Following the success of Thelma in 2024, 95-year-old actor June Squibb once again lights up the screen, this time as the titular acerbic pensioner who leaves Florida to return to New York following the death of her life-long best friend Bessie (Rita Zohar). While Scarlett Johansson’s directorial debut suffers from an overstuffed screenplay, it has memorable moments thanks to Squibb’s nuanced performance.

Squibb sent Johansson the script as she felt an affinity with the main character, and Johansson has stated she was attracted to the project because Eleanor reminded her of her Jewish grandmother. The strongest aspect of the film revolves around Eleanor and Bessie’s relationship which is mostly pieced together through flashbacks. Bessie, a Holocaust survivor, reveals her tragic story to Eleanor, and when the latter accidentally stumbles into a survivors meeting group, she panics and claims the story as her own. 

Young aspiring journalist Nina (Erin Kellyman) decides to make Eleanor’s story the focus of her university project to gain attention from her famous broadcaster father Roger (Chiwetel Ejiofor) who is grieving after the loss of his wife. Feeling lonely and disconnected from her daughter Lisa (Jessica Hecht), Eleanor continues the lie and forms a strong bond with Nina. 

As far as Johansson’s directing skills go, she elegantly swathes her nonagenarian leading lady in gorgeous natural lights, expertly assisted by acclaimed cinematographer Hélène Louvart. Yet in its attempt to tie together themes of grief, intergenerational friendship and the delicate subject of the Holocaust, a clumsy screenplay delivers an unsatisfying denouement.

Eleanor The Great is in cinemas from Friday 12 December.