Eleanor the Great

Eleanor the Great
Starring June Squibb, Erin Kellyman, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Rita Zohar
Directed by Scarlett Johansson

June Squibb is a national treasure in all the best ways. She's been acting for decades and has been relegated to supporting roles which, thankfully, landed her an Oscar nod for Best Supporting Actress in "Nebraska." Still, she never received her full due as an actress until 2024's "Thelma," which finally saw her taking center stage as an elderly woman not ready to give up on life and embrace an adventure like her hero, Tom Cruise. Now, she gets to shine yet again in Scarlett Johansson's directorial debut "Eleanor the Great," a poignant movie about grief and loneliness that is also muddied by its story, but once again Squibb comes out flawless. 

94-year-old Eleanor Morgenstein (June Squibb) lives in Florida with her best friend Bessie Stern (Rita Zohar), and the two crotchety old women spend their days together making fun of other people and embracing their golden years, until Bessie suddenly passes away. Alone, Eleanor moves back to New York to stay with her daughter Lisa (Jessica Hecht) and her college-aged son Max (Will Price). Lisa enrolls Eleanor in a singing class, but after seeing how terrible the talent is she wanders off and is picked up by a woman who brings her to another class - a support group for Holocaust survivors. Even though Eleanor never endured the Holocaust, she stays in the group because she's lonely, and when it comes time for her to share her story, she recounts Bessie's harrowing survival and claims it as her own.

She draws the interest of college journalist Nina Davis (Erin Kellyman) who wants to interview Eleanor for her project, and while Eleanor is at first reluctant she agrees, and the two women bond over shared trauma - Eleanor with her friend's passing, and Nina with her mother dying months earlier, something she can't talk about with her news anchor father Roger (Chiwetel Ejiofor), who seems to want to forget her mother ever existed.  As the two women bond more, Eleanor is invited to recount "her" story again and again, and as each passing day goes by, the treat of her being discovered becomes more and more likely.

Movies like "Eleanor the Great" have me the most stressed, because it's a type of movie I've seen so many times - someone fakes who they claim to be, and their lies slowly spiral out of control until eventually the truth is revealed and all is lost, before the final denouement where all is rectified. It's nail biting in the most mundane way - instead of intense action sequences that amps up the excitement and tension, the performances themselves serve as a way to draw audiences deeper into the story and characters to the point where you feel empathy and sympathy for everyone, no matter what they did, and hope for the best - but knowing it'll be a long, hard journey to get there.

Such is with "Eleanor the Great," a movie that once again proves why June Squibb needs an Academy Award (she was incredibly snubbed last year for "Thelma," and sadly will be passed by again this year). She takes a role not relegated to women over 90 in Hollywood, where she gets to play a nuanced, tightrope walking character who has to juggle her lies but also comes off as entirely empathetic, a rare mix to accomplish. In other hands, Eleanor would be seen as a monster - a woman who claims her friend's life as her own...a life that was marred by the biggest travesty in world history. As Eleanor takes Bessie's story and uses it as her own, many would think this was done in a malicious way in order to garner attention, but it seems Eleanor just wants to tell her friend's story, but in a way that doesn't leave her utterly alone. Does the ends justify the means? Not really, but you also can't fully fault Eleanor for a lie that spirals out of her control, because who hasn't done that in their lives?

I can't say enough about June Squibb's performance, as she dominates the screen with her graceful presence. Eleanor is equal parts loving grandmother role and cranky old woman, but in a way that made me laugh out loud numerous times on purpose. But Erin Kellyman more than holds her own as well, playing a character that - like Eleanor - could've been reduced to generic tropes. Nina is struggling with the death of her mother, and a father who seemingly doesn't want to deal with it himself. She finds solace and comfort with Eleanor, and the two form a tight bond that you know will unravel sooner rather than later, and when it explodes it's like a nuclear bomb, and both actresses rise to the occasion. 

Scarlett Johansson's directorial debut is a solid first outing for the actress, who proves she's not afraid to tackle a messy story that not even acclaimed directors would want to touch, and make it something magical and cathartic. In exploring themes of grief and loneliness led by a flawed yet relatable lead character, she crafts a narrative that's unforgettable and impactful, even though it's not a major Hollywood blockbuster.

The Score: A+