Great Film: Bee Season
I Wish More Had Been "Spelled Out" For The Audience
Since I have not read the novel upon which Bee Season is based, I
cannot evaluate the film's interpretation of the book. It seems,
however, that there is more occurring within the characters of this
story that is not stated or developed within the screenplay. And
unfortunately more needed to be conveyed, and developed in order for
this film to affect the audience in a useful way.
Plot Summary: The film is about an intellectual, dynamic family. Eliza
(Flora Cross) enters a school spelling bee, wins, and soon realizes she
has the ability to visualize words and their correct spelling. She says
she feels and sees the word "talking to her." Her father, Saul Naumann
(Richard Gere), a professor of Judaic Mysticism at a San Francisco
university later decides that Eliza has the unique ability to speak to
God. He becomes preoccupied with nurturing and developing this "gift"
within his daughter, and in the process falls out of touch with his son
Aaron (Max Minghella), who becomes disillusioned with his faith in
Judaism and rebels against the influences of his father. Aaron begins
studying Buddhism after meeting a female romantic interest who is
sympathetic to his expressed feelings of emptiness and detachment.
Saul's Wife, Miriam (Juliette Binoche), struggles with her own
detachment from reality as she continues to mourn the death of her
parents who died in an accident when she was young girl.
My Analysis: Like some of the characters in the film, I too left the
film somewhat empty, or unfulfilled. I wanted to know more about what
was going on with this family. The relationship between Gere's
character and his son is somewhat familiar -- a son rebels against a
father who is too strongly pushing his faith and interests. This form
of rebellion seems typical of most adolescents. The mother and daughter
share the unusual relationship; both of whom seem to possess certain
supernatural powers. While it is the daughter's power to visualize and
spell that is the focal point of the film, it may well be a similar
ability that drives her mother to mental illness. The relationship
between them should have been developed more, however.
I wanted to know what the mystical-supernatural ability meant, but the
screenplay doesn't explain much, and this is frustrating. In addition,
when it becomes apparent that Miriam is suffering from a severe mental
disorder and continues to mourn the death of her parents, I questioned
why her husband was so utterly unaware of her suffering as it had been
going on for some time. He was an intelligent man who had great concern
for the welfare of his family, and it didn't seem to fit his character.
The film might merely be about a domineering father and the influence
his beliefs have over his family. But I'm hoping it's more than that.
The story goes to pains to make it clear that there is a very real
supernatural element at work here, but the film doesn't do enough to
convey what this means and why it's important. I appreciate movies that
are efficient, that don't hold my hand through everything and that give
me credit for making inferences to tie a storyline together, or even
leave the story purposely ambiguous so as to allow for interpretation,
but in the case of the Bee Season, the subject matter is too abstruse
and the story is too underdeveloped. I could not reach a satisfactory
understanding of what occurred and why it was important.
The acting was strong, however. Binoche, Gere and company make the best
of an underdeveloped script. The quality of the acting makes the
problems with the script even more frustrating because it seems like
this film could have been much more.
JeromeFreeman.com
Cast
- Regional Bee Judge played by John Evans
- Saul played by Richard Gere
- Miriam played by Juliette Binoche
- Eliza played by Flora Cross
- Aaron played by Max Minghella
- Chali played by Kate Bosworth
- National Spelling Bee Pronouncer played by Corey Fischer
