The Secret Life of Bees

Plot synopsis:
The film begins with Lily having a flashback to the day her mother died. Her mother is packing when T-Ray enters the room and grabs her. She grabs a gun but drops it. Lily appears to pick it up. Then, a gunshot is heard and Lily states that she accidentally killed her mother.
In the night, Lily sees many bees in her room and tells her father but T-Ray yells at her to go back to bed. The next night, Lily runs into their peach orchard and digs up a box containing several of her mother's possessions. Lily lies down, staring at the stars and talking to her mother's spirit, but she hears her father calling. He accosts her, and takes her home and punishes her.
The next morning, the housekeeper Rosaleen surprises Lily with a cake for her 14th birthday. As T-Ray enters, Rosaleen states that she is going to take Lily into town. Lily asks him to tell her about her mother as her birthday gift but he doesn't. When Rosaleen and Lily leave, they are confronted by three racist men who insult Rosaleen. She spits on them, gets beaten up, and is taken off to a hospital. After T-Ray and Lily get home, T-Ray punishes Lily by sending her to her bedroom and he and Lily argue. After he exits, Lily packs up, leaves and note, and leaves the house to save Rosaleen from the hospital she was put in.
After saving her, they run away to a town, Tiburon, that was written on one of her mother's items Lily had. They find a honey jar with the same picture as that item. When they ask who made the honey, they are led to the house of August Boatwright and her sisters, May and June. May has a condition that gives her emotional breakdowns any time something bad happens to someone. Lily lies and says that she is an orphan, that Rosaleen is a nanny, and that they have no place to stay. August offers to let them help with the honey in exchange for shelter.
Lily experiences growing up in their household. Lily questions August as to why she uses "black" Mary pictures. She claims that she was sent by God to help African Americans have peace and equality. She discovers a wall outside of the house that has little pieces of paper stuffed between the holes. It was built for May to help her deal with her emotions. She would write down all the things that troubled her and put them into the wall.
Lily becomes friends with Zach, a teenage beekeeper at August's. Soon after, Lily rides to town with Zach to deliver honey, she confides in him the truth of their situation and the reason why she came to August. He gives her a notebook because she claimed to want to be a writer. They decide to watch a movie together but Lily sits in the "colored" section. This incites a racist mob who kidnap Zach and call Lily names for choosing to associate with him. Zach's mother and the Boatwright family are very worried and concerned. June and August decide not to tell May of Zach's disappearance, for fear of what it would do to her fragile mental state.
Zach's mother comes to the house to pray before the statue of the Black Madonna in the living room and runs into May afterwards. She confides in an unknowing May who subsequently goes into shock. The others grow worried after May disappears to the wall for an unusual amount of time. They go out to look for her only to discover that May killed herself, by placing a large rock upon her chest and lying down in a shallow section of a river. She writes a suicide note to August and June, claiming that she was too tired of carrying the weight of the world on her shoulders and that she would be much happier with her sister and parents in Heaven. Soon after May's death, Zach returns. After May's funeral, August and June slowly begin to recover from their loss, with June even finally agreeing to marry Neil, her boyfriend, whom she had broken up with in a fit of anger. Realizing the sisterly bond they have formed with Rosaleen, August and June embrace her as their new sister and decide to call her "July".
Meanwhile, Lily shows August the picture of her mother and August admits that she knew all along. Lily confesses that she, while trying to help her mother, wound up killing her. She also confesses her belief that Zach's disappearance was all her fault, as well, so she needs to leave, convinced it is best for everyone that she leave since she is unlovable and destroys all that she comes across. Lily breaks down crying and runs to the honey house, where she breaks several jars. August finds her and gives over the things that her mother left, when she went back to get Lily, though Lily doesn't believe her. August give her more emotional items of Deborah's.
Later on, T-Ray comes to the Boatwright home looking for Lily. When he sees Lily wearing her mother's pin, he mistakes her for her mother for a second and proceeds to grab and drag her out of the house, all the while telling her she can't leave him. In a moment of panic, Lily calls him 'Daddy', causing him to come to himself. She tells him she's staying there and after August shows up to calm the scene and assure him they'll take care of her, he reluctantly gives August permission to take care of Lily, for as long as she wanted to stay there. As T-Ray drives off, he admits that the day Deborah left, she wasn't only coming back for her stuff, but coming back for Lily. He says he lied because she wasn't coming back for him.
Lily's voice-over states that she thought, as T-Ray drove off, saying "Good riddance", he was really saying "Lily, you'll be better off here with all of these mothers." Lily is shown writing the contents of the entire story into the notebook that Zach gave her and she puts it in May's wall and is shown wearing Zach's necklace. She walks off into the honey house as the scene fades to black.

Tags: dramatic, murder, flashback

Review:
Writer/Director Gina Prince-Bythewood, winner of the Independent Spirit Award for Sundance hit, "Love & Basketball," has now brought the beloved, acclaimed best-seller, "The Secret Life of Bees" to the screen.1964, South Carolina.
This is due in part to Gina Prince-Bythewood's excellent adaptation and the wonderful acting of Dakota Fanning, Queen Latifah, and especially Sophie Okonedo - who is literally the heart of the film.If you're looking for a sweet way to spend the afternoon, "The Secret Life of Bees" will supply the honey.Movie blessings!
It's been two years since we last saw Dakota Fanning on the big screen here, in a film which was a adaptation of the literary classic Charlotte's Web. And what a career it had been for this child actress, now an adolescent, to have grown from scream queen (no thanks to her stint under Spielberg's War of the Worlds) to one controversial role in Hounddogs, which I doubt would make it to our shores here.Based on a novel by Sue Monk Kidd and directed by Gina Prince-Bythewood, The Secret Life of Bees is one powerful drama above love and the looking for love, as well as running along the theme of forgiveness and reconciliation.
For all its worth, it's chock full of extremely well delivered performances from veterans such as Fanning herself, together with Queen Latifah, Jennifer Hudson (proving that she's no flash in the pan), Sophie Okonedo, Paul Bettany and even Alicia Keys!Set in the time of Summer in 1964 Southern USA where the Civil Rights Act was just signed and in effect, the sentiments amongst the racist bigots still run high in a charged environment still hanging onto their old segregated ways.
Fanning's Lily Owens carries the weight of her guilt buried deep in her subconscious from a tragic event that happened when she was four, and ten years later, after receiving the last straw of punishment from her abusive dad (Bettany), runs away with her caretaker Rosaleen (Hudson).As if led by an invisible hand, they soon find themselves under the extreme goodwill of the Boatwright sisters, who earn a living through the cultivation of bees for honey, and a series of incidents that bring about some tying of loose ends, and the discovery that these strangers do tie back to Lily's own quest to finding out the truth about her mom, to debunk the lies as told by her father.
Fanning leads the pack and gives a wonderful moving performance as the gangling Lily, who thinks that she's quite a jinx with plenty of bad karma to go around, bringing about unfortunate happenings to her hosts which provide the dramatic twists and turns to what would otherwise be a flat movie.
Jennifer Hudson had much to do in the first act, though her character got quite muted by the time the trio of the Boatwright sisters August (Latifah), June (Keys) and Okonedo (May) come along.
And Okonedo's role could probably be the most unorthodox of the lot, a fragile soul who has her own wailing wall to deal with the harsh realities of life.The Secret Life of Bees is well worth the admission ticket, and you'll be hard pressed not to be touched by the film, or moved by the themes it explores, especially when the third act comes by leading to quite a number of powerful revelations and a solid conclusion.
I caught an exclusive screening of this film a week back and I must say, it might be the best film featuring a mostly black cast since "Antwone Fisher." The story centers around Lily (Dakota Fanning), a poor, lonely little girl in the deep south, who deals with a tragic past and a miserable, cruel father (Paul Bettany).
Her life revolves around dreams of being every bit like her deceased mother and her relationship with her caregiver Rosaleen (Jennifer Hudson).In the midst of the civil rights movement, Rosaleen finds herself in some trouble with the locals, inspiring Lily to flee with her to a South Carolina town that she believes holds the secret to her mother's past.
In this town, they find refuge with the Boatwright sisters (Queen Latifah, Alicia Keys and Sophie Okonedo), who take them in on the strength of a story concocted by Lily.
Through their cultured world, filled with beekeeping, a lucrative honey business, religious beliefs and love, Lily finds the security she has longed for and finds the answers to questions that haunted her for years.The director (Prince-Brythewood) did a great job at making us care about the characters, even the miserable father played excellently by Paul Bettany.
However, the finest job of acting in this film full of genius is to my mind undoubtedly that of Sophie Okonedo, who plays the character May Boatwright, whose older sister and protector is Queen Latifah.
Set in South Carolina 1964, Lily Owens (Dakota Fanning) who is haunted by the memory of her late mother, tries to escape her lonely life and bad relationship with her father (Paul Bettany), to get past her horrible incident with her late mother.
Lily and Rosaleen finds the intelligent Boatwright sisters: August (Queen Latifah), June (Alicia Keys and May (Sophie Okenendo) where they take Lily and Rosaleen in, to have a place to stay for a while.The Secret Life Of Bees is a movie of what you call a "tearjerker" and that's what it is, the movie will touch your heart and teaches you about life, care, love & forget about your horrible past and move on.
I went to see The Secret Life of Bees thinking it would be a light version of The Color Purple and,on some way,it resulted to be like that.However,I would not call it a copy,because although it deals with similar subjects to the ones of that excellent movie,The Secret Life of Bees has a different style and sensibility.But the biggest difference is that,while The Color Purple was tremendously honest,The Secret Life of Bees feels thick and a little bit cloying.This is a mediocre film but I cannot deny it kept me moderately entertained.First,let's see positive points.At the difference of many ex-childish actors,Dakota Fanning is facing her adolescence with aplomb,good presence and brilliant histrionic ability,as she shows on this movie.I am also very happy to see that her image as a "miniature adult" has disappeared.It will be very interesting to see the future of her career and I hope she has as much luck as Jodie Foster,Ron Howard and other ex-childish stars who avoided emotional and professional problems on their adult career.Jennifer Hudson and Queen Latifah have conventional characters (independent woman and wise matron,respectively) but they bring very competent performances.However,the member of the cast who most impressed me is Paul Bettany.He completely becomes into his character and he shows an unusual level of intensity and credibility.And,as I have previously said,the movie kept me moderately entertained in spite of being mediocre.Now,let's go to the negative elements.The Secret Life of Bees is based on a book written by Sue Monk Kidd and the adaption director and screenwriter Gina Prince-Bythewood made suffers from the syndrome of "book taken to the big screen".Maybe,Prince-Bythewood wanted to include moments from the book which may were important for her,but not necessarily to the story and as a result,we have many irrelevant moments and other ones which come from nowhere and they do not contribute in anything to the story.Besides,there are various forced scenes which try to make us cry at any cost.In other words,those scenes do not feel honest at all,because they have a lot of manipulation and artificial dramatism.The Secret Life of Bees is not a bad movie.I just found it redundant and too forced,while all the moments which should be honest feel forced.I think I can give this movie a slight recommendation because of its excellent performances and because it kept me moderately entertained..
The story is about how a young white girl learns to stand on her own feet, but the most interesting parts of the movie are definitely those that develop the various black characters.I never looked at my watch once during this movie, much less went out to refill my popcorn.
Dakota Fanning is a strong actress and really shows the feeling of the movie, she has great on screen relationships with Jennifer Hudson and queen Latifah.
The secret life of bees is the story of a young girl dealing with societal influences and the need for knowledge about her mother.
Overall, I did not think much of the movie, as it was a very cliché coming of age story about an abusive father and a little girl.
The Secret Life of Bees follows the story of young Lily Owens to find out about the past of her Dead Mother and to also find herself as a person, finding some other mothers along the way.
The movie The Secret Life of Bees is based on a book of the same name by Sue Monk Kidd.
The movie takes place in the 1960s and follows the story of a girl named Lily Owens, who is coming of age.
Being set in 1964, a white girl traveling with a black through red-neck South Carolina proves an incendiary combination.A remarkably mature performance by Dakota Fanning brings strong dynamics to her inwards searching character (let's hope Hollywood doesn't throw this fine actress away with mediocre roles).
Dakota Fanning gives a sensitive, thoughtful, if somewhat familiar performance as a troubled white teenager in the racially-charged South, circa 1964, who has run away from her abusive father and now finds herself boarding with three black sisters in South Carolina who have inherited the family business, manufacturing and jarring the best honey in the county.
They find a house "the color of Pepto Bismal" where the the Boatwright sisters, August, May and June (Queen Latifah, Sophie Okonedo, Alicia Keys) welcome Lily and Rosaleen into their home in exchange for work around the house and on their bee farm.
The movie introduces a 14-year old run-away named Lily Owens portrayed by Dakota Fanning.
The movie is about a girl, Lily, who runs away from home in search of answers about her deceased mother and finds herself on the doorstep of three sisters; living there turns her life around and gives her life new meaning.
The Secret Life of Bees, a historical fiction novel written by Sue Monk Kidd, was an interesting choice to adapt into a movie.
In the historical fiction movie, The Secret Life of Bees, a young girl, Lily, troubled by her past, runs away to find a new family and the true meaning of a mother.
After watching The Secret Life of Bees a movie based on the historical fiction novel by Sue Monk Kidd I am disapointed.
This movie is about a young girl who is in absence of a mother and has an abusive father, so she runs away to a honey farm, and has a very good connection to everything at the farm, and then starts to learn more about her late mother.
The Secret Life of Bees is a drama movie with some super stars like Queen Latifah and Alicia Keys.
I'm docking a point because it centres Dakota Fanning's character, Lily, a young white girl, instead of centring the stories of women of colour, which is crucial for a film exploring issues of race during the civil rights movement.
Lily finds jars of honey for sale which leads to August Boatwright (Queen Latifah) who lives with her sisters May (Sophie Okonedo) and June (Alicia Keys).
A Family of Her Own. The Secret Life of Bees, an adaptation of the novel written by Sue Monk Kid, begins with a young Lily Owens sitting in the shadows at the bottom of a bedroom closet watching a woman shove stuff into the suitcase lying on the bed in a dimly lit room.
With the excellent acting skills of all involved, especially Dakota Fanning, Queen Latifah, and Sophie Okenedo, the tale of racism, parental abuse and neglect contrasted with kindness and compassion, with a background of beautifully shot landscape and bee-keeping, offers a commendable film of quality, and one which I recommend.
The Secret Life of Bees, based on the novel by Sue Monk Kidd, tells the story of a young Southern girl named Lily (Dakota Fanning) who, when going on the run from her abusive father (Paul Bettany) with her housekeeper Rosaleen (Jennifer Hudson), stumbles into the lives of three extraordinary African-American women—August, May, and June Boatwright (Queen Latifah, Sophie Okonedo, and Alicia Keys, respectively) who take her in.
She runs away from her abusive father (Paul Bettany) with his black housekeeper (Jennifer Hudson) and joins an all-woman black household led by Queen Latifah, who has a big house painted dark pink and 28 acres inherited from her grandmother and raises bees and bottles honey with a black Madonna on the labels.Each of three sisters has the name of a summer month and each is a distinctive character.
May (Sophie Okonedo) is a strange creature plagued by sorrows since the death of a twin; a mere thought of sadness can send her off to the wailing wall in the yard that is her solace.Lily (Dakota Fanning) has told a glib story about being orphaned and seeking an aunt but she's really come here because she knows her mother once did.The underlying story of what happened to Lily and her mother and her father is a mystery that never gets satisfyingly explored, even though that exploration seems to be the underlying point of Lily's existence--other than settling in with the Boatwright ladies and learning about bee-keeping.
Nor does 'The Secret Life of Bees' provide an atmosphere in which subtlety can occur, as indicated by the fact that nearly all the white characters are either ardent civil rights activists (or activists in the making like Lily) or full time KKK members.
I have not read the book, so I wasn't sure what to expect, but after watching The Secret Life of Bees, this story just touched my heart and I felt like this film couldn't have come out at a more perfect time than this year with our first bi-racial president.
But Lily soon finds herself surprisingly when she least expected it and now has the most loving family in the world.The Secret Life of Bees is a charming film, I would say worth the price if you want to see it in the movie theater.
And it really shows you the stupidity and ignorance of racism in the 1960's.13 year old Lily Owens(Dakota Fanning) has an unstable home life, with her crazy abusive father T.Ray(Paul Bettany).
Rosaleen is not a big character in the movie, but she is a mother to Lily at the beginning of the book.
I ended up getting bored and sat down to watch it."The Secret Life Of Bees" is not really about bees at all, more about a young girl called Lily (Dakota Fanning, which i didn't realise until about half way in) who has lived through adversity.
Instead, director Gina Prince-Bythewood (Love & Basketball) delivers a very engaging film with a message and some very strong performances.Dakota Fanning plays Lily, who accidentally killed her mother at four, and has since lived with her white trash, redneck despicable father (Paul Bettany).
Against this backdrop unfolds a heartwarming, girl-power drama based on Sue Monk Kidd's novel about 14-year old Lily Owens (Dakota Fanning) who accidentally killed her mother when she was little.
THE SECRET LIFE OF BEES (2008) *** Dakota Fanning, Queen Latifah, Jennifer Hudson, Alicia Keys, Sophie Okonedo, Paul Bettany, Hilarie Burton, Tristan Wilds, Nate Parker.
Well acted adaptation of the best seller by Sue Monk Kidd about a young girl (Fanning) living in the Deep South during the Civil Right Era 1960s, who runs away from her belligerent father (Bettany) to discover who her mother really was, and is welcome into the unlikely arms of a trio of entrepreneurial sisters (Latifah, Keys and Okonedo) who produce honey from their bee farm.
The movie based on the historical fiction book The Secret Life of Bees is about a young girl, Lily, who embarks on a journey wanting to find out more about her late mother and instead finds the mothers she didn't know she needed.
The story is about a young girl named Lily who runs away from her father and meets three black women that help her find herself and her home.
In the film, The Secret Life of Bees, Lily is reminded of her dark past with her mom and the abusive relationship with her father pushes her over the edge.
Queen Latifah, Dakota Fanning, and Jennifer Hudson had hit the big screens in 2008 in the serious yet heartwarming film, "The Secret Life of Bees." Young Lily Owens (Dakota Fanning) is a motherless and abused daughter with 2 main problems.
Eh. The historical fiction novel, The Secret Life of Bees, was also written and filmed as a movie.
Although this movie holds lessons not only for Lily, but it's audience as well, I believe the book was way better than the film.
The Secret Life of Bees (2008): Dir: Gina Prince-Bythewood / Cast: Dakota Fanning, Jennifer Hudson, Queen Latifah, Paul Bettany, Alicia Keys: Insightful and emotional film set in the 1960's where the law was passed that colored people can vote.
The movie was very sentimental to me because through out Lily's whole life her father has always made her feel like her mother didn't want her.
The movie is based around the life of young Lily Owens who runs away from her abusive father with their maid Rosaleen in the 1960's.
In the book and movie the main character Lily, leaves her abusive father and goes off to a town called Tiburon in search of some answers about her mother.
I really enjoyed the movie "the Secret Life of Bees" even if I never read the book.