A feel-good story about racism, domestic abuse and unintentional matricide, The Secret Life of Bees depicts a rich family drama in the last days of Jim Crow. In this adaptation of Sue Monk Kidd's bestselling novel, Dakota Fanning plays Lily Owens, a 14-year-old who lives with a horrifying burden-at age four, she accidentally shot and killed her mother while trying to save her from T. Ray, Lily's abusive father (an un-Wimbledon-esque Paul Bettany). After running away with her nanny Rosaleen (Jennifer Hudson), Lily finds family and redemption with the refined but free-spirited Boatwright sisters on their honey farm.
The Boatwrights' tacky Pepto-pink home is host to tragedy, growth and romance over the course of the film, as Lily falls for a black teen (Tristan Wilds) and struggles to escape her father. But it's the house's inhabitants-and the fine actresses who play them-that make The Secret Life of Bees so compelling. Queen Latifah and Alicia Keys are engaging as August and June Boatwright, who together care for May (Sophie Okonedo), their hilarious and heartbreaking sister who feels the world's sadnesses as her own. Hudson, true to form, is sterling as Rosaleen, a proud and witty young woman worn down by life but inspired by the recent passage of the Civil Rights Act.
Fanning, remarkably, is not overshadowed by these powerful screen presences. Despite her gangly frame and otherworldly big eyes, she packs a lot of dramatic punch. Her Lily is simultaneously defiant and vulnerable, and she manages to convince us that a girl so surrounded by loving women could truly believe herself unloved. Smart, sensuous and not overly sweet, The Secret Life of Bees is a well-crafted story of human and apian lives.
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