Pick of the Month
TELL IT TO THE BEES Directed by Annabel Jankel The much beloved lesbian novel Tell It To The Bees gets the big screen treatment in this beautifully depicted romance set in 1950s Scotland. Dr. Jean Markham (a perfectly reserved Anna Paquin) has come home to the small town she left long ago to take over her late father’s medical practice, but not everyone is pleased to see her return. She soon strikes up a friendship with Lydia (an engaging Holliday Grainger), the mother of one of her young patients, whose womanising husband has finally left her, making her another outcast in the small, gossipy town. Whilst Jean marvels at Lydia’s vivaciousness, it’s not long before she realises it’s just a mask she wears to hide the fact she can’t make ends meet at home. The life Lydia shares with her son is slowly spiralling out of control, until Jean throws her a lifeline by offering her a job and a place to stay. It’s when the two women spend more time together under the same roof that friendship evolves into a passionate love affair. One that puts them in danger from the closed-minded community in which they live. Can their love survive? In cinemas 26 July