2008 American drama film directed by Gina Prince-Bythewood
The Secret Life of Bees is a 2008 American drama film adapted from the 2001 novel by Sue Monk Kidd. Starring Queen Latifah, Dakota Fanning, Jennifer Hudson, Alicia Keys, Sophie Okonedo, and Paul Bettany, the film was written and directed by Gina Prince-Bythewood, and produced by Lauren Shuler Donner and Will Smith, with Jada Pinkett Smith 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, to varied reviews, with critics praising it for being faithful to the source material and complimented the rest of the performances, while others criticized its excessively sentimental tone and the simplistic handling of complex issues, but became a moderate success financially, grossing $40 million on a budget of $11 million.
Plot summary adapted from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.