Scarlett Johansson makes her directorial debut with Eleanor the Great, the rare film that features a nonagenarian actress in the lead role. June Squibb plays Eleanor, a sassy little old lady who winds up getting more than she bargained for when she tells a lie that turns into something of a minor cultural event.
Eleanor lives a quiet life with her BFF, Bessie (Rita Zohar), a Holocaust survivor. After Bessie dies of old age, Eleanor has to leave Florida and go live with her daughter, Lisa (Jessica Hecht), and grandson, Max (Will Price). She’s all but forced to attend extracurricular singing classes at her local community center, but that doesn’t inspire her. However, when she’s dragged along to a Holocaust survivors support group, she panics and tells Bessie’s story as if it were her own. Her story attracts the attention of young journalism student Nina (Erin Kellyman), daughter of a local celebrity anchorman (Chiwetel Ejiofor). Eleanor has to decide just how far she can take her lie, especially when it makes her feel close to her late friend, since sharing her story is her way of keeping her memory alive.
A film with this subject matter could be overwrought and melodramatic, but Eleanor the Great always navigates with a light step, thanks to eminently likable performances from the cast, a rapid pace, and a non-judgmental tone. Perhaps the pace is a bit too rapid, as the script is willing to skip a few steps and take shortcuts here and there to “get to the good stuff,” particularly with Ejiofor’s character, but it’s more-or-less forgivable since it gets the movie where it needs to go without lingering on the details. Your mileage may vary with this aspect of the film, but I appreciated the zippy style and pacing, especially a particular scene with a rabbi in which Eleanor rationalizes her lie via an old Torah story.
The headlines for Eleanor the Great are either about how it’s blockbuster superstar ScarJo’s directorial debut or how the 95-year-old Squibb plays the lead. Both of these are notable and to be celebrated, but they kind of get in the way of the movie itself, which focuses mainly on the burgeoning cross-generational friendship between Eleanor and Nina, and their scenes together are the highlight of the film. They have such a natural chemistry together, their dialogue is peppy, and their adventures get to showcase some of that beautiful New York City scenery. Of course, as they get closer, the lingering sense of dread rises, the fear that the floor is going to fall out from underneath Eleanor, that her lie is going to catch up to her, adding a sense of tension to the growing, cross-generational bond between the two women.
There might not be enough meat on these bones for some people, but I think that’s by design. Eleanor the Great is more like a quick, jolly parable than a “late-in-life epic.” It’s simply nice to see a movie about an old person that isn’t all about death. Sure, it’s part of the story, but human beings are multifaceted creatures, and once you’re “old,” that doesn’t mean your life has to become all about your eventual death. Eleanor the Great is a warm-hearted reminder that everyone has a story to tell, and the people who lived them can stay alive as long as their stories continue to be told.
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