Synopsis
11-year-old Eliza is the invisible element of her family unit: her parents are both consumed with work and her brother 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. 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, Eliza looks on as a new secret of her family's hidden turmoil seems to be revealed with each new word she spells.
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Cast
- Richard GereSaul
- Juliette BinocheMiriam
- Flora CrossEliza
- Max MinghellaAaron
- Kate BosworthChali
- Corey FischerNational Spelling Bee Pronouncer
- Sam ZuckermanNational Spelling Bee Judge
- Joan MankinMs. Bergermeyer
- Piers MackenzieDr. Morris
- Lorri HoltMs. Rai
Recommendations
- 75
Christian Science Monitor
Bee Season, at its core, is about something powerful: The ways in which family members wreak destruction on each other with the best of intentions. - 70
Chicago Reader
The directors exercise their stylistic flourishes mainly in the imaginative sequences depicting the young daughter's trancelike state while she conjures up the correct orthography in the spelling bees her father's determined she must win, and while the film observes the same heartbreaking obsessiveness as the popular "Spellbound," it has none of that documentary's cuteness. - 70
L.A. Weekly
McGehee and Siegel's ornate structure and editing stay just this side of tricky, as does their borderline-goofy use of special effects to make us see the world (and the words) through Eliza's anxious eyes. - 70
The New York Times
A serious film filled with both great and awkward ideas and made as much from the heart as the head. - 67
Entertainment Weekly
Bee Season answers the question no Talmudic student or fan of "Unfaithful" has thought to ask: What would Richard Gere look like as a learned Jewish scholar and teacher? - 50
The Hollywood Reporter
Ultimately, its success may depend on how emotionally satisfying audiences find this flirtation with Jewish mysticism. - 50
Variety
The film is ice cold, never finding a way to invite the viewer into the story, and Richard Gere doesn't convince as a Jewish biblical scholar. - 50
Village Voice
The mysticism only mystifies; its hieroglyphics are vividly rendered, but Bee Season never manages to spell them out.
