Film Review: ELEANOR THE GREAT (2025): June Squibb Shines in Scarlett Johansson’s Emotional and Moving Film

Eleanor the Great Review

Eleanor the Great (2025) Film Review, a movie directed by Scarlett Johansson, written by Tory Kamen and starring June Squibb, Erin Kellyman, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Jessica Hecht, Rita Zohar, Will Price, Stephen Singer, Elaine Bromka, Raymond Anthony Thomas, Cole Ragsdale, Stephen C. Bradbury, TJ Lee and Mila Falkof.

Scarlett Johansson has directed a powerful story of friendship with the emotional drama, Eleanor the Great. While it tackles difficult themes and bites off more than it can chew at times, this film is a moving portrait of the healing power of friendship and a tale of learning how to let go of the grief that haunts us from the past.

The terrific June Squibb plays Eleanor, a woman in her 90’s who struggles to find common ground with her bossy daughter, Lisa (Jessica Hecht), after the loss of her friend, Bessie (Rita Zohar), a Holocaust survivor. This film opens by establishing the bond between Bessie and Eleanor. Set in New York City, the movie eventually ends up focusing on a new friendship which is formed between Eleanor and a young NYU student journalist named Nina (the wonderful Erin Kellyman).

A funny early scene has a supermarket stock boy named Charlie (Tristan Murphy) telling the very opinionated Eleanor that all pickles are the same. Eleanor hilariously puts Charlie in his place by having him march to the back of the store to get her the type of pickles she and Bessie would like to have.

After Bessie’s death, Eleanor ends up accidentally attending a support group for Holocaust survivors. Nina is there to do research for a class and becomes fascinated by Eleanor who shares a story of Bessie’s past that fascinates the support group. One problem, though: Eleanor has presented Bessie’s tragic story as her own.

Chiwetel Ejiofor, reliable as always, plays Nina’s TV journalist, Roger who has distanced himself from Nina after the death of Roger’s wife/Nina’s mom, a successful artist. Nina is a well-written character who is played with delicate sensitivity by Kellyman. As Nina begins to question Eleanor about her past, the two ladies begin to develop a friendship that could just make both of them find some level of happiness in their ordinary lives. Then, there’s that pesky thing called the truth which is bound to come out at some point and jeopardize the relationship that has been forged between Nina and Eleanor.

Scarlett Johansson directs with wonderful attention to small details that make the movie shine. I liked a quick scene where Nina and Eleanor share pizza together at an East Village pizza shop that is, admittedly, the best pizza in that area in real life. Johansson doesn’t make Eleanor into a sympathetic character at first, surprisingly. Eleanor is flawed and has several things about her which drive her grown daughter crazy. It is Eleanor’s imperfections that make her come to life as a character and Squibb is certainly more than up to the task of injecting her character with charisma and appeal.

Erin Kellyman is pretty much the heart of the movie as Nina. She cries several times throughout the picture which may make you think she has a showier role than Squibb’s, but the part of Nina ultimately ends up helping to shed light on Eleanor as a character too. Eleanor teaches Nina things about life that Nina has little knowledge about and both characters grow through their interactions together. Johansson’s direction is heartfelt as both lead characters become extremely relatable as the movie progresses.

Eleanor the Great has moving scenes that don’t feel manipulative even though they may make you cry. As Bessie, Rita Zohar is the true standout in the supporting cast as the friend of Eleanor’s who shared her life with her for many years. There’s a concluding scene in the picture that offers great sadness and complexity regarding the themes at the picture’s helm and Zohar’s performance is a moving one which will keep the viewer emotionally invested in the picture.

While Johansson has picked an occasionally problematic story to tell, she tells it straightforwardly and in an entertaining fashion. June Squibb sinks her teeth into the role of Eleanor and offers an even better performance than the one she gave in the recent acclaimed film, Thelma. Squibb is doing as terrific work as she has ever done in her career during her twilight years and this is a turn that should not be overlooked. Kellyman more than holds her own beside her in a bright, energetic turn full of heart, sadness and complexity. These two performers play off each other with great precision and the result will tug at the audience’s heartstrings.

If there is a lot of difficulty buying the premise of Eleanor the Great initially, the fact is that the movie will eventually have audiences believing in the healing power of friendship and the need to tell our difficult stories in order to bring us together as human beings. It’s a very good movie that deserves to find an appreciative audience.

Rating: 7.5/10

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