Sunday 23 November 2025, 3:30 pm
Rainbow Cinemas, Northumberland Mall
Synopsis
After seventy years with best friend, Eleanor moves to New York City for a fresh start. Making new friends at ninety proves difficult. Longing for connection, she befriends a 19-year-old student.
Director: Scarlett Johansson
Genre: Drama / Comedy
Cast: June Squibb, Erin Kellyman, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Jessica Hecht, Rita Zohar
Language: English
Rating: PG-13
Run time: 1 Hr. 38 Min.
Review
By Esther Zuckerman
You would think that Scarlett Johansson would get the most attention at the premiere of her directorial debut, Eleanor the Great, at the Cannes Film Festival. But you would be wrong.
So who outshone Johansson and guests including her husband Colin Jost and two-time Oscar winner Adrien Brody? That would be 95-year-old June Squibb, the star of the film, who wore a black sparkly top to the event at the Debussy theater. In the crowded room, all eyes were on Squibb.
At nearly 100 years old, Squibb is on a roll. Call it the Squibbaissance. Last year, she became an unlikely action hero in Thelma. Now she’ll make you cry in Eleanor.
Eleanor is not really the type of movie you tend to see in the Un Certain Regard section at Cannes, which favors challenging international fare over quirky American indies. Watching it yesterday, I got the feeling it might be more home at Sundance where a movie of its ilk tends to thrive. But in her introduction Johansson said that she had dreams of Squibb on the Croisette, and that came to fruition.
In the film, written by Tory Kamen, Squibb plays 94-year-old Eleanor Morgenstein, who lives in Florida with her best friend Bessie Stern (Rita Zohar). Eleanor and Bessie are a delightful pair who live completely in sync, but while Bessie is a little more reserved, Eleanor takes charge. She’s the kind of lady who will dress down a grocery store employee to get the right kosher pickles. She will tell a nurse that Bessie is related to the owners of a hospital to get her better treatment. It’s a lie, but it works, and Eleanor is a bravura ball-buster.