The legendary June Squibb had a banner year in 2024, with Josh Margolin’s Thelma, a film that gave the 94-year-old actress her first leading role in a feature film. Thelma was funny, heartbreaking and emotionally resonant. I was very excited to see her follow-up performance, in Scarlett Johansson’s directorial debut Eleanor the Great. I managed to learn very little about this film before going into it, which is usually a good thing. However, for this film, I think it would have done me well to know a little more going in. Because where I was expecting a sweet little June Squibb vehicle, I found a cynical, depressing and almost dangerous story that I think is going to be hard for a lot of audiences to swallow. 

94-year-old Eleanor Morgenstein (Squibb) lives with her friend Bessie (Rita Zohar) in Florida. Eleanor and Bessie have lived together for over 50 years. Once Bessie suddenly passes away, Eleanor goes to live with her daughter Lisa (Jessica Hecht) in New York, where she is originally from. Lisa sends her mother to an event at the local JCC, hoping she’ll make friends. Eleanor stumbles into a meeting for Holocaust survivors, and begins to tell Bessie’s story, and everyone mistakes this story as her own. Eleanor doesn’t correct them, and this snowballs into a larger lie when journalism student Nina (Erin Kellyman), who is writing a piece about Holocaust survivors, befriends her and wants to know more. Eleanor finds herself with a new lease on life, but it’s all contingent upon this life story she’s passing off as her own.

Eleanor the Great certainly means well, and it gives the fantastic June Squibb the opportunity to really dig deep into a character. Which, that should be enough to earn this film a glowing recommendation. However, Tory Kamen’s script is satisfied with settling into cliches that are inauthentic at best and offensive at worst. I think the flaws in this film are mostly to blame on that script, which tries to do too much and ultimately doesn’t do enough. I’ve seen the comparison that this film is essentially Dear Evan Hansen with June Squibb, and that’s a fair assessment. And I’m one of that film’s few defenders (mainly because I love the stage musical), and even I was put off a bit by the story being told here. And that’s probably because of the historical context and how that muddles everything happening here. I’m not Jewish, nor do I know any Holocaust survivors, so my opinion here can’t carry much weight, but I worry some audiences might find this story condescending or even insulting.

June Squibb is just a national treasure and can do no wrong. And she’s constantly working to elevate this film to the level she’s established for herself and to wring something emotionally true out of this. And often, she gets there. But it seems like this script is actively working against her at every turn. She has lovely chemistry with Erin Kellyman, and the audience is really rooting for this friendship, even if it’s predicated on this terrible lie. Chiwetel Ejiofor plays Nina’s father, and this family has recently suffered the loss of its matriarch, and that grief is the basis for what this relationship becomes. Ejiofor has a terrific monologue near the end, and that’s the closest this film got to moving me to tears. And this is a film that really wants you to cry.

Scarlett Johansson as a director, shows promise. She makes the smart decision of getting out of her actors’ way and letting their performances take center stage. French cinematographer Hélène Louvart shot this, and she paints a familiar, yet vivid New York, but makes Eleanor’s isolation feel real. Johansson’s direction is unfussy, yet shows a clear point of view that is very distinct. I’m not sure why this was the first story she wanted to tell as a director, but there’s a good bit here that feels like it must be personal to her in some way. It’s not her fault that the script she’s directing is a jumbled mess.

Ultimately, I found Eleanor the Great to be a rather bizarre viewing experience. On paper, I should have really enjoyed this film. You have the amazing June Squibb in a role worthy of her, a remarkable achievement in itself for a 95-year-old actor. And at the outset, Eleanor the Great seems like a poignant film about grief, loneliness, friendship, aging and loss. And it comes so close to saying something true and genuine about any of those subjects, that when the film never really does, it leaves you unsatisfied and a bit cold. If this sounds like a story you would enjoy, I would say go see it for the incredible work June Squibb is doing. Maybe it will be enough for the film to move you more than it did me. But the feeling of something critical being slightly off the entire time is something that, in my opinion, the movie never quite recovers from.