Bee Season (2005)


Juliette Binoche        Miriam Naumann
Richard Gere            Saul Naumann
Max Minghella           Aaron Naumann
Kate Bosworth           Chali
Flora Cross             Eliza Naumann
Corey Fischer (II)      National Spelling Bee Pronouncer
Joan Mankin             Ms. Bergermeyer
Piers Mackenzie         Dr. Morris
Lorri Holt              Ms. Rai
Brian Leonard (II)      Mr. Julien
Kathy McGraw (II)       Regional Bee Pronouncer
John Evans              Regional Bee Judge
Steven Anthony Jones    Sergeant
Velina Brown            Hotel Housekeeper
Robyn Blair             Melanie
Justin Alioto (II)      Kevin
Alex Keel               Sinna Bhagudori

Directed by:            David Siegel, Scott McGehee
Produced by:            Peggy Rajski, Mark Romanek, Dr. Winfried Hammacher




Eliza Naumann has no reason to believe she is anything but ordinary. Her father Saul, a beloved university 
professor, dotes on her talented elder brother Aaron. Her scientist mother, Miriam, seems consumed by her 
career. When a spelling bee threatens to reaffirm her mediocrity, Eliza amazes everyone: she wins. Her 
newfound gift garners an invitation not only to the national competition, but an entrée into the world of 
words and Jewish mysticism that have so long captivated her father's imagination. But Eliza's unexpected 
success hurls the Naumann family dynamic into a tailspin, long-held secrets emerge and she is forced to 
depend upon her own divination to hold the family together.

===============

11-year-old Eliza Naumann comes from an odd family; they all divert their emotional frustrations into secret 
channels. When Eliza unexpectedly begins winning spelling bees, what had been a stable dynamic within the 
family becomes disrupted; long held secrets emerge, and a latent spiritual yearning is awakened in her 
withdrawn father Saul and compulsive mother Miriam. As Eliza moves closer and closer to the national 
spelling bee, the Naumann family finds itself in a spiral of surprising discovery and jarring uncertainty...