I put on Eleanor the Great mostly because of June Squibb. After Thelma stole my heart, she’s officially one of those actors where just seeing her name makes me hit play, no questions asked. And honestly, I was hoping for something easy and not too heavy. Spoiler: it didn’t stay easy or light.
The setup sounds familiar: an older woman dealing with memory, independence, and all the quiet ways aging reshapes who you are. We’ve seen versions of this before, but what sets this one apart isn’t some big twisty plot (it’s deliberately spare), but how deeply it stays inside Eleanor’s head. It’s less “what happens to her” and more “how it feels to her.”
She’s not some sweet, fragile grandma stereotype. She’s prickly, selfish sometimes, funny in that raw, unfiltered way, and completely human. The film doesn’t sand down her rough edges to make her more “likable.” It just lets her be complicated, because aging doesn’t magically simplify people.
There’s this undercurrent of grief, not just for lost people, but for lost versions of yourself. The movie gets that loss can be small and brutal: the world is no longer built for your pace, people talk to you like you’re a child, or only see who you used to be. It shows up in silences, in posture, in what’s not said.
The warm moments hit hard because they’re rare and earned. No forced sentimentality, no big legacy speech, no tidy bow at the end. Instead, it lands on something truer: life keeps going, meaning changes shape, and real connection is still possible even without guarantees.
It’s not for everyone. If you’re after pure escapism or something light, it’ll probably feel heavier than you want. But if you like character stories that trust you to feel things without hand-holding, this one sticks.
Ultimately, Eleanor the Great is about being seen as a full, messy person whose inner world still counts, not just as “old.” It asks for patience and empathy, and rewards you with something powerful.
Not the movie you rave about right away, but the one you catch yourself thinking about weeks later. June Squibb carries it beautifully.
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