Cinema Sunday: Carol and Tell It to the Bees

I thought that since it's June and it's Gay Pride Month, I would take a look at a couple of movies I'm seen over the last few years. Both involve women in same sex relationships but there are other commonalities that really intrigue me.   

Carol is a 2015 film directed by Todd Haynes that I saw in early 2017. I was at home recovering from my fall in January and came across it while channel surfing. I had heard of this movie from when it was making the rounds of the movie awards circuit a year earlier.  

It's Christmas 1952 when aspiring photographer Therese Belivet (Rooney Mara), working in a Manhattan department store, meets a glamorous woman, Carol Aird (Cate Blanchett).  

Carol is a woman of taste, means and social standing which is at risk of being undone by her vengeful divorcing husband. Also at risk is the loss of her daughter if her secret is exposed.  

Carol is attracted to other women. 

In 1952, homosexuality was still considered a psychological aberration in the medical books as well as being against any numbers of laws and morality clauses.  

Nonetheless, Carol finds herself drawn to Therese. 

In turn, Therese finds Carol compelling in ways that Therese does not fully comprehend.  Therese is mystified by this attraction she has to Carol.  

To escape the stress of her divorce, Carol decides to take a road trip. She invites Therese to accompany her.  

In a hotel room on New Year's Eve, Carol and Therese kiss for the first time and have sex. 

But Carol's husband has eyes everywhere. Or more to the point, ears. Specifically, a private eye with a microphone and sound recording equipment in the room next door.  

Things get worse from there but there is some possibility of hope for Carol and Therese at the end. 

Just a possibility, mind you. It's still the 1950's and a lot of bullshit for Carol and Therese to deal with if they are to have any kind of relationship. 

The screenplay by Phyllis Nagy is based on the 1952 romance novel The Price of Salt by Patricia Highsmith based on her encounter with a woman in department store as well as her two former lovers, Philadelphia socialite Virginia Kent Catherwood and psychoanalyst Kathryn Hamill Cohen.

Virginia Catherwood lost custody of her daughter in a high-profile divorce that involved secret tape recordings of her and her female lover which informs Carol's travails during her divorce and her battle for custody of her child.   

Tell It to the Bees is a 2018 British film I came across on cable last year. Much like Carol, this movie takes place in the very repressive 1950's and puts a woman at risk of losing her child if her relationship with another woman is exposed.  And similar to Carol, we're also dealing with two women who are not on equal footing when it comes to this whole lesbian thing.   

In a rural town in 1950s Scotland, Lydia (Holliday Grainger) is trying to make a life for herself with her young son Charlie after her marriage falls apart. Lydia makes a connection with the town's new doctor, Jean (Anna Paquin) after Charlie is injured at school after being bullied.  Jean bonds with Charlie who is very fascinated by the doctor's bee colonies. Jean suggests that Charlie can talk to the bees and tell them his secrets, like she once did.  

When Lydia and Charlie get evicted, Jean invites them to live with her.  And the two women find themselves drawn to one another. Jean understands what's up but this is all new and unexpected for Lydia. 

Unfortunately for our two would be lovers, it's a small town and its the 1950's. People start to talk about the suspiciously close women.  

Which gets back to Lydia's husband who makes a stink about taking Charlie away from her.  

Unlike Carol and Therese, there is no possibility of hope for Lydia and Jean. Lydia and Charlie will have to leave.  

Tell It To the Bees is a fine story but lacks some of the power and nuance of it's more famous companion in 1950's lesbian romance drama, Carol.  

There are a number of things that strike me about both films. One is that sex is not an instigator of either relationship. Both pairs of women do indeed have sex but only after a build up of not so much attraction as connection. Sex is a cumulative 
expression of these women just longing to BE with one another.  

Another thing that intrigues me is the in both couples, there is a woman who has little to no concept of what it means to have this kind of intimate relationship with a woman. If you're a woman and you're attracted to other women, just Google "How to be a lesbian" for a tutorial. For Therese and Lydia, this is not an option.  This deep feeling of intimate connection with another woman is totally unknown territory. Forging such a connection in the absence of information must be very frightening.  

And the repressive nature of 1950's society is just too much. Society in general has a market driven concept of what men and women are supposed to be doing with their lives and there was an especially hard sell on that kind of conformist, expected life style in the 1950's. Sexuality aside, the women in these films were following paths outside those mandated norms.  Never mind being a lesbian, Jean is having a hard enough time convincing the town she can be their doctor.  

Much progress has been made over the last 2 decades for equality and acceptance of the LGBTQ community. Sadly, for all that progress, the battles are not over.  Carol  and Tell It to the Bees give us a look at what it was like when the first shots of those battles were fired.  

Dedicated to my daughter. Stay strong. Stay proud.

I am proud of who you are.