Eleanor the Great is the directorial debut of Scarlett Johansson that features a fantastic leading performance from the 95 year-old June Squibb as the titular Eleanor, an elderly woman reeling from the loss of her best friend who makes an unlikely friend in Nina, a 19-year old Journalism student (Erin Kellyman).

 

Eleanor the Great gets many things right and some things profoundly so. June Squibb is excellent in her role as Eleanor. She gives the character depth and at times evokes pathos yet still imbues the film with humor, making the performance tremendously entertaining. Squibb plays so well with her young co-star Erin Kellyman; Nina and Eleanor are surprisingly believable in their friendship as director Scarlett Johansson established well the foundation for their relationship, and indeed also the matters that test it.

 

The film explores some serious themes with grief, Jewish identity and friendship taking centre stage. The film overall handles these well with the excellent core performance of June Squibb and Erin Kellyman in support doing the heavy lifting of its exploration of these themes.

 

Scarlett Johansson’s direction shows an understanding of and compassion for these two characters, however Eleanor the Great tends towards melodrama at a couple of key moments that when coupled with the resulting directorial and editorial choices, brings the film down slightly from the heights it could have touched.

 

Eleanor the Great is a strong directorial debut from Scarlett Johansson that boasts a thoroughly entertaining performance from June Squibb as a 94-year old woman struggling with the loss of her lifelong best friend.