Eleven-year-old Eliza
(Flora Cross) is the odd one out in a line of over-achievers. Her father Saul
(Richard Gere) is an esteemed professor of religious studies, her mother Miriam
(Juliette Binoche) is a scientist and her brother Aaron (Max Minghella) is a
top student. Quite accidentally, Eliza displays a talent for spelling which she
keeps secret from her family until she asks her teenaged brother to drive her
to a citywide competition.
When Saul does learn of her successive
spelling bee wins, he takes on the role of coach but his growing preoccupation
with Eliza’s gifts draws his attention away from his wife and son. The psychic
vacuum this shift creates provokes a chain of events that shakes the family’s
very foundations.
The casting is exactly right. We expect - and receive - well-rounded and moving
work from seasoned veterans Gere and Binoche. It is, however, Minghella and
Cross who are revelations, providing grounded and touching performances in
their cinematic debuts.
Based on the best-selling novel by Myla Goldberg and beautifully adapted by
Academy Award nominated screenwriter Naomi Foner Gyllenhaal (RUNNING ON EMPTY),
BEE SEASON offers its viewers gifts that are rich and varied.
(Jane Schoettle, Toronto International
Film Festival 2005)
2005 Toronto International Film Festival: OFFICIAL SELECTION
2005 Telluride Film Festival: OFFICIAL SELECTION
Directors: Scott McGehee, David Siegel
Producers: Albert Berger, Dr. Winfried Hammacher, Ron Yerxa
Writers: Myla Goldberg (novel), Naomi Foner Gyllenhall
(screenplay)
Cast: Richard Gere, Juliette Binoche
Naomi Foner Gyllenhaal was nominated for an Academy Award
for Best Original Screenplay for RUNNING ON EMPTY. She also wrote and produced
A DANGEROUS WOMAN and LOSING ISAIAH. Gyllenhaal recently completed GRACE, a
biography of Grace Metalious, the author of Peyton Place, and is at work
on a film about Victoria Woodhull. Gyllenhaal was involved with the development
of Sesame Street and The Electric Company at the Children’s Television Workshop and is
actively involved with the Sundance Institute’s Writer’s Laboratory.