A single mother Lydia (Holliday Grainger) who is abandoned by her husband, meets the small village's Doctor Jean Markham (Anna Paquin) who has recently returned to her hometown when Lydia's son Charlie is taken to the doctor after being bullied in school. When Lydia and Charlie are evicted because of Lydia's earnings from her work are not adequate to pay the rent, Jean invites them to stay in her home and she and Lydia soon develop a friendship and something more.... (Full plot summary below)
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A single mother Lydia (Holliday Grainger) who is abandoned by her husband, meets the small village's Doctor Jean Markham (Anna Paquin) who has recently returned to her hometown when Lydia's son Charlie is taken to the doctor after being bullied in school. When Lydia and Charlie are evicted because of Lydia's earnings from her work are not adequate to pay the rent, Jean invites them to stay in her home and she and Lydia soon develop a friendship and something more.
Leave your thoughts about Tell It to the Bees.
| VarietyDennis HarveyWithin the film’s modest scale, the period trappings feel apt, and its aesthetic packaging is attractive enough. But particularly for a movie largely about repression, “Bees” is so full of forced emotions that it teeters on the brink of cliche-riddled camp. |
| CineuropaKaleem AftabFails to create sufficient amounts of adrenaline to carry the relationship at the heart of the story, and consequently, the central romance feels flat. |
| The A.V. ClubRoxana HadadiWhat Tell It To The Bees accomplishes for queer romance it abandons with an ending that is committed to unnecessary melancholy. |
| The Observer (UK)Simran HansGrainger (soon to be seen in Sophie Hyde’s brilliant, jagged Animals) is a magnetic and sensual foil to the frowning, reliably expressive Paquin. The flirty tension between the two feels quietly credible, the camera occasionally shuddering with desire. A pity, then, that this sweetness is lost as the film makes a tonal swerve in its final third. |
| Los Angeles TimesGeoff BerkshirePaquin, in one of her strongest performances since The Piano, and especially Grainger (best known for a substantial résumé of British television) shoulder the film’s dramatic burdens with grace and ease. They’re a pleasure to watch. But the unassumingly square and overly familiar film simply isn’t the buzzworthy vehicle their work deserves. |
| Movie NationRoger MooreBut the handsomely-mounted period production has its rewards and the finale manages a nice messiness that undoes some of what’s trite and far-fetched that’s come before it. |
| Film InquiryTomas TrussowIt's a bit hard to take it seriously when the climax literally involves semi-sentient bees acting as an angry deus ex machina, stopping the villain from doing harm because they apparently know exactly where to fly. |
| Screen InternationalAllan HunterTell It To The Bees can seem a little too respectable for its own good but there are moments of pain and heartbreak that rise to the surface, especially in a tense climax that puts the fates of several characters in the balance. |
| Hollywood ReporterLeslie FelperinIt’s hard to dislike this pleasant, earnest work. |
| Time OutAlice Saville‘Tell It to the Bees’ is a poignant story of a romance that’s crushed before it can take wing, even if it lacks the messiness of Fiona Shaw’s source novel. |
