One of the most poignant lines of Eleanor the Great is “Talk about the things that make you sad,” and it’s with such a notion that Scarlett Johansson‘s affecting dramedy takes it on as a throughline. A film that so easily could have been about deception becomes something far greater and more profound, transforming itself into a meditation on grief and how one deals with their own loss.
The titular Eleanor is Eleanor Morgenstein (June Squibb, expectedly sublime), 90-years-old and still sharp as a tack, who spends her days in and out with her best friend, Bessie (Rita Zohar), a Holocaust survivor who so often recounts her traumatic experience. When Bessie passes away, Eleanor is understandably distraught and unsure how to navigate her unfamiliar loneliness. Actively defying the wishes of her daughter, Lisa (Jessica Hecht), who hopes to house her in a facility of sorts, Eleanor moves in with her and her teenage son, Max (Will Price), and does her best to establish a sense of dominance.
Hoping to find a sense of community at the local Jewish Community Centre, Eleanor accidentally sits in on a support group meeting for Holocaust survivors, and though she initially wishes to excuse herself, a sense of uncertainty keeps her there where, without any ill intent, she shares Bessie’s tale of survival as her own. She knows the story so intimately that the group have no reason to doubt its authenticity, and though Eleanor is aware of its deception, she feels in keeping Bessie’s legacy alive amongst a tight-knit group she’s not necessarily causing any damage.
Her story comes to the attention of aspiring journalist Nina (Erin Kellyman), who is so deeply moved by the story that she proposes an interview and subsequent focus piece on Eleanor. Again hesitant, but unable to deny the absolute sincerity of Nina’s plight, Eleanor agrees to the piece, leading the two on a journey of unexpected friendship and eventual heartbreak. Whilst the Tony Kamen-penned screenplay moves the story in directions some may expect regarding the unravelling of Eleanor’s lie, Squibb inhabits her so earnestly and with such grace that proceedings never villainize her, which proves necessary in audience investment going forward.
And as much as this is Eleanor’s story, the film wisely gives Nina such a rich layering that she becomes just as important. Like Eleanor, Nina is navigating her own loneliness in the wake of her mother’s death. Her newscaster father (Chiwitel Ejiofor) has turned to a sense of emotional absence in his own journey of grief, and this dynamic adds to the film’s texture of how everyone weaves their own path of sorrow. There’s no right or wrong, and whilst at its most basic viewing what Eleanor does is inherently unethical, the film understands the need for empathy in the space of talking about “the things that make you sad.”
Far from a vanity project for Johansson, it’s evident that she’s taken all she’s learned from her years on film sets and honed her craft as a filmmaker, delivering a feature that bathes in its emotional maturity and takes pride in detailing the smaller, finer moments that not every keen eye would observe. It’s an assured feature debut (Johansson has the short film These Vagabond Shoes and the Ellie Goulding concert from American Express Unstaged series to her name prior) and easily suggests she has a successful career ahead behind the camera should she continue to focus on such.
If there’s any criticism for the film overall it’s that Ejiofor’s character deserves much more insight than what’s afforded. Similarly, there’s clearly scars left to be healed between Eleanor and her daughter, and at only 98 minutes it wouldn’t have hurt the film to dedicate some extra minutes to fleshing out such respective characters. That being said, Eleanor the Great still proves a bittersweet, moving experience that should speak to a multitude of generations on how we forgive both ourselves and those around us.
FOUR STARS (OUT OF FIVE)
Eleanor the Great screened as part of this year’s Toronto International Film Festival, which ran between September 4th and 14th, 2025.
Eleanor the Great is scheduled to be released in theatres in the United States on September 26th. It will also serve as a Special Presentation at this year’s Jewish International Film Festival, running across major Australian cities between October 19th and December 21st.
