Eleanor the Great (2025) on Netflix
After Bessie, her best friend, dies, 94-year-old Eleanor Morgenstein leaves Florida and moves to New York City. She wanders into a Holocaust survivors' support group.
- Netflix3.4/5
- IMDb6.7/107,978 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes67%
Trailer
Plot summary
Bessie was Eleanor Morgenstein's closest friend, and for years the two shared a home in Florida. After Bessie dies, Eleanor, 94, moves back to New York City to live with her daughter Lisa and her grandson Max. Her family's days are full, and Lisa leaves her at the local Jewish Community Center, where Eleanor wanders by mistake into a meeting of Holocaust survivors. She does not correct the error, and she tells Bessie's story of survival as though it were her own.
Cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Eleanor the Great (2025)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- Tory Kamen had spent eight years trying to get her screenplay produced, and credited Scarlett Johansson's industry influence for finally making the film possible.
- Scarlett Johansson worked with the USC Shoah Foundation to keep the Holocaust-survivor subplot authentic, and cast real survivors in the support-group scenes.
- Johansson's own wish to direct began at age 12, when she watched Robert Redford at work during the filming of The Horse Whisperer.
- Shooting part of the film at Coney Island in New York City brought logistical problems, because of June Squibb's age and the demands of the urban setting.
