In Bee Season, newcomer Flora Cross plays Eliza Naumann, a youngster who has always been regarded as gifted. Eliza's parents are a university professor and a scientist, so winning her first spelling bee would be little cause for celebration at home. 

Saul (Richard Gere), Eliza's father, has no idea how to relate to her. Instead, he spends hours in his office marking papers and coming up with new material and thoughts for his religious studies students. Eliza, proud of her accomplishments, hopes her dad will take notice of the letter she places under his door. But Saul doesn't acknowledge it the next day when Eliza pipes in with “Did you see my letter?”

Of course he hasn't, and her older brother Aaron (Max Minghella) tells her it’s among the mess of papers she's been putting under the door that can be seen in a pile on the floor, untouched. Up until now Saul has cared only about his work, his wife and his son.

Aaron would also be ignored by Saul if not for his ability to play the cello, which enables him to join his father (who plays the violin) in duets. Now that Saul's daughter has done something of significance that cannot be ignored, he agrees to attend her next competition. Eliza earns her father's praise by winning the challenge handily. Never having felt this way before, the happy youngster doesn't want to lose Saul's attention and warm feelings. 

Eliza uses a strange way of preparing herself for competition. She always closes her eyes, mumbles how the words are spelled, and seems unable to awaken from within her own world until she's done. Saul notices this and tests his daughter by having her spell words no 10-year-old has ever heard or seen before. When Eliza spells them correctly, it's cause for concern as well as elation.

Saul believes Eliza is touched by God and able to connect with some kind of conduit where she can receive the language of the universe. He's convinced they need to spend more time studying together. This new-found attention suits Eliza well. She starts learning Kabbalah because Saul feels her gift could be dangerous -- she must channel what she sees correctly or face grave danger.

Eliza continues winning and appears set for a national championship victory, but will she and her father realize the trouble their family faces and be able to fix it? Now being ignored outright, Aaron has become sullen. Desperate to annoy his father by challenging his religious convictions, he hooks up with Chali (Kate Bosworth) and becomes part of a dangerous cult. To top that off, it appears Saul's loving wife Miriam (Juliette Binoche) is hiding her own dark secret.

Despite some lovely cinematography and CGI effects -- such as bird that turns into an origami piece, flapping its wings to spell the actual word -- there's nothing of substance to see here. Naomi Foner's convoluted screenplay contains many points and ideas to get across but never delivers on anything concrete. Direction by Scott McGehee and David Siegel seems too heavy handed, leading me to wonder if they were trying to shift viewers' opinions and religious beliefs in favor of Kabbalah.

Most of the performances are clichéd at best. Gere plays every stereotypical male who's not involved with his children. Kurt Russell did a better job with a similar role earlier this month in Dreamer. However, Cross is a standout. As Eliza, she's beautiful, calm and collected. Too bad that's not enough to recommend Bee Season.  

(Released by Fox Searchlight Pictures and rated "PG-13" for thematic elements, a scene of sexuality and brief language.)