Since I read about how the ending of Tell it to the Bees was changed when the author wrote the book specifically as a push against the notion that women in love during that era could never be happy together, I wondered what she thought about the film adaptation of her novel. She makes it pretty clear.
However, while I applaud the adaptation of my novel, and I was moved by the final kiss (two beautiful women together, proud and public, while people tut and stare), I am not in love with the ending. This bittersweetness is a straight person’s finale. I wanted my couple to have their cake and eat it together, for once: a fully romantic, fully happy, and therefore – in the context of lesbian fiction – a more radical ending.
What a crazy shame! It’s an incredibly beautiful movie but I don’t recommend it because of the downer ending. This makes *so* much more sense–it seems like the kind of story that should end well, but just doesn’t for…”reasons”. Apparently the “reasons” are heteronormativity lol and yikes.
Dito, @may-shepard. I watched in cinema, and have never watched it again. Or recced it to anyone else. Because it starts out as a great movie, with really important questions, but the ending? Not even sure if it’s a good one. I remember being more than irritated when the voice-over of the son started, and now, after reading the article, I understand and not understand it.
Straightwashing queer stories is the worst.
