Rating: PG13
Genre:
Drama
Theatrical Release: 11/11/2005(USA
Release Date: 04/04/2006
SubTitles: English/French/Espanol
Dubbed: English/Espanol
Sound: DD5.1/DD2
Run Time: 104 Minutes
Flags: Adult Situations, Sexual Situations
Distributor/Studio: 20th Century Fox
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, All Movie Guide