‘Eleanor the Great’ stars…..
With a focus on far younger Instagram friendly stars it’s always good to see really old school actors get their moment to shine and 95 year old June Squibb though having worked consistently throughout her career has really come to notice after her Oscar nominated turn in 2014’s ‘Nebraska’. Eleanor the Great gives her a lead role as the title character sharing a condominium in Florida with her best friend Bessie (Rita Zohar) a Holocaust survivor who still struggles with the memory of her brother who died escaping from a camp. But when Bessie dies Eleanor moves back to New York to live with her single mum daughter Lisa (Jessica Hecht) and grandson Max (Will Price). Both are busy and with Eleanor frequently humiliating her daughter in front of her grandson its little wonder that Lisa is keen to find a care home for her. Cantankerous and not always likeable pushing away those she should be closest to Eleanor not always a likeable.
What’s Eleanor the Great about?
Finding herself alone she is introduced to a Holocaust survivors group and is asked about her own story. Except what she tells them is not her story. She was never in any camp and instead passes off Bessie’s lived experience as her own. At the group also is Nina (Erin Kellyman) a student journalist there for an assignment but struggling with her own grief after the passing of her mother whilst her broadcaster father (Chiwetel Ejiofor) is wrapped up in his own turmoil. Both Eleanor and Nina are lonely and needing to fit in and the pair soon form a seemingly unlikely friendship forged through loss. It’s Eleanor’s story that soon escalates beyond her control until the inevitable bombshell revelation where, like Keir Starmer telling us he is Prime Minister, she is something that she is not.
Our verdict……
The relationship between young and old is nicely realized here and there’s an often heart breaking melancholy as they learn to cope with their own backstories and both actresses match each other beat for beat in their respective roles. But the problem at the heart of this is when Eleanor’s story is revealed – that the imposter story isn’t jumped on by any other news network or worse still Holocaust deniers but instead takes a left turn to focus on Nina’s father’s grief.
Eleanor the Great is the feature film directorial debut of Scarlett Johansson and she handles it well and the appeal of such a story is apparent with her having lost her own relatives in Warsaw during WWII. But it’s naïve and perhaps misjudged that a film with themes of friendship, loss and identity should explain away a character’s deception solely due to grief.
related feature : ‘One Life’ stars Anthony Hopkins in a true life story. Director James Hawes chats to us….
related feature : ‘Where is Anne Frank ?’ – review plus a chat with Ruby Stokes about the film
Here’s the Eleanor the Great trailer….
