• Plot Description
• Soundtrack
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• Popularity
Release Date
• USA: Nov 11, 2005
BoxOffice: $1.1M
Official Website:
Bee Season Website
MPAA Rating
Rated PG-13 for thematic elements, a scene of sensuality and brief strong language.
Running Time
1 hour, 44 minutes
Country USA
Production Companies
Bee Season Productions Inc., Fox Searchlight Pictures, Bona Fide Productions, i5 Films, Epsilon Motion Pictures, Fox Searchlab, Regency Enterprises
Studio Fox Searchlight Pictures
More info on IMDb.com
Other Titles
• Bee Season (2005)
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Genre: Drama
Tagline: Words may define us, but it's love that connects us.
Plot: Based on the bestselling novel by Myla Goldberg, BEE SEASON follows a family of seekers, each of whom is looking to God, transcendence, or love, in their search for something greater than themselves. Eleven-year-old Eliza Nauman (Flora Cross in a promising debut) is on her way to becoming the national spelling bee champion, much to the delight of her heretofore somewhat dismissive father, Saul (Richard Gere). A professor of religion who wrote his thesis on Jewish mysticism, Saul has previously shown more interest in Eliza's older brother, Aaron (Max Minghella), a serious-minded young scholar and cello player. In what soon becomes clear is his customary manner, Saul takes control of Eliza's spelling career, and focuses on her to the exclusion of the rest of his family. Meanwhile, his wife, Miriam (Juliette Binoche), is quietly facing a spiritual crisis, and unbeknownst to her family is engaging in petty thievery in her quest for beauty and salvation. Saul is unwilling to admit that anything is wrong-and thus out of his control-while the unmoored Aaron turns to the beatific Chali (Kate Bosworth), a hare Krishna, for spiritual sustenance and comfort. As Saul attempts to tap Eliza's uncanny knack with words and create a pipeline to God according to the tenets of an ancient Kabbalah
More Plot Descriptions
 Discussion forum for this movie
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Intense family drama that starts well and has good performances but ultimately gets bogged down in spiritual/mystical mumbo-jumbo and bungles its emotional climax.  --Matthew Turner (ViewLondon)
In this way, Bee Season's mysticism casts an incredibly cold, literal-minded spell.  --Ed Gonzalez (SlantMagazine.com)
The performance by Flora Cross is haunting in its seriousness. She doesn't act out; she acts in.  --Roger Ebert (Chicago Sun-Times)
Of all the small things the two films share, the most prominent is the honesty that both films exude while talking about the power of family bonds and the peculiar situations that arise from them.  --Chris Cabin (FilmCritic.com)
Ultimately, "Bee Season" may leave some fans of Goldberg's novel unhappy with the compressed storylines and the changes in the parents' professions, but viewed first as a film and second as a literary adaptation, "Bee Season" manages to create genuine, authentic emotions from material that could have easily slipped into melodrama and and cliché...  --Mel Valentin (eFilmCritic.com)
For all its faults, Bee Season remains a well-intended and well acted film.  --Collin Souter (eFilmCritic.com)
The upshot is that “The Bee Season” is one of those films you can perhaps appreciate analytically but never really connect with. C--Frank Swietek
Whatever else it may be, Bee Season is an interesting motion picture. And the protagonists, while fitfully developed, hold their fascinations.  --James Berardinelli (ReelViews)
It just left me wondering, is “Bee Season” about the importance of family? Or is it about the healing power of faith? Or is it about something else? I’m still not sure. To that extent, I guess you could say that I’m at a loss for words. --Scott Mantz (MovieMantz.com)
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| Directed by |
| David Siegel
The Deep End, Suture, The Business of Strangers |
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| Written by |
| Naomi Foner
Running on Empty, Losing Isaiah, A Dangerous Woman |
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| Music By |
Peter Nashel
The Deep End, The Night Listener, The Trials of Henry Kissinger |
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Movie Database
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