Enola Holmes (film)

Enola Holmes
File:Enola Holmes poster.jpeg Official release poster
Directed by	Harry Bradbeer
Produced by	Mary Parent Alex Garcia Millie Bobby Brown Paige Brown
Written by	Jack Thorne
Based on	The Enola Holmes Mysteries: The Case of the Missing Marquess by Nancy Springer
Starring	Millie Bobby Brown Sam Claflin Henry Cavill Helena Bonham Carter
Music by	Daniel Pemberton
Cinematography	Giles Nuttgens
Edited by	Adam Bosman
Production company	Legendary Pictures PCMA Productions
Distributed by	Netflix
Release dates	September 23, 2020 (2020-09-23)
Running time	123 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English

Enola Holmes is a 2020 American mystery film based on the first book in the series of the same name by Nancy Springer. The film, which centers upon the teenage sister of an already-famous Sherlock Holmes, is directed by Harry Bradbeer and written by Jack Thorne. Millie Bobby Brown stars as the title character, while also serving as a producer on the film. Henry Cavill, Sam Claflin, Adeel Akhtar, Fiona Shaw, Frances de la Tour, Louis Partridge, Susie Wokoma and Helena Bonham Carter appear in supporting roles.

Enola Holmes was released on September 23, 2020 by Netflix. The film received generally positive reviews from critics, who praised Brown's performance.

Plot

Enola Holmes is the youngest sibling in the famous Holmes family. She is a free-wheeling, strong-willed, and boundary-pushing young woman. She is extremely intelligent, observant, and insightful, and she defies the social norms for women of the time. Her mother, Eudoria, has taught her everything from chess to jujitsu. Her mother also made her read every book in Ferndell Hall, their home, and was a big fan of word games.

On the day of her sixteenth birthday, Enola awakens to find her mother has disappeared, leaving only some birthday gifts. Enola meets her brothers, Mycroft and Sherlock, but they fail to recognize her at first, not having seen her in many years. Sherlock finds her to be an intelligent girl, whereas Mycroft finds her troublesome; as her legal guardian, Mycroft intends to send her away to a finishing school run by the stern Miss Harrison. Enola finds clues and money left by her mother and escapes, disguised as a boy. On the train, she finds the young Viscount Tewkesbury hidden in a travel bag. She thinks he is a fool but warns him that a man in brown bowler hat (named Linthorn) is on the train, searching for him. To escape, Enola and Tewkesbury jump off the train together and flee to London, where they part ways. Disguised as a proper Victorian lady, she continues to trace her mother and leaves cryptic messages in the newspaper personal advertisements for Eudoria to find. As Enola searches in London, Linthorn grabs her in an alley and tortures Enola for information on Tewkesbury by repeatedly dunking her head in ice cold water, before forcing her head back under and trying to drown her before she fights out and the two fight and he continues trying to kill her, before she escapes. She decides that instead of continuing to search for her mother, she must find Tewkesbury again to save him, because he can't defend himself. Mycroft has employed Inspector Lestrade of Scotland Yard to track Enola down. Meanwhile, Enola warns Tewkesbury and helps him escape but is caught by Lestrade, and Mycroft imprisons her in Miss Harrison's finishing school. Sherlock visits her and admits he is impressed by her detective work. Tewkesbury sneaks into the school hidden in a wicker basket, and they escape together, stealing Miss Harrison's motor car. They reach a fork in the road and, rather than returning to London, Enola decides they must go to Tewkesbury's home and face his uncle, who she has deduced was trying to kill him. The house is seemingly deserted, and Linthorn attempts to shoot them, but they manage to overcome him. Tewkesbury's grandmother is revealed as the real villain; she had his father killed and attempted to kill Tewkesbury, not wanting him to take his father's place in the House of Lords and vote for the Reform Bill, which he does. Sherlock arrives at Scotland Yard, and Lestrade asks him two questions: firstly how he managed to solve the case, and secondly how his sister solved it first.

Enola deciphers a message she finds in the newspaper but deduces it was sent not by her mother but by Sherlock. At the meeting point, Sherlock and Mycroft eventually give up, while Enola, disguised as a newsboy, watches. When she returns to her lodgings, someone is waiting there—it is her mother. They embrace, and Eudoria explains why she had to leave, and why she must leave again, but she expresses how impressed she is at what Enola has become. Enola has found her freedom and her purpose—she is a detective and a finder of lost souls.

Cast

• Millie Bobby Brown as Enola Holmes, the youngest sibling in the famous Holmes family. She is extremely intelligent, observant and insightful, and defies the social norms for women of the era. Her mother Eudoria has taught her everything from chess, to jujitsu, and she is extensively well read. While she does not get along with her eldest brother Mycroft, she does quickly form a close bond with her other brother Sherlock.
• Henry Cavill as Sherlock Holmes, the second-oldest of the Holmes siblings. A private detective, he is immensely intelligent with astounding observational skills and a penchant for solving mysteries.
• Sam Claflin as Mycroft Holmes, the eldest of the Holmes siblings and Enola's legal guardian. He is somewhat cold toward Enola, and is determined to have her finish her education and become a proper lady of Victorian society.
• Helena Bonham Carter as Eudoria Holmes, the matriarch of the Holmes family. Eccentric, free-spirited and unconventional, Eudoria raises Enola to pursue her own path rather than that laid out for her by others and to redefine what it means to be a woman in society.
• Louis Partridge as Tewkesbury
• Burn Gorman as Linthorn
• Adeel Akhtar as Lestrade
• Susie Wokoma as Edith
• Hattie Morahan as Lady Tewkesbury
• David Bamber as Sir Whimbrel
• Fiona Shaw as Miss Harrison
• Frances de la Tour as The Dowager, Tewkesbury's grandmother

Production

By February 2019, a film adaptation of the Nancy Springer book series The Enola Holmes Mysteries was in development at Legendary Pictures, with Millie Bobby Brown producing and starring in the title role and Harry Bradbeer set to direct. Brown had read the books with her older sister Paige and immediately wanted to play the role of Enola, but wasn't yet old enough to play the sixteen year old character. She later told her father they should make it into a film and partnered with Legendary Pictures who she had previously worked with on Godzilla. She discussed with writer Jack Thorne how she wanted to break the fourth wall.

In June, Henry Cavill, Helena Bonham Carter, Adeel Akhtar and Fiona Shaw joined the cast, with Sam Claflin, Louis Partridge, Susie Wokoma and Burn Gorman joining in July as filming began in London. Filming also took place at Luton Hoo in Bedfordshire.

The Conan Doyle Estate filed a lawsuit against Netflix over the film, claiming it violates copyright by depicting Sherlock Holmes as having emotions, an aspect of the character which they argue does not fall under the public domain as he was only described as having emotions in stories published between 1923 to 1927, and the copyright for the stories published in that period still belong to the estate.

Music

As of July 2019, Daniel Pemberton had been hired to compose the film's score. The soundtrack was released on September 18, 2020.

Release

In April 2020, Netflix acquired distribution rights to the film, as opposed to a theatrical release by Warner Bros. Pictures due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The film was released on September 23, 2020.

Reception

On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 92% based on 92 reviews, with an average rating of 7.11/10. The website's critics consensus reads: "Enola Holmes brings a breath of fresh air to Baker Street – and leaves plenty of room for Millie Bobby Brown to put her effervescent stamp on a franchise in waiting." On Metacritic, it was assigned a weighted average score of 66 out of 100, based on reviews from 25 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".

Peter Debruge of Variety called the film an "entertaining franchise starter" and praised Brown's performance, stating that "[her] acting style recalls the effusive spontaneity Keira Knightley brought to Pride and Prejudice, shattering the straitlaced propriety of so many Jane Austen adaptations before it." Debruge found the film "more tasteful in its high-energy storytelling than Guy Ritchie's recent Sherlock Holmes movies, and considerably more fun than [2019]'s Nancy Drew reboot." John DeFore of The Hollywood Reporter gave the film a positive review and wrote: "It successfully imagines a place for its heroine in Holmes' world, then convinces young viewers that Enola needn't be constrained by that world's borders." Ann Hornaday of the Washington Post wrote: "Enola Holmes offers brisk and exuberant escape from the heaviness of modern times, with its leading actress lending her own appealing touches to the journey. When the game is afoot, she's more than capable, not just of keeping up, but winning the day."

A negative review came from Mick LaSalle of the San Francisco Chronicle, he wrote: "A bright young actress, a movie-star actor and a potentially interesting concept gets smothered in 128 minutes of colorful, empty nonsense."

Sequel

In September 2020, producer and star Millie Bobby Brown and director Harry Bradbeer acknowledged their intentions to develop a sequel.

External links

• Enola Holmes on Netflix
• Enola Holmes at IMDb
• Conan Doyle Estate Ltd. v. Springer docket on CourtListener
• Enola Holmes at Rotten Tomatoes
• Enola Holmes at Metacritic