Scarlett Johansson's ‘Eleanor The Great' Starring June Squibb Draws Six-Minute Ovation At Cannes
Scarlett Johansson's Eleanor the Great had its world premiere at the Cannes Film Festival today, where it received a six-minute ovation. She said afterward that her film is 'very timely.'
Playing in the Un Certain Regard strand, Johansson's feature directorial debut stars nonagenarian June Squibb as Eleanor, a woman grieving the loss of Bessie, her best friend and roommate.
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When Eleanor moves to Manhattan to live with her daughter and grandson, she finds herself going on something of an odyssey in search of connection — with sometimes shocking results. When she inadvertently joins a Holocaust survivors group, Eleanor is reminded of her late friend Bessie's harrowing experience growing up in Nazi-occupied Poland. But when journalism student Nina (Erin Kellyman) takes a vested interest in Eleanor, the truth suddenly becomes a slippery subject.
RELATED: The film also stars as Chiwetel Ejiofor as Nina's father, Breaking Bad's Jessica Hecht as Eleanor's daughter and Holocaust survivor Rita Zohar as Bessie.
Eleanor the Great is from a screenplay by first-time feature writer Tory Kamen. Sony Pictures Classics and TriStar Pictures are partners on the film that's produced by Johansson's These Pictures with Jonathan Lia and Keenan Flynn, Pinky Promise's Jessamine Burgum and Kara Durrett, and Maven Screen Media's Trudie Styler and Celine Rattray.
Johansson has been behind the camera before, directing a 12-minute short called These Vagabond Shoes for the 2008 portmanteau New York, I Love You.She has previously appeared in such Cannes premieres as Match Point (2005), Vicky Cristina Barcelona (2008), Asteroid City (2023) and this year's The Phoenician Scheme.
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