‘Eleanor the Great’ Review: Scarlett Johansson’s Polite but Predictable Debut

A simple, straightforward, and rather manipulative film, Scarlett Johansson’s directorial debut feels better suited to a lazy Sunday afternoon on a streaming platform than to a slot in a competitive section at a festival like Cannes. Centered on a likable but sharp-tongued nonagenarian forced to rethink her life after a loss, Eleanor the Great aims to be a warm meditation on old age and grief.

June Squibb, best known for Nebraska and the recent Thelma, plays Eleanor Morgenstein, a witty ninety-something living in Florida with her close friend Bessie (Rita Zohar), also a widow and roughly the same age. Both women are Jewish, but their backgrounds differ significantly: Bessie is a Holocaust survivor, while Eleanor was born and raised in the United States. They tease each other, share jokes, and laugh at those who treat them like helpless old ladies. Then, almost casually, tragedy strikes: Bessie falls ill and dies. Suddenly alone, Eleanor is taken back to New York by her daughter Lisa (Jessica Hecht), who brings her to live with her and her teenage son. Acerbic and difficult by nature, Eleanor quickly disrupts the household, snapping at everyone and making life increasingly unbearable—until Lisa begins to consider placing her in a nursing home.

Trying to adapt to Manhattan—she was born in the Bronx but never really lived in the heart of the city—Eleanor starts attending activities at a local Jewish community center, including a support group for Holocaust survivors. In a moment of reckless invention, she decides to appropriate Bessie’s story and present herself as a survivor as well. Among those listening is Nina (Erin Kellyman), a college student who becomes fascinated by Eleanor’s story and wants to write about her for the university newspaper. A friendship develops, one that also touches on Nina’s own unresolved grief over her mother’s recent death and her strained relationship with her father, Roger (Chiwetel Ejiofor), a well-known TV journalist whom Eleanor both knows and admires.

Johansson arranges the elements of this dramedy, written by Tory Kamen, in a thoroughly conventional manner, relying on the well-worn tools of classical screenwriting: clear oppositions, predictable confrontations, revelations that can be spotted from miles away, and neatly timed surprises, complete with biblical references and convenient dramatic coincidences. While spending time with the sharp-tongued Eleanor is undeniably pleasant, there are stretches in which the film feels indistinguishable from countless similar stories. Once again, it is the familiar setup of an unlikely friendship between an elderly woman and a young girl, anchored by a secret that the audience knows will soon come to light and complicate everything.

Gentle and tender, occasionally sarcastic, but excessively manipulative in its use of the Holocaust, Eleanor the Great is unlikely to leave much of a mark on the festival circuit—though it would not be surprising if it ends up earning an Oscar nomination for its nearly centenarian and wonderfully lively star. Beneath the image of the sweet, harmless grandmother, Squibb is a gifted comedienne who knows exactly how to add a sharp edge to Eleanor’s seemingly inappropriate remarks. It is unfortunate that Johansson’s simplistic film, built around her performance, fails to rise to the level of her talent.