Scarlett Johansson's directorial debut, Eleanor the Great, is leveraging the profound authenticity of real-life Holocaust survivors, most notably Rita Zohar, to anchor its narrative. Zohar, 81, a childhood survivor who was born in a concentration camp in Ukraine, plays Bessie Stern, a survivor whose death drives the film's plot. The Plot's Core ConflictThe film stars June Squibb as Eleanor Morgenstein, a woman seeking connection after Bessie's death. Morgenstein joins a survivors' support group where, under pressure, she begins to falsely recount Bessie's story as her own. Instead, when Morgenstein begins to speak, the narrative shifts, and the story is told by Zohar herself.