Le secret de Lily Owens

Original title: The Secret Life of Bees

IMDb RATING

7.2/10

29K

YOUR RATING

POPULARITY

Play trailer2:38

1964. Lily, a lonely teenager, flees from her home and reaches a small town in South Carolina. Once there, she finds herself in the company of the Boatwright sisters who introduce her to a n... Read all1964. Lily, a lonely teenager, flees from her home and reaches a small town in South Carolina. Once there, she finds herself in the company of the Boatwright sisters who introduce her to a new world.1964. Lily, a lonely teenager, flees from her home and reaches a small town in South Carolina. Once there, she finds herself in the company of the Boatwright sisters who introduce her to a new world.

Director
- Gina Prince-Bythewood
Writers
- Gina Prince-Bythewood
- Sue Monk Kidd
Stars

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

7.2/10

29K

YOUR RATING

POPULARITY

1,266

1,569

Director
- Gina Prince-Bythewood
Writers
- Gina Prince-Bythewood
- Sue Monk Kidd
Stars

See production info at IMDbPro

Awards
- 11 wins & 17 nominations total

Videos2

Trailer 2:38

The Secret Lives of Bees: Trailer #1

Clip 1:57

The Secret Life Of Bees: Special Features Adaptation (Exclusive Clip)

Clip 1:57

The Secret Life Of Bees: Special Features Adaptation (Exclusive Clip)

Photos80

+ 74

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Storyline

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Did you know

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Trivia
Alicia Keys learned to play the cello in 4 weeks for this part.

Goofs
The story takes place in 1964. Throughout the story, June wears a silk-screen NAACP t-shirt. Silk-screened t-shirts did not exist until the issuance of a patent for the garment screen printing machine in 1969.

Quotes
Lily Owens: If your favorite color is blue, why did you paint the house pink?
August Boatwright: [chuckles] That was May's doing. When we went to the paint shop, she latched on to a color called, "Caribbean Pink." She said it made her feel like dancing a Spanish Flamenco. I personally thought it was the tackiest color I had ever seen, but I figured if it could lift May's heart, it was good enough to live in.
Lily Owens: That was awfully nice of you.
August Boatwright: Well, I don't know. Some things in life, like the color of a house, don't really matter. But lifting someone's heart? Now, that matters.

Alternate versions
Home video versions (DVD and Blu-ray) include both the original theatrical version and the extended director's cut of 114 minutes.

Connections
Featured in The 35th Annual People's Choice Awards (2009)

Soundtracks
Hippy Hippy Shake
Written by Chan Romero (as Robert L. Romero)
Performed by The Swinging Blue Jeans
Courtesy of EMI Records Ltd.
Under license from EMI Film & Television Music

User reviews167

Featured review

9/10

Superb dramatic movie making.

These are cynical times, and the U.S. is still struggling with it's feelings on race, even today. The more of these types of movies, the better. Simple human love comes through in every frame. After a summer of superheroes and sex humor comedies, this was the most life affirming and refreshing film I've seen so far this year. If the academy doesn't recognize some folks from this film, they'd be remiss. I smell Oscar all over this film. Queen Latifah was wonderful as usual. Sophie Okonedo played an emotionally damaged woman with perfect pitch and demeanor. Paul Bettany's performance of the alternately hurt and hurtful father was a challenge. You needed to both hate him, and sympathize with him for the role to be effective, and I thought he pulled this off well. Just simply a moving story, a great script, top notch acting, and all beautifully shot. I place it in the must see category.