Eleanor The Great (12A)

June Squibb stars as a brassy older woman bonding with a chipper young college student, in Scarlett Johansson’s directorial debut.

Squibb plays Eleanor, a widow lady with a waspish way of speaking her mind to youngsters. She lives in Florida, sharing an apartment with her best friend Bessie (Rita Zohar). Eleanor finds herself at a support group meeting for Holocaust survivors. Eleanor is not Jewish, but Bessie was, and what’s the harm in telling her friend’s stories as if they were her own?

Nina (Erin Kellyman), a journalism student, is sitting in on the group to write an article, and she’s struck by Eleanor’s story. Since Eleanor could use the company, she gets drawn into a connection with Nina. Back in Florida, Eleanor and Bessie were obsessed with Roger (Chiwetel Ejiofor), a cable-TV newsman — and it turns out that Roger is Nina’s recently widowed father. The table is now set for Eleanor’s fake Holocaust story to go very public. Eleanor the Great is a tender film, with June Squibb on top form (as she always is), but there's something darker and deeper at play. The result? An ambitious and emotional dramedy.