Two-time Oscar nominee Scarlett Johansson has already had an impressive career, starring in films including Marriage Story, Jojo Rabbit and Lost in Translation, and now she’s taking her talents behind the camera. Johansson’s directorial debut Eleanor the Great hits the 2025 movie calendar on September 26, and critics are weighing in on the drama.
Eleanor the Great stars June Squibb — who opened up about what it’s like to be directed by Scarlett Johansson — as the titular Eleanor, a 94-year-old woman who strikes up an unlikely friendship with a young journalism student (Erin Kellyman) at a Holocaust survivors group. Kristy Puchko of Mashable says Squibb carries the movie with a side-splittingly funny and tear-jerkingly poignant performance. The critic also praises the director’s (slightly bumpy) exploration of grief, writing:
To Johansson's credit, the movie — while leaping locations, delving into flashbacks, and handling several sensitive topics — flows well, carried by the screen presence of Squibb and her terrific grandma-granddaughter chemistry with Kellyman. They share a love and respect that never fumbles into the pitfalls of ageist assumptions of either the elderly or the young. However, the final act gets away from Johansson, as it veers from a fairly grounded film into the treacly sentimentality of a Hallmark movie.
Lindsey Bahr of the AP rates it 2.5 out of 4 stars, writing that the story becomes less about how Eleanor is processing her grief and more about her lie growing out of control. As for the director, the critic says we have yet to see what ScarJo brings to the table. In Bahr’s words:
Johansson directs the proceedings simply, like a classic New York character drama, allowing the performances to shine over the filmmaking, but who she is as a filmmaker remains to be seen. Squibb and Kellyman, both terrific, are the real reasons to seek out Eleanor the Great. The film may trip over its own contrivances but their performances will leave you moved.
Monica Castillo of RogerEbert.com also gives the movie 2.5 out of 4 stars. She struggles with the morality of Eleanor the Great’s story, feeling June Squibb’s character is too easily absolved of the hurt she causes through her dishonest actions. However, Scarlett Johansson’s fearlessness in tackling complex characters is promising for her future, and Squibb’s performance is memorable. Castillo continues:
The film itself has its charming moments. Johansson and director of photography Hélène Louvart give Squibb a glowing spotlight, and she wears it well. There are numerous close-ups of the actress, giving her the screen time and space to feel out her character’s conflicts, capturing her coy smiles, her impish delight over a cutting remark when it lands on its target, and panicked frowns when she realizes her stolen story has breached containment.
For some critics, though, the main character’s deception is too despicable to get past. Nick Schager of the Daily Beast calls Scarlett Johansson’s direction “unremarkable,” and says Eleanor is a "charlatan," whose lie is akin to stolen valor. The movie makes a “strange and misguided” attempt to justify her actions in the name of grief, but not even June Squibb can pull it off. The critic writes:
The story of a woman who does an unthinkable thing and is subsequently absolved of her sins by narrative contrivances and screwy logic, Scarlett Johansson’s directorial debut is a misguided wannabe-uplifting saga about grief, forgiveness, and keeping important memories alive. Squibb may be as great as always, but this wrongheaded Holocaust variation on Dear Evan Hansen fails to live up to her character’s nickname.
Tim Grierson of AV Club gives Eleanor the Great a C-, saying the “tonally tricky” film is insultingly syrupy in its efforts to put a happy face on the trauma that it intends to memorialize. The most “aggravating” part, according to the critic, is Scarlett Johansson’s insistence that we find Eleanor endearing. Grierson continues:
Is Eleanor The Great the melancholy story of a grief-stricken woman? Or is there something more devious (or demented) in Eleanor’s flouting of the truth? A sharper movie would have explored those intriguing questions. But Johansson is after something far tidier and syrupy. Her manipulative film introduces an inherently nervy premise but then quickly and unconvincingly pivots away from its more serious implications. Squibb plays Eleanor with blandly crotchety adorableness, her incurious movie ignoring any potentially compelling inner conflict.
The story in Eleanor the Great is complicated, to be sure, and heart-wrenching on a number of levels. While the critics agree June Squibb is fabulous, they don’t seem to agree on what this says about Scarlett Johansson as a director or if the film accomplishes what it sets out to.
If you want to draw your own conclusions about the film, Eleanor the Great is in theaters now.
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