette, interact with each other at the side of their pool. Their leisure is an act of aggression. There is something under the surface, unnamed, ignored.
The rat in the pool is like a stopper that keeps the veneer in place. When the rat is removed, the stopper is unplugged and we then watch as their delusions slowly go down the drain. As the characters speak of their son we see flashbacks that serve the dual purpose of representing the delusional story that the parents tell themselves, and perhaps even their mental image of the nightmarish reality of the situation.
These visual spikes tear into the veneer that has been spread before us. Each character has created an image of themselves in their heads. It is an idealized version that they don't live up to. This movie is not only an indictment of an era, it's a stab at that which makes us human. The impact of the film not only punctures the skin, ripping off the veneer, it pushes past flesh and strikes bone.
The rat in the pool is like a stopper that keeps the veneer in place. When the rat is removed, the stopper is unplugged and we then watch as their delusions slowly go down the drain. As the characters speak of their son we see flashbacks that serve the dual purpose of representing the delusional story that the parents tell themselves, and perhaps even their mental image of the nightmarish reality of the situation.
These visual spikes tear into the veneer that has been spread before us. Each character has created an image of themselves in their heads. It is an idealized version that they don't live up to. This movie is not only an indictment of an era, it's a stab at that which makes us human. The impact of the film not only punctures the skin, ripping off the veneer, it pushes past flesh and strikes bone.