Comedy
Drama
Little White Lies, Big Meshuga: A TIFF Review of ‘Eleanor the Great’
September 22, 2025Ben MK
|
Best known for playing Natasha Romanoff in the Avengers movies, Scarlett Johansson has spent a great deal of time in front of the camera. Whether it's fending off prehistoric creatures in the latest Jurassic World entry from Gareth Edwards, voicing a sentient operating system in Spike Jonze's Her, or playing a clone who discovers the true purpose of their existence in Michael Bay's The Island, Johansson has worked with many talented directors along the way. And with Eleanor the Great, the Academy Award-nominated actress is taking all those years of experience and stepping into the director's chair herself, in this heartfelt tale about an elderly woman who, through the unfortunate loss of her lifelong best friend, unwittingly finds herself thrust into the media spotlight. Eleanor Morganstein (June Squibb) is a feisty 94-year-old Jewish woman who was born and raised in Idaho. But for the part 11 years, she's lived in a Florida retirement community with her equally spunky best friend, Bessie (Rita Zohar). A survivor of the holocaust who's known Eleanor since they were both 20-something-year-olds in New York City, Bessie has never confided in anyone like she's confided in Eleanor, especially when it comes to the tragic loss of her brother during World War II. However, when Bessie passes away and Eleanor decides to move to Manhattan to live with her daughter, Lisa (Jessica Hecht), and her teenage grandson, Max (Will Price), Eleanor finds herself inadvertently recounting Bessie's stories as her own. Accidentally walking into a Holocaust support group, Eleanor can't bring herself to admit to her new friends that she's made a mistake, so she continues on with her little white lie. As luck would have it, though, an NYU journalism student named Nina Davis (Erin Kellyman) also happens to be sitting in on the group. And when Nina hears Eleanor's story, she can't help but bring it to the attention of her TV reporter dad, Roger (Chiwetel Ejiofor). It's a fateful meeting that will see Eleanor becoming one of the city's feel-good news stories. But will Eleanor fess up before it's too late? Anchored by another scene-stealing performance from Squibb, who won over moviegoers' hearts with her roles in Thelma and Nebraska, the result is an endearing tale that aims to tug at audiences' heartstrings while also lightly tickling their funny bones. But while Eleanor the Great delivers effective melodrama punctuated by moments of levity, it never manages to go beyond the surface with its exploration of grief. Make no mistake, Johansson proves perfectly capable behind the camera and the cast is uniformly excellent. However, in the grand scheme of things, this is one directorial debut that's merely good, as opposed to great. |
Eleanor the Great screens under the Gala Presentations programme at the 2025 Toronto International Film Festival. Its runtime is 1 hr. 38 min.
0 comments