''The Secret Life of Bees'' is a 2008 American drama film adapted from the 2001 novel of the same name by

Sue Monk Kidd Sue Monk Kidd (born August 12, 1948) is an American writer from Sylvester, Georgia best known for her novels '' The Secret Life of Bees'' and ''The Invention of Wings''. Early life and education Kidd was born in Sylvester, Georgia, and attended ...

. Starring Queen Latifah,

Dakota Fanning Hannah Dakota Fanning (born February 23, 1994) is an American actress. She rose to prominence at the age of seven for her performance as Lucy Dawson in the drama film ''I Am Sam'' (2001), for which she received a Screen Actors Guild Award nomina ...

, Jennifer Hudson,

Alicia Keys Alicia Augello Cook (born January 25, 1981), known professionally as Alicia Keys, is an American singer, songwriter, and pianist. A classically trained pianist, Keys started composing songs when she was 12 and was signed at 15 years old by Colu ...

Sophie Okonedo Sophie Okonedo (born 11 August 1968) is a British actress and narrator. The recipient of a Tony Award, she has been nominated for an Academy Award, three BAFTA Television Awards, a Golden Globe Award, and a Primetime Emmy Award. She began her f ...

, and Paul Bettany, the film was directed by

Gina Prince-Bythewood Gina Maria Prince-Bythewood (born June 10, 1969) is an American film director and screenwriter. She is known for directing the films ''Love & Basketball'' (2000), '' Disappearing Acts'' (2000), '' The Secret Life of Bees'' (2008), ''Beyond the Li ...

and produced by

Lauren Shuler Donner Lauren Diane Shuler Donner (born June 23, 1949) is an American film producer, who specializes in mainstream youth and family-oriented entertainment. She owned The Donners' Company with her late husband, director Richard Donner. Her films have ...

and

Will Smith Willard Carroll Smith II (born September 25, 1968), also known by his stage name The Fresh Prince, is an American actor and rapper. He began his acting career starring as a fictionalized version of himself on the NBC sitcom ''The Fresh ...

, with

Jada Pinkett Smith Jada Koren Pinkett Smith (; née Pinkett; born September 18, 1971) is an American actress and talk show host. She is co-host of the Facebook Watch talk show '' Red Table Talk'', for which she has received a Daytime Emmy Award. ''Time'' name ...

as the executive producer. ''The Secret Life of Bees'' is noted for Queen Latifah's critically acclaimed performance as August Boatwright. The film was released in the United States on October 17, 2008, and in the United Kingdom on December 5, 2008.

Plot

In 1964 South Carolina, Lily lives on a peach orchard with her abusive, widowed father T. Ray. 10 years earlier, the four-year-old Lily accidentally shot her mother as she was attempting to leave T. Ray. In the present day, her 14th birthday is approaching, and she celebrates the signing of the

Civil Rights Act Civil Rights Act may refer to several acts of the United States Congress, including: * Civil Rights Act of 1866, extending the rights of emancipated slaves by stating that any person born in the United States regardless of race is an American citi ...

with her father’s Black hired help, Rosaleen. On the night before her birthday, Lily sneaks away into a nearby cornfield where she has secretly buried a few mementos of her mother, including a jar labeled “Black Madonna Honey, Tiburon, SC.” She places the picture of her mother on her stomach to feel closer to her as she lays back in the cornfield. She suddenly hears T. Ray calling for her and quickly buries her mothers belongings and tries to quickly button her shirt. She is caught hastily buttoning her shirt by T. Ray who assumes she was out there with a boy and punishes her by having her kneel on a pile of grits for an hour. On her birthday, Rosaleen takes Lily into town under the pretense of Lily getting measured for a bra, but also to give Rosaleen the opportunity to register to vote. The pair encounter a group of racists who beat Rosaleen after she stands her ground against their intimidation, and she is arrested. T. Ray retrieves Lily and takes her back home, but she runs away and breaks Rosaleen out of the hospital, where she’s being treated for her wounds while she awaits jail. They head for Tiburon, with Lily hoping to figure out more about her mother’s past. It takes two days for Lily and Rosaleen to reach Tiburon and find their way to the home of August Boatwright and her sisters May and June. August has used her skills as a

beekeeper A beekeeper is a person who keeps honey bees. Beekeepers are also called honey farmers, apiarists, or less commonly, apiculturists (both from the Latin '' apis'', bee; cf. apiary). The term beekeeper refers to a person who keeps honey bees i ...

to build a successful business. Despite the unlikeliness of Lily's lies about hers and Rosaleen’s circumstances, and June’s suspicions, August takes them in, agreeing to trade room and board for their labor. Lily becomes an apprentice beekeeper and later discovers May's “ wailing wall”, tucked full of little notes about events that have distressed the brittle and sensitive May, as well as May’s twin sister April, who died in childhood. She also learns about August’s leadership of a small group of women who pray to the life-size statue of a

Black Madonna The term ''Black Madonna'' or ''Black Virgin'' tends to refer to statues or paintings in Western Christendom of the Blessed Virgin Mary and the Infant Jesus, where both figures are depicted with dark skin. The Black Madonna can be found bot ...

in the Boatwright’s living room for guidance. In time Lily grows close to Zach, the teenage son of one member in the prayer group and August's assistant beekeeper/godson. Lily and Zach try to watch a movie together, but when they disregard racial barriers, sitting together in the "colored" section, gets Zach kidnapped by a group of townspeople. June and August hide the news from May to try and protect her, but Zach's mother reveals the news to her accidentally. Out of grief, May drowns herself to escape the pain of feeling the world's hatred, though in her suicide note she predicts Zach will be returned alive, and he is found the next day. With May's funeral comes some reconciliation and truth. June agrees to wed her long-time boyfriend who she had previously repeatedly rejected. Rosaleen is asked to be part of the household family, and August says they will call her July. Lily, who already believes she killed her mother, now blames herself for Zach's kidnapping and May's death. She has a breakdown, convinced her mother didn’t want her, feeling unloved and unlovable, and resigns herself to leave before she causes any more harm. Before she’s able to go, August challenges her outlook, and tells Lily about her mother, whom August cared for as a child in Virginia and later sheltered from the abuse of T. Ray. Meanwhile, T. Ray has figured out where Lily is by using a map she had pinned on her bedroom wall. He comes to Tiburon to take Lily home with him. However, Lily refuses to leave, and August, June, and Rosaleen form a phalanx of support. Lily confronts T. Ray about her mother, and he reveals he lied to her; her mother really did come back for her. With angry reluctance, T. Ray leaves her to be raised by the Boatwrights.

Cast

* Queen Latifah as August Boatwright *

as Lily Owens * Jennifer Hudson as Rosaleen "July" Daise-Boatwright *

as June Boatwright *

as May Boatwright * Paul Bettany as T. Ray Owens, Lily's abusive father *

Hilarie Burton Hilarie Ros Burton (born July 1, 1982) is an American actress, businesswoman, author and producer. A former host of MTV's ''Total Request Live'', she portrayed Peyton Sawyer on The WB/ CW drama '' One Tree Hill'' for six seasons (2003–2009). P ...

as Deborah Owens, Lily's mother *

Tristan Wilds Tristan Paul Mack Wilds (born July 15, 1989) is an American actor, singer-songwriter, and record producer. He is known for his roles as Michael Lee on the HBO original drama series, '' The Wire'', and as Dixon Wilson on the CW teen drama seri ...

as Zach Taylor, a friend of May, and Lily’s love interest *

Nate Parker Nate Parker (born November 18, 1979) is an American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter. He has appeared in '' Beyond the Lights'', '' Red Tails'', '' The Secret Life of Bees'', ''The Great Debaters'', ''Arbitrage'', ''Non-Stop'', '' ...

as Neil, June's boyfriend *

Shondrella Avery Shondrella Dupre Avery is an American actress, model and comedian. Her film roles include as LaFawnduh Lucas-Dynamite in the independent comedy ''Napoleon Dynamite'' (2004), and supporting roles in ''Domino'' (2005) and '' The Secret Life of Bee ...

as Greta Taylor, Zach's mother

Production

Early in the film's development,

David Gordon Green David Gordon Green is an American filmmaker. He directed the dramas ''George Washington'' (2000), ''All the Real Girls'' (2003), and '' Snow Angels'' (2007), as well as the thriller '' Undertow'' (2004), all of which he wrote or co-wrote. In 20 ...

was set to direct the film and Focus Features was going to distribute it. Production began on January 7, 2008, in

Lumberton, North Carolina Lumberton is a city in Robeson County, North Carolina, United States. As of 2020, its population was 19,025. It is the seat of Robeson County's government. Located in southern North Carolina's Inner Banks region, Lumberton is located on the L ...

, and Watha, North Carolina and ended a few months later. The film was screened in September 2008 at the 33rd Annual Toronto International Film Festival, and had an October 17, 2008, theatrical release.

Soundtrack

Original music for ''The Secret Life of Bees'' was produced by

Mark Isham Mark Ware Isham (born September 7, 1951) is an American musician and film composer. A trumpeter and keyboardist, Isham works in a variety of genres, including jazz and electronic. He is also a film composer, having worked on numerous films and ...

. The film features the following songs: # "Baby, I Need Your Loving" by Lamont Dozier,

Brian Holland Brian Holland (born February 15, 1941) is an American songwriter and record producer, best known as a member of Holland–Dozier–Holland, the songwriting and production team that was responsible for much of the Motown sound, and numerous hit ...

and

Edward Holland, Jr. Edward Holland Jr. (born October 30, 1939) is an American singer, songwriter, and record producer. Holland was born in Detroit, Michigan, United States. Although he was an early Motown artist who recorded minor hit singles such as "Jamie", he ...

# "Come See About Me" by Lamont Dozier,

and

# "Prelude (From The Unaccompanied Cello Suite No. 1 In G Major)" by Johann Sebastian Bach # "Six Canonic Sonatas Op. 5" by Georg Philipp Telemann # "Sonata No. 3 In a Minor For Cello & Continuo: Allegro" by

Antonio Vivaldi Antonio Lucio Vivaldi (4 March 1678 – 28 July 1741) was an Italian composer, virtuoso violinist and impresario of Baroque music. Regarded as one of the greatest Baroque composers, Vivaldi's influence during his lifetime was widespread ...

# "The Honey Song" by

# "Beautiful" by

India.Arie India Arie Simpson (born October 3, 1975), also known as India Arie (sometimes styled as india.arie), is an American singer and songwriter. She has sold over five million records in the US and ten million worldwide. She has won four Grammy Awards ...

# "Breakaway" by

Irma Thomas Irma Thomas ( Lee; born February 18, 1941) is an American singer from New Orleans. She is known as the "Soul Queen of New Orleans". Thomas is a contemporary of Aretha Franklin and Etta James, but never experienced their level of commercial succ ...

# "Come See About Me" by The Supremes # "Doncha Know (Sky Is Blue)" by

# "Heaven's My Home" by Sam & Ruby # "Hippy Hippy Shake" by

The Swinging Blue Jeans The Swinging Blue Jeans are a four-piece 1960s British Merseybeat band, best known for their hit singles with the HMV label: " Hippy Hippy Shake", " Good Golly Miss Molly", and "You're No Good", issued in 1964. Subsequent singles released tha ...

# "I'm Alright" by

Little Anthony and the Imperials Little Anthony and the Imperials is an American rhythm and blues/soul vocal group from New York City founded by Clarence Collins in the 1950s and named in part for its lead singer, Jerome Anthony "Little Anthony" Gourdine, who was noted for his h ...

# "It's All Right" by The Impressions # "Keep Marching" by

Raphael Saadiq Raphael Saadiq (; born Charles Ray Wiggins; May 14, 1966) is an American singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and record producer. He rose to fame as a member of the multiplatinum group Tony! Toni! Toné! In addition to his solo and group ...

# "Mary" by Joe Purdy # "Song for Mia" by

Lizz Wright Elizabeth LaCharla Wright (born January 22, 1980) is an American jazz and gospel singer. Life and career Wright was born in the small town of Hahira, Georgia, one of three children and the daughter of a minister and the musical director of t ...

The soundtrack for the film was not released as a soundtrack album.

Reception

Critical response

Rotten Tomatoes reported the film has an approval of 59% based on 139 reviews, with an average rating of 5.94/10. The site's critics consensus reads: "''The Secret Life of Bees'' has charm, but is largely too maudlin and sticky-sweet." Metacritic gives the film a weighted average score of 57 out of 100, based on 32 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". Audiences polled by

CinemaScore CinemaScore is a market research firm based in Las Vegas. It surveys film audiences to rate their viewing experiences with letter grades, reports the results, and forecasts box office receipts based on the data. Background Ed Mintz founded Ci ...

gave the film an average grade of "A" on an A+ to F scale. Writing in '' The New York Times'', reviewer

A. O. Scott Anthony Oliver Scott (born July 10, 1966) is an American journalist and cultural critic. He has been chief film critic for ''The New York Times'' since 2004, a title he shares with Manohla Dargis. Early life Scott was born on July 10, 1966 in ...

thought the film to be "a familiar and tired fable".

Roger Ebert Roger Joseph Ebert (; June 18, 1942 – April 4, 2013) was an American film critic, film historian, journalist, screenwriter, and author. He was a film critic for the ''Chicago Sun-Times'' from 1967 until his death in 2013. In 1975, Ebert beca ...

found the film "enchanting" and gave it 3.5/4 stars.

Box office

The film was 3 at the North American box office for its opening weekend with $10.5 million. It later went on to gross $40 million worldwide.

Accolades

The movie won the awards for "Favorite Movie Drama" and "Favorite Independent Movie" at the

35th People's Choice Awards The 35th People's Choice Awards, honoring the best in popular culture for 2008, was held on January 7, 2009 at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles, California. They were hosted by Queen Latifah in her third straight year as host, and was broadcast ...

. The film received seven NAACP Image Award nominations, which include Outstanding Motion Picture, Outstanding Actress in a Motion Picture (Queen Latifah, Dakota Fanning), Outstanding Actor in a Motion Picture (

), and Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Motion Picture (Alicia Keys, Jennifer Hudson, and Sophie Okonedo). The movie won the Image Award for Outstanding Motion Picture.

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Secret Life Of Bees, The 2008 films 2000s coming-of-age drama films African-American drama films American coming-of-age drama films 2000s English-language films Films about domestic violence Films about race and ethnicity Films about sisters Films directed by Gina Prince-Bythewood Films produced by Will Smith Films produced by Lauren Shuler Donner Films set in the 1960s Films set in 1964 Films about child abuse Films about bullying Films about dysfunctional families Films shot in North Carolina Overbrook Entertainment films Fox Searchlight Pictures films Dune Entertainment films Films based on American novels Films set in South Carolina Films scored by Mark Isham 2008 drama films 2000s American films