No. 104. (2019) TELL IT TO THE BEES. November 14th.

Film No 104 (2019) November 14th.  2:00 PM  LUNA PALACE Windsor,  Nedlands . 

"You should tell the bees your secrets then they don't fly away" (Dr Jean Markham tells young Charlie there is a lesson to be learnt from spending time with the bees in her front yard).

Tell It To The Bees is a costume melodrama meticulously  staged with a script and premise that do not match the visuals. Is it condescending to describe T.I.T.T.B as having its heart in the right place? Yes you say? Well let's just say T.I.T.T.B means well.

Director Annabel Jankel takes us into a small English town in the early fifties where people who didn't live within the bounds of conducting ones selves properly (whatever that means) were gossiped about, spat at or had graffiti splattered on their walls. And so we meet Lydia (Holliday Grainger) and son, Charley (Gregor Selkirk), struggling to make ends meet. When finally the ends fracture (violent, manipulative husband) they are sheltered by Dr Jean Markham (Anna Paquin). The doctor is aware of her feelings towards women she likes where as Lydia falls in love slowly. From here we are simply manipulated to ask, in our more tolerant times, why couldn't people just mind their own business?

Put simply, this film has exquise production values but the script, especially "the bee thing", is silly and the acting is wooden and predictable (Grainger easily the best performer). Tell It To The Bees would have been banned and a headline film, maybe even a BAFTA nominee, if it had been released in the late 60's but in 2019 most cinema goers are looking for a more sophisticated approach. 7GUMS.