Eleanor the Great, Scarlett Johansson’s feature-directing debut, is built on a formidable foundation: June Squibb, who is now in her 90s and coming off a career high with the action-comedy Thelma. She plays Eleanor Morgenstein, a sharp Floridian golden-ager – you’d better know where those pickles are, young man.
She shares a small life, a steady routine, giggly jokes, errands and people-watching by the sea with her best friend, Bessie (a tremendous Rita Zohar). The retirees’ early scenes together are the best part of the movie. When Bessie dies the film shifts as Eleanor moves to New York to live with her daughter (Jessica Hecht) and grandson (Will Price).
What follows is a premise that is impossible to wrangle into a pleasing shape: Eleanor accidentally joins a group for Holocaust survivors, then continues attending by passing off Bessie’s real survival story as her own.
From there the plot expands to include a grieving journalism student (Erin Kellyman), her newscaster father (Chiwetel Ejiofor) and Eleanor’s renewed interest in Judaism.
Eleanor the Great review: Scarlett Johansson’s directorial debut serves its fine cast poorly
Ella McCay: Big-hearted political comic drama struggles to live up to its superb cast
Hamnet review: Five stars for Jessie Buckley and Paul Mescal’s devastating film
Wake Up Dead Man review: Another cosy murder mystery for Daniel Craig’s Poirot send-up
The film frantically tries to juggle farce, family comedy and the inherited trauma of the Holocaust. The results are not as egregious as Life Is Beautiful, but too much feels unearned and wildly inappropriate.
Tory Kamen’s scattered, ambitious script can’t justify Eleanor’s impersonation. Many great stories pivot around an increasingly elaborate lie. This one doesn’t hold: there is simply no compelling obstacle to Eleanor’s calling a halt to the entire business. An obfuscating final act reframes the feisty heroine’s deception in a framework of remembrance and forgiveness.
Johansson can’t solve the structural inadequacies, but she directs in a clean, fluid style that keeps the action moving. Hélène Louvart’s sunny cinematography enlivens every frame.
Squibb injects enough energy, empathy and comic timing to make Eleanor watchable even when her choices strain credibility. It’s commendable that Johansson parlayed her Hollywood clout into a leading role for the charismatic nonagenarian. Unhappily, the material seldom rises to meet the calibre of its participants.
In cinemas from Friday, December 12th
