LOS ANGELES, Sept. 25 (UPI) — Director Scarlett Johansson and star June Squibb agree their new film, Eleanor the Great, in theaters Friday, shows the value of human connection. Squibb plays Eleanor, a woman who moves in with her daughter and grandson after her roommate and best friend Bessie (Rita Zohar) dies.
Following her move, Eleanor is eager to join group activities at a local Jewish community center but accidentally attends a meeting for Holocaust survivors. Embarrassed to admit she’s in the wrong place, Eleanor shares the late Bessie’s story as her own.
In a recent Zoom interview with UPI, Johansson, 40, said Tory Kamen’s script appealed to her for its unique combination of subjects.
“I think the movie is also so much about compassion and forgiveness,” Johansson said. “There’s a lot of love in the film as well.”
Eleanor befriends Nina (Erin Kellyman), a journalism student attending the survivor meeting for an article. Nina’s mother died prior to the beginning of the film and she struggles to connect with her father (Chiwetel Ejiofor).
Johansson said both women are coping with grief. The pair connect, even if Eleanor is not forthright about who she is grieving for.
“It’s through the compassion that they have for one another, the love that they had for one another that they’re able to move from this place of being stuck,” Johansson said.
Squibb, 95, said the film promotes communication. Eleanor learns to be more honest with others.
“The characters keep saying, ‘Just talk. Talk to each other. Let me know how you feel,'” Squibb said. “I think that’s pretty much the answer to so many things and it’s true. People are frightened of grief but this helps, just talking about it.”
Grief is a rare subject for films. Johansson struggled to find movies to recommend to Kellyman for research beyond the late Robert Redford’s directorial debut, Ordinary People, about a death in a family.
“I had her watch Harold and Maude,” Johansson said of the macabre 1971 Bud Cort/Ruth Gordon film. “She was like, ‘I liked it but it’s kind of like a comedy, romantic comedy.'”
Eleanor is shown to embellish stories even before attending the survivor group. She makes up stories at the supermarket or hospital, believing there’s no harm in white lies.
As professional storytellers, both Squibb and Johansson could relate to using stories to inspire people. Johansson admitted she’s even told some tales to land roles in certain films.
“I’ve definitely lied to get a part or two,” Johansson said. “You’re like yeah, Muay Thai, I’ve been doing that for years. Yeah, mixed martial arts, I’m very accomplished.”
As Eleanor’s lie escalates, she plans to have a Bat Mitzvah at a synagogue. A scene of Eleanor reciting Hebrew ended up on the cutting room floor.
“I learned it and then they didn’t use it,” Squibb said. “I sang it at the temple in front of a lot of people.”
Johansson credited Rabbi Ben Spratt at Temple Rodeph Shalom with teaching her and Squibb the correct Hebrew for the synagogue scenes.
“June’s so upset because we made her learn an entire Torah portion,” Johansson said. “Then she was singing in her dreams and when she first woke up in the morning. Then we never ended up using that.”
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