Bee Season

Day 270 - 9/27/09 - Movie #270

BEFORE: I taped this movie a while back and used it to fill up a DVD containing "Spellbound", the documentary about the National Spelling Bee finals. Seemed like it would make a good companion piece. I didn't realize until seeing the opening credits that the film stars Max Minghella, who was in "Art School Confidential" - or else I would have watched the two films back-to-back.

THE PLOT: A wife and mother begins a downward emotional spiral, as her husband avoids their collapsing marriage by immersing himself in his 11 year-old daughter's quest to become a spelling bee champion.

AFTER: I found this film to be quite baffling - on one level, it's just about a young girl who excels at spelling, as she wins her school's spelling bee and moves on to the district and state finals. But on another level, it's about the girl's whole family, which seems normal on the surface, but is actually fracturing. Dad Saul (Richard Gere) notices his daughter, perhaps for the first time, when she comes home with the school trophy - he tends to be overly controlling, but in a passive-aggressive way, so he takes over her training for the next bee. He also turns her on to the Kabbalah when he realizes she has a gift for words - but how is that going to help her with the next spelling bee (he does know it's in English, not Hebrew, right?)

Big brother Aaron (Minghella) seems to have discovered girls and started dating, but it's actually a cover for sneaking out and worshipping with the Hare Krishnas - or maybe he's doing both, it's tough to say...either way, it's an act of teen rebellion. And Mom? (Juliette Binoche) Something's definitely up with her, but I couldn't tell if she was having an affair, trying to get over her parents' death, or breaking into other people's houses... Anyway, the family members are all moving in different directions, seeking their own enlightenments, while keeping secrets from each other.

As for the spelling bee, I've seen "Spellbound", and I know that the kids who make the finals are sometimes quirky, to say the least (one...talks...like...a...musical...robot...) This girl, Eliza (Flora Cross) is extremely mopey - I don't think she smiled once in the entire film. I appreciate casting someone who isn't Abigail Breslin or Dakota Fanning, but this is maybe too far in the other direction. Instead of spelling with her fingers, she closes her eyes and visualizes the words, which we the audience see through various effects and animations - but I don't see how her visualizing an origami bird, for example, leads her to the correct spelling of "origami".

The main issue raised by the film, I think, regards raising children - how should a parent encourage a child's interests and hobbies, without living vicariously through them? And how can a parent encourage a child to practice religion, or develop a system of beliefs, in a nurturing way, without merely forcing their own beliefs on the child? Ultimately, I think it means walking a fine line. A good topic for discussion, but not really an entertaining subject for a film.

RATING: 3 out of 10 vocabulary words