Tell It to the Bees

Name: Tell It to the Bees
Genre: Drama, Romance
Released: May 3, 2019
Duration: 108 min
Rating: 50
Cast: Anna Paquin, Ben Bradley, Billy Boyd, Emun Elliott, Euan Mason

2019

METASCORE

Mixed or average reviews based on 13 Critic Reviews

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USER SCORE

Mixed or average reviews based on 11 Ratings

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5.6

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5.6	User Score Mixed or average reviews based on 11 Ratings

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Tell It To The Bees

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Movie Details & Credits

Good Deed Entertainment | Release Date: May 3, 2019 | TV-MA

Starring: Anna Paquin, Ben Bradley, Billy Boyd, Emun Elliott, Euan Mason, Gregor Selkirk, Holliday Grainger, Kaidon McGrath, Kate Dickie, Lauren Annie Boyle, Lauren Lyle, Rebecca Hanssen, Scott Andrew, Violet Fluendy, Zara Howell

Summary: Dr. Jean Markham (Anna Paquin) returns to the town she left as a teenager to take over her late father’s medical practice. When a school-yard scuffle lands Charlie (Gregor Selkirk) in her surgery, she invites him to visit the hives in her garden and tell his secrets to the bees, as she once did. The new friendship between the boy and theDr. Jean Markham (Anna Paquin) returns to the town she left as a teenager to take over her late father’s medical practice. When a school-yard scuffle lands Charlie (Gregor Selkirk) in her surgery, she invites him to visit the hives in her garden and tell his secrets to the bees, as she once did. The new friendship between the boy and the bee keeper brings his mother Lydia (Holliday Grainger) into Jean’s world. In the sanctuary of the doctor’s house the two women find themselves drawn to one another in a way that Jean recognizes and fears, and Lydia could never have expected. But, in 1950’s small-town Britain, their new secret can’t stay hidden forever.… Expand

Director: Annabel Jankel

Genre(s): Drama, Romance

Rating: TV-MA

Runtime: 108 min

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Critic Reviews

Allan Hunter

Apr 29, 2019

Tell 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. Read full review

Leslie Felperin

Apr 29, 2019

It’s hard to dislike this pleasant, earnest work. Read full review

Roxana Hadadi

May 1, 2019

What Tell It To The Bees accomplishes for queer romance it abandons with an ending that is committed to unnecessary melancholy. Read full review

Geoff Berkshire

May 2, 2019

Paquin, 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. Read full review

James Berardinelli

May 4, 2019

Unfortunately, while director AJ Jankel (Super Mario Bros – yes, she’s the one responsible for that) captures aspects of the hostility toward lesbian relationships in that earlier era, she does it without nuance. Her framing of characters is black-and-white and the far-too-pat ending offers an unearned resolution. Read full review

RogerEbert.com Monica Castillo

May 3, 2019

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. Read full review

Dennis Harvey

Apr 29, 2019

Within 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. Read full review

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User Reviews

JLuis_001

May 26, 2019

Routine drama.
I liked the story but the execution is so predictable that I got bored pretty fast.

1 of 1 users found this helpful10

safzal0807

Feb 14, 2021

Great and romantic! Definitely worth watching! Not enough good lesbian movies out there

0 of 1 users found this helpful01

KenR

May 25, 2021

This one offers all you might expect, some occasionally nice cinematography and settings, with a good cast trying hard with an under-performing script. Problem here is, within minutes into the story you know exactly where the writers and movie makers are manipulating you to go - it’s yetThis one offers all you might expect, some occasionally nice cinematography and settings, with a good cast trying hard with an under-performing script. Problem here is, within minutes into the story you know exactly where the writers and movie makers are manipulating you to go - it’s yet another of those ‘the women are out’ works. Here we have all the expected elements, 1950s small town closed mindedness, likable women, and un-likable men. None of the elements rise above their sole predictable intention - in fact, there are also silly fantasy plot devises:- like bees bonding to humans and gathering in virtual support! - the unemployed and penniless woman somehow being able to pack up her young son and start a new life ‘somewhere else’, the shunned lesbian doctor wining over the town with her shining abilities. Much money has been given to this one-note production when what we actually need are movies that universally unite all of us - not just the gender confused select. Disappointing.… Expand

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

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