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With The Secret Life of Bees, Writer/Director Gina Prince-Bythewood, recipient of the Sundance Independent Spirit Award for Love & Basketball, has brought Sue Monk Kidd’s debut bestseller to the big screen.
Set in 1964, the film traces the journey of Lily Owens (Dakota Fanning), a 14 year-old haunted by the guilt of accidentally killing her mother, and the loneliness of living with her distant, abusive father. When her caregiver Rosaleen (Jennifer Hudson) – in her audacity to attempt to register for the vote – insults some of the biggest racists in town (and these racists face some pretty stiff competition), Lily and she both escape to Tiburon, South Carolina.
In this small town Lily hopes to find the reasons behind her mother abandoning her years earlier. Inventing a flimsy tale about being orphaned (ironically close to the truth), she persuades the Boatwright sisters to take them in. There, Lily finds solace and a whole mess of metaphor in their golden-hued world of beekeeping.
To be sure, this ain’t no Mississippi Burning. The film largely floats like a butterfly over the black and white reality of its setting, instead letting it tell a parable about facing loss and finding forgiveness. As Lily's budding love interest puts it, "It's not just about the truth. It's about what you do with it." Lily’s quest offers two role models for dealing with her pain: sister June who has built a wall around her heart, or sister May – a raw nerve who is an emotional Atlas destined to carry the world’s grief. But what Lily lacks in a biological mother she gains in Queen Bees, Queen Latifah, and a black Mary statue that embodies their spiritual devotion.
Cast against type as mean-spirited T-Ray (the name his daughter calls him highlights their fractured relationship) is archetypal softy Paul Bettany. Which struck me as a strange choice, until a scene late in the movie where T-Ray reveals his vulnerable underbelly: and the casting just makes sense. Dakota Fanning tackles the part of Lily with maturity and subtlety. But perhaps because of her ‘child actor’ status, the film plays down the book’s exploration of Lily’s curious sensuality.
Alicia Keys plays the guarded, musical June Boatwright with plenty of sting in her tail. Queen Latifah as August Boatwright is as warm, pillowy and golden as fresh sweet-potato biscuits. But it’s Londoner Sophie Okonedo, with an expressive face to match May Boatwright’s fragile, open heart that captures the beaming innocence of the film. The great vocal talents of Hudson, Keys and Latifah are barely exploited during the film, but I couldn’t help wishing for just one gratuitous musical number for the finale.
Don’t watch this film hoping for a cliffhanger denouement, full frontal nudity or implausible car chases. Expect instead a warm, satisfying brew of characters, and a message more universal than its deep-south-of-‘64 setting might suggest. My critique is that they could’ve stirred in a little lemon with all that honey – it’s a little too PC and pious for my taste. But it’s a sweet film with some fine performances that you could happily take your mum to. Provided you didn’t shoot her when you were four, that is.
Credits
Director: Gina Prince-Bythewood
Screenplay: Gina Prince-Bythewood
Director of Photography: Rogier Stoffers
Cast: Dakota Fanning, Queen Latifah, Paul Bettany, Alicia Keys, Jennifer Hudson, Sophie Okonedo
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