Eleanor the Great: Scarlett Johansson convinces as a filmmaker (review)

The American star signs a modest first film, carried by actress June Squibb, between New York irony and tender melancholy.

We weren’t necessarily expecting him there. First production of Scarlett Johansson, Eleanor the Great has the modesty of a film that doesn’t bring it back – but also, sometimes, the blandness of a TV film that’s a little too tame. We follow Eleanor, a nonagenarian with a spicy verb (June Squibb, imperial), who joins her New York family after the death of her best friend. There, her little daily comedy takes a new turn: one day she appropriates fragments of the story of her deceased friend, a former survivor of the camps.

This imposture will put her on the path of Nina, a battered student who gradually becomes both her lifeline and her moral mirror. Softness of tone, sensitive subject, the film exudes a little Allenian scent, with its mixture of dry sarcasm, cold humor and veiled melancholy. Each time the camera focuses on Eleanor, Johansson finds the tempo and Squibb electrifies the screen: we laugh and we walk with her, even if our throats sometimes tighten. But as soon as the story focuses on the restorative friendship between Nina and Eleanor, the staging calms down, the adventures unfold in a mechanical way, and the vibration fades.

What remains is a respectful first film, thought out with accuracy and on a human level, never condescending, and carried by an endearing cast. Johansson handles his dilemma tactfully. And if the finale (sentimental, not to say tearful) disappoints a little, the chronicle retains enough delicacy to move.

Of Scarlett Johansson. With June Squibb, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Erin Kellyman… Duration: 1h38. Released November 17, 2025