Cannes 2025: June Squibb is Perfect in Johansson’s ‘Eleanor the Great’
by Alex Billington
May 20, 2025
Over these last few years in cinema, many famous actors have decided to try their hand at directing. Let’s be honest – not that many are good at it, as it is an entirely different skill set and requires more creativity and leadership in addition to storytelling competence. Directing is an art. However, every once in a while we do get to discover that an actor is just as wonderful at filmmaking as they are at performing. I am very happy to report that Scarlett Johansson joins the small list of terrific actors who are also terrific directors. Her brand new feature directorial debut is a charming little original film titled Eleanor the Great, premiering in the Un Certain Regard section at the 2025 Cannes Film Festival (right alongside directorial debuts from fellow actors Harris Dickinson and Kristen Stewart as well). The movie stars the absolutely amazing, adored 94-year-old actress June Squibb, her second lead role following her outstanding performance in Thelma last year (which premiered at Sundance 2024 and was one of my favorites at that festival). After losing her best friend of 50+ years, she moves back to New York with her family and rediscovers life anew in the city.
The biggest reveal in Eleanor the Great is that it has a pretty tricky plot conceit. The screenplay is written by Tory Kamen – it’s a story about Eleanor built around friendship and grief and forgiveness. When she gets to New York City, her daughter signs up her for group sessions at a nearby Jewish Community Center. She accidentally gets pulled into a Holocaust Survivors Group and before you know it, she is pretending to be a survivor and begins telling “her” story. But it’s actually the real story of her best friend “Bessie”, played by the wonderful Israeli actress Rita Zohar. She also ends up befriending a young woman named Nina, played by the lovely & emotionally conscious Erin Kellyman, who decides to write an article about Eleanor’s story for her journalism class. All of this puts Eleanor on a perilous path towards trouble once they find out she’s lying. But as always, it’s about the friends you make along the way. The film starts out with some incredible laugh-out-loud humor delivered perfectly by June Squibb, transforming into something more deeply moving and emotionally vivid by the end. I was squirting tears in the final act, because there is so much heart to this script even if it’s about the deception of a funny old lady pretending to be someone else because she’s lonely.
Eleanor the Great is really something special. This can’t be denied. Everyone involved should be proud of it. A tremendously moving, sensitive, tender film that shows us how kindness and goodness always matter – at any age. And yes there is a lesson to be learned about her lying, but it’s a relief to see an example of someone being forgiven for their lies, and embraced anyway. Johansson’s real skill as a director isn’t only in getting these uplifting performances out everyone in the cast, it’s also in shaping the cinematic storytelling, framing the shots (in collaboration with her DP Hélène Louvart), and editing it all together in a way that warmly floats us right along following this story right to its heartfelt ending. There are a few pieces of the puzzle missing, and I wanted to spend even more time hanging out with Eleanor and her family, but this directorial debut is as impressive as they come. There’s also a lovely score by Dustin O’Halloran that complements the tenderness of the story. Both of Squibb’s turns in Thelma and Eleanor the Great are memorable. She’s one of the greats – there’s no question about that. Together they pair nicely as two distinctly touching films about the majestic magic of old ladies and their endearing, indelible charm. May June Squibb live forever.
Alex’s Cannes 2025 Rating: 8.5 out of 10
Follow Alex on Twitter – @firstshowing / Or Letterboxd – @firstshowing
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