Eleanor The Great
Eleanor The Great is a story about love, loss, the lies we tell others, and the lies we tell ourselves while struggling through grief and searching for connection and meaning in this crazy ride we call life. We first meet the goodhearted truth-bending Eleanor (June Squibb) in Florida before her return to New York, for the first time in decades, after the death of her longtime friend Bessie (Rita Zohar). Living with the daughter (Jessica Hecht) she doesn't get along with, and struggling for connection, Eleanor walks into a room which will change her life.
Mistaken for a Holocaust survivor, Eleanor shares Bessie's story as her own finding a new community and a new friend in a college student (Erin Kellyman) struggling with the recent death of her mother, and the growing distance with her father (Chiwetel Ejiofor), who becomes interested in sharing Eleanor's story unaware of the lie which holds all of it together.
The directorial debut of Scarlett Johansson makes for a marvelous trailer and an okay first film. Ejiofor is surrounded by the strong performances of the movie's women including Squibb (who navigates a difficult job of balancing Eleanor's actions and the motivations behind them), Zohar (whose recounting of events is chilling), and Kellyman who finds a friend in a most unexpected place. While not the emotional wallop the trailer may suggest, the film does still succeed in highlighting the struggle to keep the memory of one's loved ones alive while being forced to move on without them.
Watch the trailer- Title: Eleanor The Great
- IMDb: link
