June Squibb Saves an Unsteady Film

There’s something eternally fascinating about the unwinding tale of a fraud. Their inevitable demise is as anxiety-inducing as it is rewarding, to some degree. Whether their deception earns them community, intimate friendship or a valuable lesson, narrative fiction often has the fraudulent character walk away with something gained. More specifically, the support-group fraud has become an entertainment trope of sorts: Works like The Confidante, Dead to Me, Twinless and Fight Club all fall into this peculiar subgenre, and so does Tony winner Scarlett Johansson‘s directorial debut, Eleanor the Great. Suffice to say, however, characters who take advantage of the vulnerability and pain of others tend to be quite nuanced, if not polarizing.

Eleanor the Great follows the trials and tribulations of a snarky Iowa-born 94-year-old Jewish convert named Eleanor Morgenstein, played by the incomparable Oscar nominee June Squibb. Eleanor loses a part of herself when her best friend and lifelong partner in crime, Bessie (Rita Zohar) — a Holocaust survivor — passes away. Forced to move from Florida to her uptight daughter Lisa’s (Jessica Hecht) Manhattan apartment, Eleanor’s life is turned upside down. Given her aversion to alone time, Eleanor’s daughter strongly encourages her to attend a “Broadway singing squad” at the Jewish Community Center. She reluctantly goes, only to find herself sitting at the edge of a chair circle in a different group at the JCC: the Holocaust survivors support group. Before she knows it, Eleanor takes ownership of the late Bessie’s personal trauma, telling her friend’s unfathomable Holocaust experiences to a group of survivors. Naturally, the lie spirals out of control, especially when Nina (Erin Kellyman), an NYU journalism student, latches onto Eleanor in the wake of her mother’s death.

Written by Tory Kamen, Eleanor the Great is a contemporary dramedy about the lesser-discussed symptoms of grief and their ensuing pitfalls, told through a mightily New York Jewish lens. The journey to the film’s morals and themes — including forgiveness, acceptance, loneliness, survivor’s guilt and the courage to be vulnerable — is an undeniably strange one. Some viewers may feel uneasy giggling as Squibb sings a makeshift tune about her daughter’s humble abode not being stocked with bananas, or as she begins her grandiose lie with the statement, “I’m from Poland originally,” because — let’s face it — there’s nothing humorous about the Holocaust. At times, Johansson’s film can be tonally muddled, which can either make for a pleasantly nuanced or an uncomfortable viewing experience. Still, she finds a way to respect the atrocities faced by European Jews in the 1930s and ’40s by focusing on resilience, healing and the power of community.

Johansson is Jewish, as is Squibb, and the film’s support group members are all played by real-life Holocaust survivors. But authenticity and respect don’t entirely make up for Eleanor the Great‘s abundance of clichés and borderline cheesy moments, which cheapen a touchy film overflowing with talent.

June Squibb and Rita Zohar are the Greats

Squibb and Zohar carry Eleanor the Great, and their characters’ elderly girly-pop friendship illuminates the film’s charming opening. Calming Florida visuals set the scene: matching straw visors and white Velcro orthopedic sneakers, Eleanor’s bubblegum pink rollers and powder blue robe combo, flamingo art, beach-bound stretches and a stained-glass Star of David hanging in a window. This seven-decade friendship is clearly rich in memories, and their bond is evident. But when the duo’s codependency is suddenly broken, Eleanor is forced to carry on, moving to Manhattan at the age of 94. But Eleanor is no stranger to New York City — she lived in the Bronx with her husband for 40 years before moving to the Sunshine State.

Upon arrival, Eleanor’s abrasiveness with Lisa, who believes her mother would thrive at an assisted living facility, is a bit trite. Comments about Lisa’s hair and her crass teen nickname, “the class mattress,” feel as though they were plucked from the overbearing-mother playbook. That’s not to say Eleanor is a stock Jewish mother character, but her shaky relationship with her daughter and loud personality are certainly recycled personality traits. Still, these oversights don’t stop Squibb from uplifting her brazen, no-filter character with a stellar performance that’s both biting and evocative of the most doleful aspects of the human condition. She’s undoubtedly a comedic gem, and the stunning finesse of her facial expressions is laudable.

Eleanor’s youthful presence is brought to the screen through her beverage choices — there’s something adorable about watching Squibb sip on Starbucks Frappuccinos and cartons of Tropicana orange juice — and her habit of attending strangers’ Bat Mitzvahs. Her budding friendship with Nina is also a nod to her childlike essence: they’re over 70 years apart in age, but their commonalities arise as Nina interviews “Holocaust survivor” Eleanor for a college assignment. Nina unknowingly looks to Eleanor to fill the maternal hole in her heart, and Eleanor unknowingly looks to Nina to fill the friendship hole in hers.

Shown primarily via flashbacks, Zohar’s performance as Bessie is heart-wrenching. The Yiddish theater veteran seemingly enters Bessie’s soul, revealing her character’s dismal personal story with a piercing ache in her heart. Taken in by a Christian family during WWII, little 9-year-old Bessie, her brother and her mother hid inside a closet until Nazis eventually deported them to Auschwitz. All Bessie ever wanted was for her brother’s existence to be known — and although her wish is fulfilled under controversial circumstances, in her way Eleanor does just that. Of course, her deceitful double life comes back to bite her, but there’s something poetic about making big mistakes as a nonagenarian.

As an odd ode to the Torah’s story of Jacob and Esau — specifically, its depiction of deception and truth — Eleanor the Great has the pieces for a moving film about the funky aspects of grief. But in the end, its central Holocaust-survivor fraud plot and clunky pull-at-your-heartstrings scenes hold it back from, well, greatness. Even so, Squibb fans will find beauty and joy in Johansson’s debut feature.

From Sony Pictures Classics, Eleanor the Great opens in theaters on September 26, 2025.