Bee Season (2005)

Depressing

This is a depressing and confusing movie. Nothing like what I thought it would be from the DVD cover! It was painful to watch such morose children. The dad was villified although it seemed to me that he was guilty of nothing more than being annoying. What kept me watching was wondering what the mom was up to, but that turned out to be so weird it was beyond my understanding. And what was the deal with Eliza on the floor in the hotel room? A spiritual experience? Not a movie to recommend at all. December 17, 2007

What is God?

Sometimes, it's good to read the book that the movie is based on or that we watch the movie as it is. The title of "Bee Season" can be rather misleading because I thought it's about spelling bee competition which a documentainment was made the year before. Anyhow, it's about a family that looks perfect from the outset but as we dig deeper, we start noticing the cracks. I'm not even sure if "dysfunctional" is the right word for it. Suffice to say that everyone in the family is like a half filled jug and that something is missing in their lives. For them, to be whole again, or in a metaphorical term is to be near God, they explore their own options. The patriarch of the family (played by Richard Gere) would use intellectual pursuit; the son would be to explore alternative religion, Hare Krishna; the daughter is to partake in the bee spelling competition, whilst the matriarch (played by Juliette Binoche) is to partake in a vice. Ultimately, I believe the movie questions of the definition of God. What is it to us? Would we forsake everything just to be near God or that God is a term used to describe inner peace that we find by learning to let go? A rather thought-provoking movie... November 4, 2007

The Ineffable in an Hour Forty-Five

I knew nothing about this movie when I sat down to watch it. I like Richard Gere, I like Juliette Binoche, and I was once a spelling bee contestant, so when this came on cable I TiVoed it, then let it sit for about three months. But once I started watching, in short order I found myself completely fascinated. What the filmmakers are after here is just about impossible to film--a fully-realized spiritual experience. It starts by relating the mechanics of spelling to the kabbalists' search for meaning in the letters and words of the Hebrew language. Sound, as shaped and distilled into language, is our first and primary means of expression, and as our culture moves further into its visual obsession, language has been devalued--but anyone who has watched a political debate, or tried to get through to a teenager, understands the power of a right word, and the disastrous effects of a wrong word.

Language, then, is most certainly one avenue toward a true spiritual experience, and it's the avenue that the young girl in this movie finds herself on. Her mother is on a spiritual journey as well, but the dangers of that path are slowly revealed as her search fragments both herself and her family. The son is also a seeker, first through music and then through different religions. At the center of all this is a father, played by Richard Gere, a professor who, tragically, understands what the search is about but can never experience it himself--he can only help others find their own way. Which is why he ends up so self-involved and destructive--everyone in his family surpasses him spiritually in one way or another, and the further they go on their own journey, the less he is able to follow and the more desperately he tries to hold onto them.

Binoche is heart-breaking in a performance that is 100% subtextual, and Flora Cross as the daughter is eerily good at capturing something you'd think she was too young to possibly understand. This is a movie with layers and layers of meaning, and it gives you just barely enough clues to piece together on your own, if you're willing to put forth the effort. But the results are more than worth it. I came to this movie with no expectations and left it astounded, and moved. One of those experiences I had to just let sit and work on me for awhile; I couldn't just flip to the next channel and catch whatever else was on, this one had to be absorbed, slowly. Wonderful. October 14, 2007

Wonderful! Ethereal! Loved It!

This is a wonderful family story, beautiful and meaninful. The family members are interesting, including their struggles, discoveries and pain. This movie captivated me more than any I can remember in recent years, very engaging. It also has beautiful visual sequences associated with the mother's psychotic episodes and the daughter's gift that puts her into the spelling trances. I don't really know how to analyze this other than to say that I was spellbound by it, no pun intended. October 11, 2007

"It's Not What They Look Like, It's What They Feel Like" ~ Reclaiming The Scattered Light

Synopsis: Saul Naumann (Richard Gere) is a professor of Jewish Theology at a Berkeley university. He is a man of culture, intelligence and depth, however when it comes to his familial relationships he is not a man of wisdom. He appears to love his wife Miriam (Juliette Binoche) and two children Aaron and Eliza (Max Minghella and Flora Cross) and desires only the best for them as he continually pushes them to succeed in both education and the arts. Unfortunately Saul sees only what he wants to see. His wife struggles with feelings of alienation and his children feel appreciated only when they live up to their Father's expectations.

Saul's one true passion is the study of Jewish mystical thought and practice known as Kabbalah. A man of words, he laboriously studies the ancient texts hoping to discover the right words and techniques of combining sound and vibration that will allow him "to reach the ear of God". Ironically in his quest to attain union with the Divine he has unwittingly distanced himself from his emotions and the one's he loves.

Their impending family crisis comes to its apex when his youngest child Eliza wins the school spelling bee championship and later confides in her Father the secret of her success. To his amazement his daughter has received the mystical gift he has coveted for so long. Will this gift serve to heal the family wounds, or will it pull them further apart?

Critique: Released in '05, `Bee Season' is as subtle and nuanced film which beautifully and faithfully captures the mind and soul of Jewish mysticism and its profound applications to everyday life. Based on the novel of the same name by Myla Goldberg, the screenplay adaptation by Naomi Foner Gyllenhall is magnificent. Whether you're a student of Kabbalah or have never heard of it before the storyline touches on so many levels you're sure to appreciate the beautiy and elegance of this film.

My Rating: -5 Stars-. September 12, 2007

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