Kept You Like a Secret — “Tell it to the Bees” Review
Adapted from Fiona Shaw’s book of the same name, Tell it to the Bees is a historical romance centering on a relationship between two women. Jean Markham (Anna Paquin) is a new doctor in a town in Scotland in the 1950s. She begins a friendship with a woman named Lydia Weekes (Holliday Grainger) after Lydia’s son Charlie (Gregor Selkirk) develops a fascination with Jean’s bees. Lydia is married to an abusive man (Emun Elliott) and their marriage is falling apart. In Jean, Lydia and Charlie find a supportive and caring person to lean on.
Unfortunately, the film relies on a number of outdated stereotypes of queer women. Making Jean’s character lonely, fearful, and miserable perpetuates the idea that a queer person’s identity and worth are tied to being in a romantic relationship. There are also two instances of men trying to forcibly have sex with Jean and Lydia in an attempt to “cure” them of their queerness. There is a way to make a meaningful movie showing the hardships of being queer in a small town in the 1950s, but too much of the trauma in this movie exists as shorthand for the struggles of queer people. It is a cruel depiction of lesbians without any real purpose.
While not the most glaring issue in the film, the decision to alter the ending of the book it was adapted from creates a looming shadow over the rest of the action. The ending of the book has Lydia joining Jean and moving to Canada. It’s a happily ever after of sorts that is not usually given to queer relationships in movies. In the film, however, the writing and directing team chose to end the film with Jean moving to Canada alone. They felt it would be more realistic. It takes a certain amount of hubris to decide to change an ending written by a queer woman as a celebration of a queer relationship because you, a straight person, did not see the value of giving these characters a happy ending. It’s a depressing decision for queer viewers when there are so few examples of LGBT couples in media who get a happy ending.
Tell it to the Bees, when not focusing on cruelty, has moments of enjoyment, thanks in great part to the chemistry between Paquin and Grainger. However, the way the rest of the movie jumps from attempted rape to a swarm of comically poorly done CGI bees chasing the rapist away is impossible to overlook. Had the movie been a closer adaptation of the novel, there might have been a chance at a meaningful story about queer women.
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