Jamie passion and passionfruit!

Another unusual film with a strong visual presence.  Richard Gere is the obsessed Jewish kabbalah teacher who decides to coach his daughter through a series of spelling bee competitions.  The girl, beautifully played by Flora Cross,  is gifted and somehow calls on stronger powers that Dad thinks may signify that has a direct link to the forebears. But is dad’s experimentations with her all too much?  Meanwhile, Mum played by Juliette Binoche has unresolved demons from her past that are driving her round the bend and son Max Minghella decides he is more attracted by the Hare Krishna movement than the Jewish faith.  Slowly and surely the seams of the family come apart.  The various strands here make for an interesting film that does not quite convince us but gets us thinking a lot.  Richard Gere also fails to quite convince as has happened before in some roles.  He cannot quite convey the emotion required and ends up being a rather wooden centre.  So, plus points (good photography, interesting concepts) and minus points lead me to rate this perhaps less than I would have liked.

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