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I must admit that this film surprised me. Not with any twisting plotline - although it does have a moody sense of foreboding as well as a rather mystical bent, as did McGehee & Siegel's last film, The Deep End, it also, like that film, falls somewhat flat when it comes to a well-honed story - it is to the degree of enjoyment I got out of the whole experience that gave me my surprise. Going in I was expecting an atypical prototype Hallmark Channel-esque movie - full of crocadile tears and heartstrings a-tugging. What I got though, was a thought provoking film about everything from Jewish Mysticism to the downward spiral of an already fragile mind to the alienation of children by their God-obsessed father figure.
In other words, I found Bee Season to be strangely - and surprisingly - beguiling. Sure, its seductive ambiance comes apart at times, with unheeded plot turns and underdeveloped character studies, but it hits with a smooth burn when it does hit - and keeps on burning until the next incongruity sprouts up. What keeps it alive for most of the time is the central performance of 12 year-old Flora Cross, as Eliza, spelling bee savant and possible vessel for discussions with God (or at least her Jewish scholor father wishes her to be). This diminutive little girl - who, by the way is playing this part using her second language of English instead of her native French tongue - is not only a seemingly perfect miniature rendition of Juliette Binoche's looks (since she is playing her daughter and all), but also the keystone that holds an otherwise disquieted film together.
As Eliza's father (Richard Gere) pushes her to the point of breaking - and slightly beyond - with his desire for her to be the tool he uses to finally find God, and her mother (Binoche) - somewhat out of nowhere - loses her mind, and her brother (Max Minghella) rebels against their over-demanding father by the only means he knows how, their entire world both falls apart and comes back together in the strangest of fashions. Is Eliza a mystic? Can she speak to God? Does something like that even matter? All this you can see in young Eliza's eyes. The universe and everything.
Although dropping into the realm of overt smaltz a little too often than it should - including some rather "magic" moments involving Eliza visualizes concrete objects as the letters of the words she is to spell (pictured as letter-shaped vines and origami-created hummingbirds) - Bee Season manages to keep us under its lugubrious spell long enough for us to forget the over-sentimentalities, and take home the more mystical meaning of this strangely moody little film.
-December 1, 2005
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