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Scarlett Johansson Tells a Powerful Holocaust Story in Her Directorial Film Debut
Director Scarlett Johansson poses during a photocall for the film “Eleanor the Great” in competition for the category Un Certain Regard at the 78th Cannes Film Festival in Cannes, France, May 21, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Stephane Mahe
Scarlett Johansson’s directorial debut, Eleanor the Great, is about an elderly Jewish woman, Eleanor Morgenstein, who pretends to be a Holocaust survivor.
As someone who has interviewed many survivors, at a time of growing antisemitism where few are left alive, having a central Jewish character be so deceptive didn’t sit well with me.
But all films need a hook and a conflict.
Eleanor has heard the stories from a good friend and survivor who passed away. When she walks into a group meeting not realizing it is for survivors to tell their stories, she recalls the ones she was told. A student at NYU, Nina (Erin Kellyman) interviews her. Nina is dealing with the sudden death of her mother and finding difficulty connecting with her father, Roger, played by Chiwetel Ejiofor.
June Squibb is fantastic as Eleanor, showing us a woman dealing with grief, who feels lonely and wants to find some meaning. The movie becomes a buddy movie between Nina and Eleanor as they spend time together, and Nina is able to get her feelings off her chest. Kellyman is magnetic and we will surely see more of her. She gives the film the energy it needs. In a small role as a father and journalist, Ejiofor is powerful.
Eleanor The Great could have easily been a terrible film. But with superb direction by Johansson, and a fine script by Tory Kamen, there is a soft touch. In real life, Holocaust survivors are often ignored and the elderly are not given the esteem they deserve. If the film can inspire young people to take interest in their grandparents and in Holocaust survivors, that is a great thing. Big lies are wrong and there is no valid excuse. The film doesn’t sugarcoat that, but it doesn’t villainize Eleanor.
Jewish actress Jessica Hecht is perfect as usual in the role of Eleanor’s daughter, Lisa, and Stephen Singer does a decent job as Rabbi Cohen. It’s a bit of a cliché for Eleanor to have her bat mitzvah at 94, and it would also be impossible to do it in four weeks without having studied the haftorah trope or cantillation previously, but, oh well.
Credit must be given to Kamen, as in one scene, a bat mitzvah girl reads from the Torah portion of “Shelach,” which focuses on two spies who go into the Promised Land and come back with good reports, while the other ones say the land is full of giants and can’t be taken. Since the film deals with deception, this is a good and smart pick.
It’s also great to see Sami Stiegmann, a Holocaust survivor I’ve interviewed, in a small role in the film, effectively telling Eleanor that telling her story can be liberating.
Squibb is so talented that it’s impossible not to feel bad for her, and a lesser actor might have resulted in the audience hating the character. That never happens with Squibb, and it’s a perfect role for her.
While I still hate the premise of someone who lies about being a survivor, we do get to see the real survivor tell her story, albeit in flashbacks.
So there is still great value for an audience seeing this at a time when fewer and fewer Americans know much about the Holocaust. If NYU students and college students around the country interviewed Holocaust survivors, that would be a wonderful thing.
That Scarlett Johansson has selected this topic for her directorial debut is crucial, as it gives attention to the Holocaust. I only wish Johansson put herself in the movie, but perhaps she thought she might be taken less seriously as a director by doing that, or perhaps she wanted to only focus on directing for her first film.
While one of the final scenes is a bit unrealistic, and it is curious that no scenes address antisemitism in current times, the film has an undeniable power due to the great chemistry of Kellyman and Squibb.
Kudos to Johansson for making a powerful film that must have been difficult to execute.
The author is a writer based in New York.
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After False Dawns, Gazans Hope Trump Will Force End to Two-Year-Old War
Palestinians walk past a residential building destroyed in previous Israeli strikes, after Hamas agreed to release hostages and accept some other terms in a US plan to end the war, in Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa
Exhausted Palestinians in Gaza clung to hopes on Saturday that US President Donald Trump would keep up pressure on Israel to end a two-year-old war that has killed tens of thousands and displaced the entire population of more than two million.
Hamas’ declaration that it was ready to hand over hostages and accept some terms of Trump’s plan to end the conflict while calling for more talks on several key issues was greeted with relief in the enclave, where most homes are now in ruins.
“It’s happy news, it saves those who are still alive,” said 32-year-old Saoud Qarneyta, reacting to Hamas’ response and Trump’s intervention. “This is enough. Houses have been damaged, everything has been damaged, what is left? Nothing.”
GAZAN RESIDENT HOPES ‘WE WILL BE DONE WITH WARS’
Ismail Zayda, 40, a father of three, displaced from a suburb in northern Gaza City where Israel launched a full-scale ground operation last month, said: “We want President Trump to keep pushing for an end to the war, if this chance is lost, it means that Gaza City will be destroyed by Israel and we might not survive.
“Enough, two years of bombardment, death and starvation. Enough,” he told Reuters on a social media chat.
“God willing this will be the last war. We will hopefully be done with the wars,” said 59-year-old Ali Ahmad, speaking in one of the tented camps where most Palestinians now live.
“We urge all sides not to backtrack. Every day of delay costs lives in Gaza, it is not just time wasted, lives get wasted too,” said Tamer Al-Burai, a Gaza City businessman displaced with members of his family in central Gaza Strip.
After two previous ceasefires — one near the start of the war and another earlier this year — lasted only a few weeks, he said; “I am very optimistic this time, maybe Trump’s seeking to be remembered as a man of peace, will bring us real peace this time.”
RESIDENT WORRIES THAT NETANYAHU WILL ‘SABOTAGE’ DEAL
Some voiced hopes of returning to their homes, but the Israeli military issued a fresh warning to Gazans on Saturday to stay out of Gaza City, describing it as a “dangerous combat zone.”
Gazans have faced previous false dawns during the past two years, when Trump and others declared at several points during on-off negotiations between Hamas, Israel and Arab and US mediators that a deal was close, only for war to rage on.
“Will it happen? Can we trust Trump? Maybe we trust Trump, but will Netanyahu abide this time? He has always sabotaged everything and continued the war. I hope he ends it now,” said Aya, 31, who was displaced with her family to Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip.
She added: “Maybe there is a chance the war ends at October 7, two years after it began.”
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Mass Rally in Rome on Fourth Day of Italy’s Pro-Palestinian Protests
A Pro-Palestinian demonstrator waves a Palestinian flag during a national protest for Gaza in Rome, Italy, October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Claudia Greco
Large crowds assembled in central Rome on Saturday for the fourth straight day of protests in Italy since Israel intercepted an international flotilla trying to deliver aid to Gaza, and detained its activists.
People holding banners and Palestinian flags, chanting “Free Palestine” and other slogans, filed past the Colosseum, taking part in a march that organizers hoped would attract at least 1 million people.
“I’m here with a lot of other friends because I think it is important for us all to mobilize individually,” Francesco Galtieri, a 65-year-old musician from Rome, said. “If we don’t all mobilize, then nothing will change.”
Since Israel started blocking the flotilla late on Wednesday, protests have sprung up across Europe and in other parts of the world, but in Italy they have been a daily occurrence, in multiple cities.
On Friday, unions called a general strike in support of the flotilla, with demonstrations across the country that attracted more than 2 million, according to organizers. The interior ministry estimated attendance at around 400,000.
Italy’s right-wing government has been critical of the protests, with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni suggesting that people would skip work for Gaza just as an excuse for a longer weekend break.
On Saturday, Meloni blamed protesters for insulting graffiti that appeared on a statue of the late Pope John Paul II outside Rome’s main train station, where Pro-Palestinian groups have been holding a protest picket.
“They say they are taking to the streets for peace, but then they insult the memory of a man who was a true defender and builder of peace. A shameful act committed by people blinded by ideology,” she said in a statement.
Israel launched its Gaza offensive after Hamas terrorists staged a cross border attack on October 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 people hostage.
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Hamas Says It Agrees to Release All Israeli Hostages Under Trump Gaza Plan
Smoke rises during an Israeli military operation in Gaza City, as seen from the central Gaza Strip, October 2, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas
Hamas said on Friday it had agreed to release all Israeli hostages, alive or dead, under the terms of US President Donald Trump’s Gaza proposal, and signaled readiness to immediately enter mediated negotiations to discuss the details.