Let’s get this out of the way right here, right now. June Squibb is one of the great living American actors working in Hollywood today. Dare I say it, she should have 2 Oscars already. One for her performance in Alexander Payne’s 2013, hilariously depressing black and white drama, Nebraska, and the second for her brief appearance as The Queen(… of England) in the HBO TV Movie 7 Days in Hell, directed by Jake Szymanski. I will follow Squibb anywhere she decides to go, which includes seeing Scarlett Johansson’s directorial debut, Eleanor The Great, a modestly interesting film starring Squibb in her second-ever leading role.
Written by Tory Kamen, Eleanor the Great centers around the story of 94-year-old Eleanor Morgenstein (THE ONE AND ONLY JUNE SQUIBB), who moves in with her daughter after the death of her lifelong best friend Bessie (Rita Zohar). Shortly after moving in with her family, Eleanor is coerced by her daughter Lisa (Jessica Hecht) to join a chorus group at the local Jewish Community Center. However, Eleanor accidentally stumbles into a Holocaust Survivor therapy group and begins to lead a double life as her recently deceased best friend, recounting her tales as a survivor of the Holocaust. This gets the attention of Nina, a local college student played by Erin Kellyman, who wants to present “Eleanor’s” story in her final project for her Journalism course. The two forge a wonderful friendship as Eleanor and Nina begin to open up to each other about grief, depression, and loss. All while Eleanor attempts to hide the fact that she was not a survivor of the Holocaust and is actually a converted Jewish woman from the Midwest.
Coming in at about 98 minutes, Eleanor The Great is a brisk, straight-shooter drama about coming to terms with loss and how various people handle the immense emotional pain of grief. The B-plot of the film showcases Nina’s emotional journey of coming to terms with the recent death of her mother while also navigating her relationship with her grief-stricken father, Roger (Chiwetel Ejiofor). Both stories are classically emotional, tugging on familiar, traditional heartstrings. “Trauma all around” is a pretty good setup for drama, and Eleanor the Great uses this formula to craft a decently compelling narrative that got most of my crowd pretty emotional; heck, I almost cried at the end. The problem lies simply that the film is pretty average at presenting this in almost all aspects.
Visually, the film is pretty boring, save for some interesting choices in blocking. The cinematography, done by Hélène Louvart, is not particularly inspired, but has its moments. The production design, costuming, and set decorations were serviceable; in essence, the film looks right up the middle, fine, which is just that fine. Not that films like this require an interesting visual element, but one never hurts. Okay, sometimes it does, but I respect the big swings. The real highlight was the editing structure of scenes where Eleanor tells Bessie’s stories, in which the scene switches between the two characters telling the same story in different contexts. Bessie finally opens up to someone, telling them about her horrifying experience surviving the Holocaust, and Eleanor expresses that story to others as a way of preserving the memory of her lost friend. The editing is not extremely compelling, but the structural choice helps highlight the powerful monologues performed by Rita Zohar.
Performance-wise is where the film shines. Squibb plays a pretty standard game, no trick plays or home runs, just gets on base and scores using her classic, confident, crude humor. Squibb sort of shares most of the biggest scenes in the film with her co-star Rita Zohar as they both recount Zohar’s character’s life story. Zohar brings big theatre energy into her performance, which allows her to effortlessly captivate your attention in any of her monologues. The same can not be said for the rest of the cast, who fill their roles but provide little more than that. This is the second strike for Chiwetel Ejiofor, the other being The Life of Chuck, who continues to play sad, forgettable supporting characters. Erin Kellyman and Jessica Hecht both have small moments to shine, but unfortunately don’t make a huge splash.
Eleanor the Great is a well-meaning film and a solid debut for a first-time director. While it’s hard to praise this as the next big, “must-see” thing, the film is effective at providing an emotional experience that will probably jerk a few tears out of ya. And hey, I wouldn’t say she would win, but you can totally see a world where Squibb and hopefully Zohar are nominated for their performances.
3/5
Directed by Scarlett Johansson and written by Tory Kamen, Eleanor the Great centers around the story of 94-year-old Eleanor Morgenstein (June Squibb), who moves in with her daughter after the death of her lifelong best friend Bessie (Rita Zohar). Shortly after moving in with her family, Eleanor is coerced by her daughter Lisa (Jessica Hecht) to join a chorus group at the local Jewish Community Center. However, Eleanor accidentally stumbles into a Holocaust Survivor therapy group and begins to lead a double life as her recently deceased best friend, recounting her tales as a survivor of the Holocaust. This gets the attention of a local college student, Nina (Erin Kellyman), who wants to present “Eleanor’s” story in her final project for her Journalism course. The two forge a wonderful friendship as Eleanor and Nina begin to open up to each other about grief, depression, and loss. All while Eleanor attempts to hide the fact that she was not a survivor of the Holocaust and is a converted Jewish woman from the Midwest.
The film is produced by Content Engineers, Dauphin Films, and Maven Pictures, and is set to release on September 26, 2025.
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