By Keith Walther | Rose Law Group Reporter
The film may not be as grandiose as its title, but it has enough emotional depth and character to make it interesting. “Eleanor the Great” is a new drama with the age defying June Squibb in the titular role, and it is the feature film debut for Scarlett Johansson in the director’s chair. This is a movie that starts out great, but its faults prevent it from achieving its potential.
94-year-old Eleanor (June Squibb) has been living with her best friend Bessie (Rita Zohar) for the past 11 years in a Florida apartment. The inseparable roommates cherish their time together, sharing everything about their lives. When Bessie tragically passes away, Eleanor is forced to move back to New York, close to her daughter Lisa (Jessica Hecht).
Listless and grief-stricken over the loss of her friend, Eleanor seeks an outlet, a purpose to keep going. She inadvertently stumbles into a Holocaust support group who immediately welcome her as one of them, and she proceeds to recount the vivid memories of surviving that hellish event. The only problem is, they were Bessie’s memories, not Eleanor’s. What begins as a small, harmless lie takes on a life of its own as it snowballs into an avalanche that threatens to unintentionally hurt the people she loves.
Scarlett Johansson has elevated herself to be one of the more sought-after actresses in Hollywood, but she diversifies her portfolio by sitting in the director’s chair for this film. Her debut as a filmmaker is a solid one as she weaves this dramatic story together in a compelling way. Scarlett opts for a basic, simplistic filmmaking approach, understandably preferring substance over style. This does yield a layer of predictability as the story meanders down its heavily formatted path.
She focuses on the weighty topics of loss and processing grief by having multiple main characters going through this human condition simultaneously. Scarlett takes great care exploring how everyone processes these debilitating emotions differently. In this way, audiences are able to emotionally connect and relate to this story.
However, Scarlett inadvertently stumbles across a golden opportunity to bring some hilarious comedy into the otherwise depressing plot. The opening act of the film showed dynamic repartee between the Eleanor and Bessie characters, creating laugh out loud moments that make it seem this movie could be a female reinvention of “Grumpy Old Men.” Unfortunately, she just skims the surface, and after that first 10-15 minutes, the humor goes into a deep hibernation, never to be seen for the rest of the film. Sprinkling in more comedy could have helped improve the pacing, while also bringing more levity to dark subject matter that could actually enhance the audience’s emotional response when those melodramatic moments do occur.
The acting is led by the always charming June Squibb. At 95 years of age, this is only her second leading role in a film, the first being last year’s severely underrated and underappreciated “Thelma,” which should have netted her an Oscar nomination. This performance may not have risen to that caliber, but she still exhibits that spunky charisma that makes viewers hang on her every word. Her amusing chemistry with Rita Zohar is unmistakable, making audiences wish that this was more of a buddy comedy.
There’s a lot to be said for the supporting cast as well, which features Oscar nominee Chiwetel Ejiofor (“12 Years a Slave”) as a prominent television journalist and Erin Kellyman (“28 Years Later”) as his daughter. They both do a fantastic job of providing meaningful depth to their characters that contribute to the overarching themes of the movie. They beautifully portray another facet of grief and its impact on the father/daughter relationship that becomes another touching element to this story.
This movie may not be the most exciting or gratifying, but it has heart, which is more than can be said for most of the theatrical releases lately. “Eleanor the Great” is a thoughtful exploration of loss and grief best enjoyed from the comforts of home. Plus June Squibb is a treasure that makes it worth seeing.
This movie earns:
