Plot
Saul Naumann (Gere) is a somewhat controlling Jewish husband and father. A Religious Studies professor at UC Berkeley, Saul wrote his graduate thesis on the Kabbalah. Because he was a devout Jew, his wife Miriam (Binoche) converted to Judaism when they married, and he nurtured his son Aaron (Max Minghella) into a traditional studious Jew like himself. When Eliza (Flora Cross) wins her class spelling bee, they embark on a course of Kabbalah study to help her win. The film follows the family and the spiritual quests upon which they journey, in large part because of Saul: Miriam's attempt to make herself whole, Aaron's religious uncertainty, and Eliza's desire to be closer to her father.
Miriam lives a secret life throughout her entire marriage to Saul, trying to fulfill the religious idea she learned from him, tikkun olam, or "repairing the world" and "reuniting its shards." She takes this meaning literally and slowly collects trinkets she finds beautiful (sometimes breaking into people's houses and stealing them) and storing them in a warehouse, trying to hold the light of God in them. Saul's son, Aaron, grows unsure of the Judaism foisted on him by his father, and in trying to find a faith he personally believes in, he becomes a Hare Krishna after meeting a woman named Chali in the park. For Eliza, her experience begins with a desire to be as close to her father as he and Aaron are; the two would often have discussions about Judaism and play music together. Saul's graduate thesis on Kabbalah writer Abraham Abulafia (who believed that careful analysis of words could lead to contact with God) brings Saul and Eliza closer together when Saul learns Eliza has won the district spelling bee.
Upon learning of her success Saul takes control of Eliza's life, trying to coach her with the Kabbalah teachings he knows so well. Eliza enjoys the renewed attention of her father and pursues the competition with her father's involvement. This comes at the expense of Aaron, who receives less time with Saul, even as he falls deeper into his religious dubiosity. At the center of the film, Eliza becomes Saul's newest religious project. Eliza continues to do well at spelling bees seemingly because of a higher spiritual connection with God, as Abraham Abulafia wrote about; visions appear to her and help her spell the word, no matter how difficult.
Saul's obsession with his daughter's gift and the opportunities it presents to him consume him to the point that he is callously ignorant of the collapse of his family occurring around him. He is forced to face it when Miriam is caught entering a home and ultimately checks herself into a psychiatric ward. Aaron comes to reject his father's religion and eventually leave the household. Eliza is implicitly aware of how her gift has contributed to this deterioration and her attempts to achieve spiritual awareness become terrifying.
In the final scene, Eliza deliberately misspells the word origami (a word she had practiced with Saul the night before) to place second at the National Spelling Bee.
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