I saw this in a cinema nearly a year ago now and the only reason I did was because the only other new thing that was playing near me at the time was The Lion King remake and honestly if there was a way to change the coarse of history by making sure I wasn't stuck with these two options then I would have been left with a better use of two hours!
Tell it to the Bees is about a mother and her son in a small Scottish village in the 50s who befriend the local Doctor named Jean (Anna Paquin) after the mothers son named Charlie (Gregor Selkirk) visits her due to a fight on the school playground. When Charlie and his mother Lydia (Holiday Grainger) are evicted from their house Jean offers them a roof over their heads in her house and sure enough the two women begin to fall in love, but just how long can they keep their secret from not just the closed minded village but from Lydia's comically over the top evil ex- husband Robert (Emun Elliot) who expresses interest in having custody of Charlie.
There are many LGBTQ themed movies recently that I've watched and have either enjoyed or loved, Tell It to the Bees is not one them. For the first half of this film, it approaches it's story in a dull manner, in one of those British productions where the camera looks like it's had cement thrown onto the lens. Inspite of the occasional whimsical moment where our three main protagonists enjoy each other's company, it's mostly a uneventful and uninteresting watch that struggles to maintain the viewer's attention.
However once the second half of the film comes, this is where Tell it to the Bees completely goes of the rails, and does so in such a bizarre and fascinating manner that I can't help but spoil the remaining event's of the film.
So pay attention here, inevitability and in a conflict that anyone with half a brain that can see coming a mile away, Charlie walks in on his mother and Jean making love and upset that his mother lied to him (even though it should be very obvious to him why) he runs out back to his scumbag farther, not before calling his mother a "dity d**e" in what i found to be a unintentional funny scene that nearly made me laugh out loud in a cinema.
But I digress, when running back to his evil farther and telling him everything of the relationship he refuses to let Lydia see her son ever again. These event's completely soaked in melodrama and are as subtle as giant sledgehammer lead to the film's climax that made me visibly shocked and appalled that the I was forced to try and put myself in the mind of the filmmakers to try and understand what the hell they where thinking!
In a moment that comes completely out of nowhere, one of the character's who we barley see but is hinted at having a multiracial relationship with a black individual and is pregnant with his child, is forced into a illegal abortion from the evil ex-husband and his sister that goes terribly wrong and places the girl unconscious. Charlie being witnessed to it runs back to Jean's house to get help for the girl, whilst she deals with the girl, the evil ex-husband chases Charlie back to the house to try and get him back. After Lydia tries to block him from seeing his son, along with some awful dialogue where Lydia taunts the evil ex-husband about how much better Jean is in bed (no i'm not even kidding) he over powers Lydia and attempts to rape her, Charlie runs out of the house and open's Jeans beehive which is a recurring motif throughout the film presumably an allegory of female liberation, after the bees are let out free they both collectively and conveniently fly to the window where the attempted rape is happening, (the window is also conveniently open so it would have put a snag in Charlie's plan if it was closed) and the bees somehow knowing what to do fly all round the room which gives Lydia the chance to fight against the husband's struggles and she knocks him out by hitting an ornament over his head.
This wired mix of whimsy, dark subject matters, and magic realism (?) elevates Tell it to the Bees into a dull experience in one of the most, pretentious and misguided films I've ever seen, with one of the most baffling climaxes that needs to be seen to be believed!
All of this makes it sound like a so bad it's good film and that climax is a whole other level of crazy, but all of that makes up about 20% of the film's runtime and when it isn't being unintentionally funny, Tell It to the Bees is a very unpleasant experience. This is one of those LGBTQ films that thinks exploiting their suffering throughout history is much better of gaining the audience's sympathy rather then actually writing a good well rounded film with characters and people you can like and care about. All slurs abuse and trauma take up much of the script along with a tragic backstory for Jean involving a rape and murder of a former lover that the film flashes back and let's us see in full motion. I'm not a member of the LGBTQ community so I can't say this for certain but if your making a film specifically made for that audience, I don't think they would want to see a film to be reminded constantly of the suffering persecution they faced throughout history and now.
All of this would be bad enough without the performance from Eumn Elliot as the evil ex-husband who I've mentioned throughout most of my review. His character and performance is written in a way that is so over the top that I'm surprised no one thought to write the words "Evil" on his forehead. His character is established as being a veteran during world war two who became a different man ever since the aftermath. This sounds like an interesting arc and subject to explore but the film does nothing with it and is given no development besides that, no room for nuance, no room for interpretation, his character is given no personality beyond the "homophobic, evil straight white male caricature" that I would expect to see in some lesbian fantasy novel. There is no room to explore what happened to him that made him turn into the man he is, why is he constantly being a neglecting farther, an abusive husband and a misogynist pig that filled with so much rage? The answer of course is that the script requires him to.
There's a lot of talent packed into this film. Holiday Grainger is very good here as a struggling mother trying to make end's meet with her poor environment and her early scenes are some of her best work, Anna Paquin despite the doggy accent tries her best too despite being fed with dialogue that is quite unbelievable and hard to take seriously. There was potential in Tell it to the Bees for something really powerful but the end result is nothing more than a melodramatic soap opera that looks like it's had money chucked at it, and the climax involving sentient magical bees who can help our characters on command is a complete slap to the face to any audience member who wants to be taken seriously and doesn't like to be treated like a moron.
Tell it to the Bees is about a mother and her son in a small Scottish village in the 50s who befriend the local Doctor named Jean (Anna Paquin) after the mothers son named Charlie (Gregor Selkirk) visits her due to a fight on the school playground. When Charlie and his mother Lydia (Holiday Grainger) are evicted from their house Jean offers them a roof over their heads in her house and sure enough the two women begin to fall in love, but just how long can they keep their secret from not just the closed minded village but from Lydia's comically over the top evil ex- husband Robert (Emun Elliot) who expresses interest in having custody of Charlie.
There are many LGBTQ themed movies recently that I've watched and have either enjoyed or loved, Tell It to the Bees is not one them. For the first half of this film, it approaches it's story in a dull manner, in one of those British productions where the camera looks like it's had cement thrown onto the lens. Inspite of the occasional whimsical moment where our three main protagonists enjoy each other's company, it's mostly a uneventful and uninteresting watch that struggles to maintain the viewer's attention.
However once the second half of the film comes, this is where Tell it to the Bees completely goes of the rails, and does so in such a bizarre and fascinating manner that I can't help but spoil the remaining event's of the film.
So pay attention here, inevitability and in a conflict that anyone with half a brain that can see coming a mile away, Charlie walks in on his mother and Jean making love and upset that his mother lied to him (even though it should be very obvious to him why) he runs out back to his scumbag farther, not before calling his mother a "dity d**e" in what i found to be a unintentional funny scene that nearly made me laugh out loud in a cinema.
But I digress, when running back to his evil farther and telling him everything of the relationship he refuses to let Lydia see her son ever again. These event's completely soaked in melodrama and are as subtle as giant sledgehammer lead to the film's climax that made me visibly shocked and appalled that the I was forced to try and put myself in the mind of the filmmakers to try and understand what the hell they where thinking!
In a moment that comes completely out of nowhere, one of the character's who we barley see but is hinted at having a multiracial relationship with a black individual and is pregnant with his child, is forced into a illegal abortion from the evil ex-husband and his sister that goes terribly wrong and places the girl unconscious. Charlie being witnessed to it runs back to Jean's house to get help for the girl, whilst she deals with the girl, the evil ex-husband chases Charlie back to the house to try and get him back. After Lydia tries to block him from seeing his son, along with some awful dialogue where Lydia taunts the evil ex-husband about how much better Jean is in bed (no i'm not even kidding) he over powers Lydia and attempts to rape her, Charlie runs out of the house and open's Jeans beehive which is a recurring motif throughout the film presumably an allegory of female liberation, after the bees are let out free they both collectively and conveniently fly to the window where the attempted rape is happening, (the window is also conveniently open so it would have put a snag in Charlie's plan if it was closed) and the bees somehow knowing what to do fly all round the room which gives Lydia the chance to fight against the husband's struggles and she knocks him out by hitting an ornament over his head.
This wired mix of whimsy, dark subject matters, and magic realism (?) elevates Tell it to the Bees into a dull experience in one of the most, pretentious and misguided films I've ever seen, with one of the most baffling climaxes that needs to be seen to be believed!
All of this makes it sound like a so bad it's good film and that climax is a whole other level of crazy, but all of that makes up about 20% of the film's runtime and when it isn't being unintentionally funny, Tell It to the Bees is a very unpleasant experience. This is one of those LGBTQ films that thinks exploiting their suffering throughout history is much better of gaining the audience's sympathy rather then actually writing a good well rounded film with characters and people you can like and care about. All slurs abuse and trauma take up much of the script along with a tragic backstory for Jean involving a rape and murder of a former lover that the film flashes back and let's us see in full motion. I'm not a member of the LGBTQ community so I can't say this for certain but if your making a film specifically made for that audience, I don't think they would want to see a film to be reminded constantly of the suffering persecution they faced throughout history and now.
All of this would be bad enough without the performance from Eumn Elliot as the evil ex-husband who I've mentioned throughout most of my review. His character and performance is written in a way that is so over the top that I'm surprised no one thought to write the words "Evil" on his forehead. His character is established as being a veteran during world war two who became a different man ever since the aftermath. This sounds like an interesting arc and subject to explore but the film does nothing with it and is given no development besides that, no room for nuance, no room for interpretation, his character is given no personality beyond the "homophobic, evil straight white male caricature" that I would expect to see in some lesbian fantasy novel. There is no room to explore what happened to him that made him turn into the man he is, why is he constantly being a neglecting farther, an abusive husband and a misogynist pig that filled with so much rage? The answer of course is that the script requires him to.
There's a lot of talent packed into this film. Holiday Grainger is very good here as a struggling mother trying to make end's meet with her poor environment and her early scenes are some of her best work, Anna Paquin despite the doggy accent tries her best too despite being fed with dialogue that is quite unbelievable and hard to take seriously. There was potential in Tell it to the Bees for something really powerful but the end result is nothing more than a melodramatic soap opera that looks like it's had money chucked at it, and the climax involving sentient magical bees who can help our characters on command is a complete slap to the face to any audience member who wants to be taken seriously and doesn't like to be treated like a moron.