Movies: Eleanor the Great (2025) by Scarlett Johansson: The Power of Story, Memory, and Second Chances
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In her directorial debut, Scarlett Johansson delivers a heartfelt and emotionally complex drama with Eleanor the Great — a story about grief, memory, and the lies we tell to make life bearable. Led by a luminous performance from June Squibb, the film balances humour and heartbreak, revealing how storytelling can both heal and destroy.
General Description: A Story About Loss, Lies, and Late-Life Liberation
Eleanor the Great follows Eleanor Morgenstein, a 94-year-old widow whose grief drives her to invent a story that takes on a life of its own. Moving from a Florida retirement community to her daughter’s Manhattan apartment, Eleanor’s loneliness leads her to claim another woman’s Holocaust memories as her own — a lie that spirals dangerously out of control.
Written by Tory Kamen and directed by Scarlett Johansson, the film premiered at the 2025 Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) and quickly drew attention for its emotional depth and elegant storytelling. It stars June Squibb, Erin Kellyman, and Chiwetel Ejiofor, blending sharp dialogue, bittersweet humour, and moral complexity.
Johansson’s debut marks a new chapter in her career — a restrained, character-driven film that explores truth, guilt, and intergenerational understanding.
Why to Watch This Movie: A Lie with a Heartbeat
At once tender and unsettling, Eleanor the Great invites audiences to empathize with a flawed protagonist who finds meaning in deception. Johansson crafts a film that feels deeply humane — a story about connection, grief, and the stories we tell ourselves to survive.
June Squibb’s career-best performance: At 96, Squibb delivers a performance of humour, fragility, and fierce independence that anchors the entire film.
A fresh directorial voice: Johansson proves herself an actor’s director, balancing empathy with precision and restraint.
Themes of storytelling and identity: The movie blurs the line between truth and fiction, asking whether comfort can justify deceit.
Emotional honesty: Equal parts poignant and funny, it explores how aging can bring both wisdom and chaos.
This is not a tragedy, but a gentle reckoning — a film about learning that even lies can carry truth when spoken from love and loss.
Where to watch: https://www.justwatch.com/us/movie/eleanor-the-great (US), https://www.justwatch.com/ca/movie/eleanor-the-great (Canada)
Link IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt30268321/
About movie: https://www.sonyclassics.com/film/eleanorthegreat/
What Is the Trend Followed: Humanism in Late-Life Cinema
Eleanor the Great fits a growing trend in contemporary cinema — intimate, character-led stories about aging, memory, and reinvention, seen in films like Thelma (2024), The Last Bus (2021), and The Duke (2020).
Late-life protagonists: Portraying older characters with depth and dignity, not as side figures but as full human beings with complexity.
Cross-generational connections: Exploring the bonds between youth and the elderly, showing empathy as a bridge across time.
Moral ambiguity: The film embraces nuance — a lie told for emotional survival rather than manipulation.
Gentle visual realism: Soft lighting and minimalistic framing evoke the quiet poetry of everyday life.
In an era dominated by spectacle, Eleanor the Great stands as part of a cinematic counter-trend — small-scale films that find grandeur in human fragility.
Movie Plot: The Cost of a Beautiful Lie
The film unfolds as both a character study and moral fable — a story that begins with laughter and ends in reckoning.
Eleanor Morgenstein (June Squibb) loses her best friend Bessie and, adrift in grief, moves to New York to live with her daughter (Jessica Hecht) and grandson (Will Price). (Trend: grief as catalyst for reinvention.)
Mistakenly attending a Holocaust survivor support group, Eleanor fabricates a past for herself, blending her friend’s memories with her imagination. (Trend: self-invention as emotional survival.)
A young journalism student, Nina (Erin Kellyman), becomes fascinated by Eleanor’s “story,” befriending her and recording interviews.
Nina’s father, Roger (Chiwetel Ejiofor), a journalist, sees potential for a news feature — and Eleanor’s lie begins to spiral into public exposure.
The tension builds toward revelation, as Eleanor’s invented past threatens to unravel her newfound relationships.
In the film’s closing act, she must choose between keeping her false comfort or confessing the truth — an act that could destroy everything but might finally bring peace.
Through this premise, Johansson explores how memory and storytelling shape our identities, especially when the truth feels unbearable.
Director’s Vision: Scarlett Johansson’s Poetic Debut
Scarlett Johansson’s first feature reveals her as a director with empathy, patience, and a strong cinematic eye. Her approach is deeply character-focused, avoiding melodrama in favour of quiet observation.
Tone and texture: Johansson uses warmth and restraint, favouring silences and glances over exposition.
Visual symbolism: Mirrors, photographs, and dim lighting reflect the interplay between memory and fabrication.
Collaborative storytelling: She gives her actors space to breathe, creating scenes that feel lived-in rather than performed.
Female authorship: Johansson joins directors like Greta Gerwig and Rebecca Hall in redefining women’s stories in later life — without sentimentality or pity.
Her direction turns what could have been a simple moral tale into a meditation on empathy, loneliness, and reinvention.
Themes: Truth, Grief, and the Stories We Tell
Eleanor the Great operates on multiple emotional and philosophical levels — balancing humour, sadness, and moral unease.
Grief and loneliness: The film portrays the isolation that follows loss and how storytelling becomes a coping mechanism.
The ethics of memory: What happens when someone finds meaning in a story that isn’t theirs?
Female friendship: Eleanor and Bessie’s relationship is the emotional heart of the film — love as both anchor and wound.
Intergenerational empathy: Eleanor’s bond with Nina bridges decades, showing how storytelling connects souls across time.
Identity and reinvention: The film questions whether we ever truly stop rewriting who we are.
Johansson treats these themes not as moral lessons, but as questions — invitations to compassion rather than judgment.
Main Factors Behind Its Impact: Why the Story Stays With You
Eleanor the Great resonates because it finds truth in contradiction — a film that’s both about deceit and honesty, sorrow and humour, aging and rebirth. It lingers because it refuses cynicism, offering empathy instead.
Emotional sincerity: Every moment feels deeply human, balancing vulnerability with humour.
Magnetic lead performance: June Squibb’s portrayal of Eleanor captures the full spectrum of late-life emotion — mischief, guilt, tenderness, and pride.
Strong supporting cast: Erin Kellyman brings youthful warmth, while Chiwetel Ejiofor adds quiet gravitas.
Thoughtful writing: Tory Kamen’s script embraces moral ambiguity, treating lies not as evil but as expressions of longing.
Visual elegance: Johansson’s directing style is simple yet cinematic — evoking New York’s winter streets as symbols of both loneliness and renewal.
It’s a story that grows softer with reflection — a film that comforts even as it unsettles.
Awards & Nominations: Recognition for Empathy and Grace
Eleanor the Great earned 1 win and 4 nominations across major festivals, including TIFF and Rome, praised for its writing and June Squibb’s performance. Johansson was recognised as a promising new directorial voice, while Kamen’s script was lauded for its compassion and originality.
Critics Reception: Tender, Thoughtful, and Unafraid of Complexity
Critics have called Eleanor the Great “a small film with a huge heart.” Its subtlety, honesty, and emotional precision drew comparisons to The Farewell and Amour.
Variety: “Johansson directs with sensitivity and control — a graceful debut that refuses easy sentiment.”
The Guardian: “June Squibb delivers a late-career masterclass. A film about loss that brims with life.”
IndieWire: “A stunningly humane debut — bittersweet, wry, and deeply moving.”
Screen Daily: “Johansson’s empathy and restraint make Eleanor the Great one of the quiet triumphs of the year.”
Overall: Critics celebrated it as a rare film about old age that feels young in spirit — both wise and alive.
Reviews: Audiences Moved by Truth in Fiction
Audiences have responded warmly to Eleanor the Great, praising its gentle pacing, humour, and emotional payoff.
Letterboxd: “It sneaks up on you — funny, heartbreaking, and ultimately life-affirming.”
User reviews: Highlight Squibb’s charm and Johansson’s sensitivity, calling it “a film that feels like a long hug after a long goodbye.”
Some noted its slow pacing, but most agreed that the restraint suited the tone and emotional maturity.
Overall: Viewers connect with its honesty — it’s a film about mistakes, forgiveness, and finding beauty in imperfection.
Theatrical Release: When and Where
Premiere: September 26, 2025 (TIFF)
Wide release: December 12, 2025 (UK & US)
Runtime: 1h 38m
Box office (as of Oct 2025): $2.5M worldwide
Distribution: Dauphin Films / Maven Pictures
Movie Trend: Late-Life Cinema and Emotional Authenticity
Eleanor the Great reflects the rise of “silver narratives” — emotionally rich stories centred on older protagonists exploring new chapters rather than endings. Films like Thelma, Supernova, and The Father paved the way, proving that cinema can find vitality in reflection.
Johansson’s debut expands this genre by pairing elder introspection with youthful curiosity, making it both a meditation on age and a celebration of connection.
Social Trend: Storytelling as Survival
The film mirrors a broader social fascination with memory, truth, and the ethics of storytelling. In an age where identity is constantly rewritten — online, in art, in politics — Eleanor the Great asks whether authenticity is about facts or feelings.
Eleanor’s journey reflects our collective impulse to curate ourselves into coherence, even at the cost of truth. In doing so, the film becomes a meditation on what it means to be remembered — and to remember yourself.
Final Verdict: A Quietly Powerful Debut
Scarlett Johansson’s Eleanor the Great is a compassionate, elegant, and deeply human story that affirms the power of storytelling — both its grace and its danger. Anchored by June Squibb’s unforgettable performance, it’s a film that whispers truths rather than shouts them.
It’s about how grief transforms into invention, how lies become love letters, and how even at 94, one can still rewrite their story.
Similar Movies: Graceful Reflections on Age and Memory
The Thelma (2024) – A late-life adventure filled with defiance and dignity.
The Farewell (2019) – Lies told out of love and family protection.
Amour (2012) – Aging, devotion, and the quiet power of truth.
Still Alice (2014) – Identity and memory through decline.
The Duke (2020) – Compassionate humour about moral complexity.