In her directorial debut, Scarlett Johansson avoids any temptation for visual spectacle and delivers an intimate, restrained, and moving film. Eleanor the Great, presented in the Un Certain Regard section at the 2025 Festival de Cannes, is a dramedy that explores grief, empathy, and the human need for connection.
Starring a magnetic nonagenarian actress, June Squibb, the film tells the story of Eleanor Morgenstein, who, after the death of her best friend Bessie (played by Rita Zohar), moves from Florida to New York City to live with her daughter and grandson. What seems like a simple change of scenery turns into a late-in-life search for meaning.
Eleanor the Great steers away from aesthetic flourishes and elaborate camera movements to focus on what truly matters: people, their bonds, and the stories that connect them. Johansson approaches this with a blend of tenderness and quiet transgression, entrusting Eleanor with the task of recounting stories that aren’t strictly her own but that she has absorbed through a decades-long friendship. These are stories, memories, and experiences shaped around a theme as delicate and painful as the Holocaust.
Through this gesture, as ambiguous as ethical, and deeply human, the film finds its strength. Memory is not treated as private but as a shared inheritance, with the Holocaust as transversal theme that enriches, without overshadowing, the main narrative of the movie. The result is an ode to intergenerational friendship and the power of stories to bring meaning to the present and build bridges between seemingly disconnected generations.
Johansson opts for a sober, unadorned mise-en-scène. The camera observes with quiet discretion rather than imposing itself. Domestic interiors, community centres, and NYC’s streets are captured with warmth and calm. There’s no visual pyrotechnics, only a deep trust in the actors and in the strength of Tory Kamen’s screenplay. The cast is pitch-perfect. Alongside Squibb and Zohar, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Jessica Hecht, and Erin Kellyman form an ensemble that balances humour and melancholy, proving that well-crafted drama requires neither exaggeration nor manipulation.
Eleanor the Great is a film about grief, but also about the essential need for connection and companionship. A promising debut for Johansson as a director, who chooses restraint and shows that simplicity can be the boldest artistic choice.
The film will be distributed by Sony Pictures Classics, although no specific release date has been announced yet. Given its Cannes premiere and the backing of a renowned distributor, it’s likely to reach cinemas and streaming platforms in the coming months.
