Barnes & Noble

This perceptive drama floated under the radar of most moviegoers when it came out in 2005, and it's a pity. Bee Season -- based on Myla Goldberg’s remarkable debut novel of the same name -- is one of those quietly challenging films that lingers in memory long after the end credits have rolled, and rather than anesthetizing viewers it compels them to think. The movie's leading character, and emotional core, is 11-year-old Eliza Naumann (Flora Cross), whose ostensibly loving but emotionally dissociated family members vent their frustrations into secret channels. Her father, Saul (Richard Gere), a Berkeley professor and theologian, submerges himself in the arcane rituals of Kabbalah; her mother, Miriam (Juliette Binoche), permanently damaged by the traumatic early loss of her own parents, gets her kicks from petty thievery; and her older brother, Aaron (Max Minghella), a talented musician, rebels against his parents by joining the Hare Krishnas. Eliza, meanwhile, possesses the remarkable ability to spell words merely by visualizing them, and she becomes a spelling-bee champion; but her rising national prominence unexpectedly disrupts the family dynamic. Directors Scott McGehee and David Siegel use this deceptively simple plot device as a jumping-off point for their incisive character study, and in so doing create multiple opportunities for their talented principals to shine. Veteran stars Gere and Binoche are wonderful, but no more so than young Cross, who invests Eliza with an emotional complexity normally found in one of more advanced years. She's one of the best things about Bee Season. Ed Hulse

All Movie Guide

Adapted from the novel by Myla Goldberg, Bee Season tells the story of a family whose turmoil is brought to the surface by a young girl's unexpected talent. Eleven-year-old Eliza (Flora Cross) is the invisible element of her family unit -- her mother and father (played by Juliette Binoche and Richard Gere) are both consumed with work and busy avoiding their faltering marriage. Her brother, praised for musical genius, is wrapped up in his own adolescent life. Eliza ignites not only a spark that makes her visible but one that sets into motion a revolution in her family dynamic when she wins a spelling bee. Finding an emotional outlet in the power of words and in the spiritual mysticism that he sees at work in her unparalleled gift, Eliza's father pours all of his energy into helping his daughter become spelling bee champion, further distancing himself from his wife and son. A religious studies professor, he sees the opportunity as not only a distraction from his life but as an answer to his own crisis of faith. His vicarious path to God, real or imagined, leads to an obsession with Eliza's success and he begins teaching her secrets of the Kabbalah. Now preparing for the National Spelling Bee, and with her family spreading further and further into four separate directions, Eliza looks on as a new secret of her family's hidden turmoil seems to be revealed with each new word she spells. Cammila Albertson

Product Details

• UPC: 024543228721
• Source: 20TH CENTURY FOX
• Region Code: 1
• Presentation: Pan & Scan, Wide Screen
• Language: English, Español, English
• Subtitles: Français, Español
• Time: 1:44:00
• Sales Rank: 18,942

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