After seventy years with best friend and long-time roommate Bessie, Eleanor (June Squibb, THEMA) moves to New York City for a fresh start. Making new friends at 94 proves difficult. Longing for connection, she befriends a 19-year-old student. Eleanor the Great reminds us that it’s never too late to get yourself into a whole lot of trouble. Directorial debut for actress Scarlett Johansson, from a script by Tory Kamen.
Compulsively chatty, ultra-opinionated, and lacking in boundaries, Eleanor is a fascinating heroine and an absolute hoot. Drawing upon her wide-ranging experience as an actor, Johansson focuses her gaze on the intricacies of Squibb’s performance, which exudes a complexity rarely afforded to elderly characters, and keeps us laughing, even through the most uncomfortable of confrontations.
