ENOLA HOLMES
UK, 2020, 124 minutes, Colour.
Millie Bobby Brown, Henry Cavill Sam Claflin, Helena Bonham Carter, Louis Partridge, Burn Gorman, Adeel Akhtar, Susan Wokoma, Hattie Morahan, David Bamber, Frances de la tour, Claire Rushbrook, Fiona Shaw.
Directed by Harry Bradbeer.
Quite a delight! One might almost say, a treat. At least for those who enjoy being immersed in the Holmes family, admirers of Sherlock, critical of Mycroft, and relishing the imagination of those novels and films and television series over the decades that have brought them all alive, exploring the Young Sherlock Holmes as well as seeing Ian McKellen? in Sherlock’s later years. And now, the discovery of Enola, the teenage sister who has stayed at home with their mother, and, we discover, quite a mother! Well, perhaps the Conan Doyle purists may not be so tolerant of all these imaginings – but most of us are.
Millie Bobby Brown makes quite an impression as the 16-year-old Enola – and, Enola is an anagram for Alone, Enola and her mother being experts at anagrams and codes and intricate scrabble variations. Those encountering Millie Bobby Brown for the first time might think that she has quite a future ahead of her – only to find that she has an extensive past in both film and television, especially Stranger Things. She is a vital and dynamic screen presence and the screenplay provides her with wonderful opportunities to look straight to camera, to make comments, to raise eyebrows, to engage us in all her moods, her aspirations, all her plans and activities. I would have liked even more!
And Helena Bonham Carter plays her mother, obviously a suffragette before her time, the widow who takes active pleasure in training her daughter in all kinds of fields, reading and history, science and engineering, delighting in codes and words, training Enola to defend Herself, to take initiatives, all seen in enjoyable intercut flashbacks.
And, well we might ask, where is Sherlock? And, to a lesser interest and extent, where is Mycroft? They have long since left home, Mycroft in business, politically conservative (to say the least), enjoying his club, but, with the disappearance of their mother, Enola becoming his ward. Sherlock has already made his mark in the world of detection. Sam Claflin plays Mycroft, communicating his insufferability. Sherlock is played by Henry Cavill. (This reviewer always has problems with Henry Cavill, usually giving rather stolid performances, even as Superman, more suited to Clark Kent – although he has the looks of the genial Christopher Reeve.)
Yes, there is an adventure, there is detection, Sherlock involved, of course, but Enola discovering and developing her talent. It concerns a young lord, the Marquis of Tewkesbury (Louis Partridge), a soft -looking youth – with Enola remarking that he is looking like the nincompoop he was born to be! (Yes, she does have a way with words.) The mystery involves the death of his father, a seemingly menacing uncle, his detached mother, his strong dowager grandmother, and a sadistic assassin with a bowler hat. And, it is the time for votes in the House of Lords, for women’s rights, for women’s demonstrations (including stashes of gunpowder).
And, there are some wonderful cameos. Helena Bonham Carter, always distinctive, Fiona Shaw as the bombastic headmistress of the school for ladies and proper manners (but with some heart flutters for Mycroft), Frances de la Tour as the dowager, Burn Gorman as the assassin. Throughout the film, there is ethnic groups are represented in London, Inspector Lestrade (Adeel Akhtar with Pakistani father, Kenyan mother; cafe owner and martial arts instructor, Edith (Nigerian parents) and many incidental characters played by West Indians and Asian actors.)
The film is based on a Young Adult novel by Nancy Springer – though, interestingly, the screenplay is written by Jack Thorne in the film directed by Harry Bradbeer.
Advice is – surrender to the Holmes family, their adventures, and the atmosphere of 19th-century London and country estates.
1. An enjoyable visit to the Holmes family? The status of Sherlock, Conan Doyle, film and television versions? Young Sherlock Holmes, older Mr Holmes? Presentations of Mycroft?
2. Audience knowledge of Holmes, as a detective? The revelation that he had a younger sister? Enola – the anagram of Alone?
3. A detective story, audience interest, the introduction to Sherlock, to Mycroft? To Enola, her age, a Young Adult story, audiences identifying with her? Living in the 19th century? The young woman of the 21st-century? Her identity, her family, her mother and education, her mother disappearing? Her brothers, in charge, Mycroft and his ideas of her education, the school, the headmistress, the formality, the uniform, women’s roles, modest laughs…? But the young man in the story, Enola to the rescue, adventures? Her wit and wisdom, taking risks?
4. Millie Bobby Brown, her screen presence, strong, her emotions, her plans? The device of her communicating with the audience, straight to camera, checking, eyebrows raised, confiding, asking advice?
5. The editing, pace, the intercutting of the action with the flashbacks to her growing up? Seeing her as a child, with her mother, her growth, her activities, reading and history, science and engineering, martial arts, self-defence? Enola influenced by her mother?
6. The costumes and decor, the house, the boarding school, the mansions, London, the streets, House of Lords, the world of toffs, Mycroft and his club? Yet the martial arts, the cafe, stock of dynamite?
7. The delight in words, codes and anagrams, verbal dexterity, sights and sounds?
8. The repartee, Enola and her wit, the audience enjoying the comments and the irony?
9. Enola, her brothers and their leaving home, the death of her father, her mother, the mother’s disappearance, no explanations, the range of clues, flowers, words, codes? Enola working out the meanings?
10. Her quest, disguised as a boy, the railway trip, the man with the bowler hat, the intrusion of the boy, their arguments, her leaving, returning, helping him, at the door of the train, the fight, leaping off, sharing, explanations, cutting his hair, on the dray, arriving in London?
11. Enola, following the clothes, buying new clothes, the shop woman and getting the lodgings (and betraying her and getting the reward)? Working out the clues and following the flowers? Going to Limehouse, the explosives, the man with the bowler hat? Her fight with him? Extensive, techniques?
12. The visit to Edith, the teashop, the martial arts classes, knowing about her mother, the memories of the meeting in the closed-door? The later visit of Sherlock?
13. The changing attitude towards the young man, disguising himself as a widow, going to the family home, as Sherlock Holmes’s assistant? The presence of Inspector Lestrade, the argument as to who knew more about Sherlock Holmes? Her being ousted, walking on the grounds with the dowager and the discussions about the boy? Discovering the treehouse? Clues from the flowers? His dead father, the mother seeming to detach, the uncle seeming sinister? In fact, a different interpretation for the truth?
14. The flower clues, Covent Garden, hiding the boy, the return to the house, the vast corridor and the statues, the man with the bowler hat, the fight, the shots, the dowager with the gun, the boy with the armour? The dowager and her motivations, preserving England?
15. Mycroft, searching for Enola, giving up? The headmistress, Enola going to the school, the classes, the meals, the uniforms? The boy coming with the box, her escape, taking the headmistress’s car? And the sketch indicating the headmistress’s heart fluttering for Mycroft?
16. Sherlock sending the message, seeing the doll, the memories of the doll, leaving it? Mycroft giving up? Sherlock willing to be responsible for her?
17. Her mother, the explanations, the political background, suffragettes and feminism at the end of the 19th century? The House of Lords and votes?
18. Enola, on her bike, choosing her own path, telling the audience that she would be a detective?
