LFF - 'Bee Season' review

Chris Tilly gives his opinion on Richard Gere's intriguing new film

Oct 26 2005

While 'Bee Season' initially seems like a fictional version of the documentary 'Spellbound', it actually turns out to be a deceptively complex story about the spiritual disintegration of a seemingly perfect all-American family.

Based on Myla Goldberg's bestselling novel, the film stars Richard Gere as Saul Naumann, a religious studies professor who delivers dinner table sermons to his loved ones in much the same way as he preaches to his pupils.

At the start of the film, Saul's imagination is sparked by his daughter's emerging talent as a spelling champion.

The pair then embark on an odyssey into Jewish mysticism - a journey that drives both Saul's son (Max Minghella) and his wife (Juliette Binoche) away.

What follows is the story of a family in meltdown, as the search for spiritual enlightenment drives the four of them apart, with surprising and disturbing consequences.

An ambitious and fiercely intelligent drama, the film isn't afraid to ask important questions of its characters, although at times the somewhat underwritten narrative fails to fully engage the viewer.

It is also let down by a woefully miscast Gere as the Jewish patriach, although some visually inventive direction and a remarkable performance from Flora Cross as the Naumann's talented daughter makes 'Bee Season' a superior family drama worth seeking out.

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