An accidental common theme of my coverage at TIFF includes the exploration of grief. Scarlett Johansson’s directorial debut, Eleanor the Great, attempts to explore grief, too, through three different women. Hilariously led by June Squibb, a woman who accidentally finds herself impersonating a Holocaust survivor, Eleanor the Great is a delightful dramedy navigating the loss of friends, family, and oneself. 

Eleanor (Squibb) and her best friend Bessie (Rita Zohar) are joined at the hip. The women, well into their 90s, have been best friends for over 50 years and have been living together for over a decade. When Bessie passes away, though, Eleanor returns to New York City to move in with her daughter and son. After stumbling into a Holocaust Survivor support group, the lonely Eleanor, a Jewish woman from the United States, ends up telling the story of her beloved Bessie, claiming it as her own. After an aspiring journalist, Nina (Erin Kellyman), chooses Eleanor for her University project, Eleanor finds herself far too deep to tell the truth.

Writer Tory Kamen beautifully weaves different types of grief into her screenplay. Bessie, whose story is told through flashbacks, grieves for her brother and family. Nina grieves the loss of her mother and the relationship with her father, Roger (Chiwetel Ejiofor), another journalist who is also grieving the loss of his wife. Eleanor’s daughter Lisa (Jessica Hecht) grieves her youth. And our dear Eleanor grieves her friend and the loss of herself as she struggles to navigate truth, fiction, and her Jewish faith. 

The film’s core characters and supporting roles are treated with care, each of them given space to feel fully recognized. Squibb, in particular, is a sensation. With side-splitting comedic delivery and painfully silent moments of reflection, Squibb defines the success of this rather ludicrous story of impersonation. 

Johansson gives Squibb, Kellyman, and Zohar areas to breathe, cry, and feel. I was most moved when we were able not to just hear Eleanor share Bessie’s tragic story, but give Bessie time to tell it herself. The flashbacks of a terrified Bessie, recounting her memories to her best friend in the early hours of the morning, are equally haunting and comforting. A woman cries and speaks while another listens, and a true bond is created, establishing that Eleanor’s disgusting lie is out of care, love, and desperation to hold on to one she loves so dear–immortalizing her friend and brother who are no longer there to tell their story. 

With devastatingly emotional and hilarious performances from our core three, Johansson lets the women take the lead using minimalistic directing and camerawork, allowing us to simply sit with the characters. As a debut, it is nothing flashy, but a wonderful example of a female actor/director using her platform and understanding of the medium to create something personal. And with a cast ranging from their 20s to 90s, Johansson crafts a narrative that goes beyond just directing a story about women; rather, it’s a story for all women. 

Coming to me as a highly anticipated title from TIFF, Eleanor the Great is a wonderful feel-good film with moments of laughter and tears. June Squibb proves to be a commander of her character and the narrative, giving us a beautifully flawed Eleanor who reminds us that its ok to feel, make mistakes, and lose ourselves as we navigate life’s harder moments.

Review Courtesy of Sara Ciplickas

Feature Image Courtesy of TIFF