Eleanor the Great

Excellent movie. It's a tear jerker.

Grief tends to be one of those taboo subjects that many of us are reluctant to talk about, let alone address. But, by failing to do so, we may end up saddling ourselves with a tremendous burden that weighs us down and from which escape can be difficult. That’s especially true for those who’ve experienced devastating losses through such events as the death of loved ones or, even more horrifically, through traumatic experiences, such as being a firsthand witness/survivor of the Holocaust. Those are among the painful human tragedies experienced by a diverse but connected collection of scarred individuals in this impressive directorial debut from actress Scarlett Johansson. When 94-year-old widow Eleanor (June Squibb) loses her longtime best friend and roommate, Bessie (Rita Zohar), she relocates back to her home in New York to live with her daughter, Lisa (Jessica Hecht), after many years of retirement in Florida. However, because Lisa holds down a full-time job, she’s reluctant to leave mom home alone during the day, so she signs up Eleanor for a group activity at the local Jewish Community Center. In a strange turn of events, though, Eleanor ends up attending the wrong function – a meeting of a Holocaust survivor support group. Needless to say, Eleanor is thrown for a loop. She was born in Iowa and didn’t live through the wartime atrocity, even though Bessie did and shared many of her stories of survival with Eleanor. Because the lonely new transplant is so warmly welcomed into the company of the group, she’s not sure how to react, especially when she’s asked to tell them her own survival story. In an effort to save face, Eleanor begins telling one of Bessie’s stories as if it's her own. In response, group members appreciate “her” candor and courage in opening up. That’s particularly true for a guest of the group, Nina (Erin Kellyman), a young Jewish journalism student hoping to get a story out of her attendance. And, like Eleanor and the other group members, Nina ha...

“Eleanor” (June Squibb) is having to move back to New York to live with her daughter “Lisa” (Jessica Hecht) who’d far rather she was properly cared for in an home. It’s not that she doesn’t love her mother, it’s more that she lives an hectic life and wants to ensure she is properly looked after. “Eleanor”, on the other hand, has no intention of retiring to a chair in God’s waiting room and is determined to retain as much of her independence as her ninety-four years will allow. “Lisa” had enrolled her in a few community activities and declining the old folks’ Sondheim club, she inadvertently ends up in a room with some Holocaust survivors - and they assume that she is one of their number. Now rather than skedaddle, “Eleanor” starts to regale them with an heart-rending story that attracts the attention of the visiting trainee journalist “Nina” (Erin Kellyman) who quickly decides to make her the feature of her thesis. She’s reluctant to co-operate initially, but a combination of circumstances soon sees her befriend not just the girl, but her father “Roger” (Chiwitel Ejiofor) who’s the frontman for a local television news programme. He likes the idea too, and so the hole she has dug for herself starts to get bigger for “Eleanor”. Meantime, she has also decided to have her Bat Mitzvah - something girls didn’t really get when she was young, but when the television crew turns up for that, as does her daughter, the wheels really do start to come off. Is there any way back for this new and profound friendship, or explanation for her fairly inexcusable behaviour? The story here is really quite thin, and some of the scenarios quite contrived, but Squibb is an engaging actor to watch and the threads of the storyline dealing with trauma, loneliness, grief and age tie together well enough at the end. The other characters aren’t really developed particularly interestingly, and I could have done without the standard father/daughter dealing with deceased wife/mother estrangement sto...