Scarlett Johansson’s directorial debut Eleanor the Great truly is a great, if not wonderful portrayal of grief. With the fantastic June Squibb as the titular and sassy 94-year-old character, this movie portrays Eleanor’s spiral into grief, post her best friend’s death. It follows the subsequent grief-driven lies she tells her new community of Holocaust survivors and journalist friend about her past, as the foundation of their bond built on lies begins to crumble around her piece by piece.
June Squibb as Eleanor is funny, honest and a little rude, a surprisingly three-dimensional character, which is rare for older characters to not be categorized in boxes such as “sickly” or “grumpy”, let alone be protagonists. Her friendship with the aspiring journalist Nina (Erin Kellyman) brings a breath of fresh air to the movie, as age does not play a central role in their bond. It is rather based on their shared grief and the relief they bring to one another.
Director Johansson delivers what feels like a sincere love letter to the Jewish community affected by the Holocaust. Bessie (Rita Zohar), Eleanor’s best friend, voices a raw and descriptive tale of the harrowing events of the Holocaust, and how it has and continues to haunt her some 70 years later. Her scenes were painfully emotional, which must be in part to the fact that she too had been a survivor. The other members of the support community in the movie were played by actors who lived through those harrowing times, and Johansson was sincere in her depiction of the Holocaust, one she did with finesse and real emotions and testimonies.
Is Eleanor the Great the best movie of 2025? No, not in my opinion as there are more interesting movies playing right now. However, there is a lot of depth and soul in this movie, one that is sorely lacking in modern films focusing on action and sex rather than plots centred on people and emotions. I believe it is worth watching, for June Squibbs wonderful acting, but also to learn more about the trauma that these major historical events have on everyday people, so that this never happens again.