Watch tell it to the bees
For two-thirds of Annabel Jankel’s lãng mạn drama, “Tell It khổng lồ the Bees,” the story rolls along lượt thích many we’ve seen before. It’s a 1950s period piece about the forbidden love between two women and the small Scottish town where they live that’s ready to tear them apart with rumors & threats. Then there’s a third act that’s so wildly out of left field, it shifts the tone completely. It’s an almost comical departure, but it’s certainly a disappointing one.
In voiceover, an older Charlie (voiced by Billy Boyd but never seen) sends the audience back khổng lồ his childhood days in 1950s Scotland. His mom, Lydia (Holliday Grainger), is a working woman after her war-shaken husband, Robert (Emun Elliott), has left the family. Despite the factory job, her earnings are not enough to support her và her son. At school, Charlie (played by Gregor Selkirk) is bullied but when he comes home, he finds his mom crying và tries lớn comfort her instead. After another rough fight with his schoolmates, Charlie is brought into to lớn see Dr. Jean Markham (Anna Paquin), a kindly doctor who senses he’s in pain from more than just scrapes và bruises. She shares her family’s lore about the bees she keeps near her stately home, teaching Charlie how to tell his secrets to the bees & bond with them. Charlie unknowingly brings Lydia và Jean together, & the two find an unlikely source of comfort in their trying times: each other.
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For those of us who lượt thích our historical dramas, “Tell It khổng lồ the Bees” serves up plenty of the sub-genre’s hallmarks. Costume designer Alison Mitchell uses a soft but still colorful palette in her assembly of practical work dresses. Jean is usually shown in jewel tones, slightly more regal in comparison khổng lồ Lydia’s fondness for pastels. It’s a costume choice that speaks to the women’s difference in class & personalities. Annie (Lauren Lyle), Lydia’s sister-in-law, is a fan hâm mộ of jean overalls và navy sweaters, và Lydia’s mother-in-law Pam (Kate Dickie) favors a faded factory smock. With hair and makeup at a minimum for just about everyone else in town, Jean and Lydia stick out with their gently styled curls và colorful dresses. No wonder their eyes catch each other’s attention.
Some of the film’s lovelier assets include the work of cinematographer Bartosz Nalazek. He captures the luscious greenery of the English countryside, the ever-grey skies, the drab homes và muddy streets of the town. Even in the midst of chaos, there’s a sense of calm in the naturalistic scenery. Claire M. Singer’s score keeps the music flowing alongside the buzz of bees.
Branching out from a music videos background, Jankel unfurls her story gently, taking in each awkward kiss, forbidden handhold or nervous glance. There’s no rush to get khổng lồ the steamy part of the romance. Instead, the characters gradually earn each other’s trust and affection. Paquin’s performance comes across as cautious và anxious. Her character has lost at love and already suffered from her neighbors’ prejudices. She’s afraid to love in the way that Lydia is not. Grainger excitedly digs into those feelings of new love after her character conquers her initial reservations. Her energy helps carry “Tell It khổng lồ the Bees” through its darkest moments.
What"s likely to draw you to “Tell it khổng lồ the Bees” is the couple at its center. Although they don’t get together until much later in the film, watching their tender relationship grow feels just as risky. I’m almost disappointed that Charlie takes up so much time away from their gentle courtship, but the real bump on the road is the film’s baffling third act. Adapting writers Henrietta and Jessica Ashworth change the end of Fiona Shaw’s book drastically, turning a gentle thắm thiết drama into one where there’s violence against one of the woman characters & a back alley abortion. In one climactic moment, the bees are used as a weapon against an intruder. If it weren’t for the characters in the frame, I might have thought I accidentally flipped a channel. There’s one more deviation from the book that felt lượt thích a too bitter pill after watching a swarm of bees attack on-command. Even though I wasn’t familiar with what happens in the book while watching “Tell It lớn the Bees,” I could feel something was emotionally out of place. It felt like an avoidable misstep for such a tender story.
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Monica Castillo
Monica Castillo is a freelance writer & University of Southern California Annenberg graduate film critic fellow. Although she originally went lớn Boston University for biochemistry & molecular biology before landing in the sociology department, she went on to review films for The Boston Phoenix, WBUR, Dig Boston, The Boston Globe, and co-hosted the podcast “Cinema Fix.”
