Film Review: Sisters Are Doin’ It for Themselves

Enola Holmes, written by Jack Thorne (based on the book by Nancy Springer). Directed by Harry Bradbeer. Produced by Netflix. Copyright 2020. (Watched September 23, 2020.)

The idea that Sherlock Holmes has a second sibling is not new. I may not be deep into ACD canon, but long before Series 4 of Sherlock premiered, I had heard that there was evidence that there was a third – most likely a brother, called Sherinford. Let’s not even get into the idea of Sherlock‘s Eurus, who I wrote plenty of about in my review of their episode “The Final Problem”.

And of course, the books about Sherlock’s younger sister Enola, written by Nancy Springer, have been around since 2006. I’ve not read the six books, but I had very briefly heard about them in one of my fandom groups I belong to. When I heard that Netflix was adapting the first book into a movie, and then the news that they cast Stranger Things‘ Millie Bobby Brown, I was intrigued. (The press around Arthur Conan Doyle’s estate suing regarding this adaptation only made me want to see it more.)

While I’ve always enjoyed the stories of Sherlock Holmes (and remember watching Granada Holmes with my mom growing up), I was never a big fan until Sherlock came around. I had seen a handful of the adaptations, including the first Robert Downey, Jr. movie. Falling in love with Sherlock made me fall in love with Sherlock Holmes, and so I started delving into the canon: reading (or re-reading) the books, seeing some of the other adaptations and pastiches, and even delving into some of the history of Doyle and his creating of the stories.

The plot of the Netflix adaptation takes direction from the first book in the series, The Case of the Missing Marquess. We meet up with Enola (Brown), who tells us she’s quite a bit younger than her two brothers, Sherlock (Henry Cavill) and Mycroft (Sam Claflin). Growing up, she had plenty of alone time with her mother Eudoria (Helena Bonham Carter), who decided to home school her and teach her to be a thing one doesn’t see much of in Victorian-era England: an independent woman.

But when Eudoria ends up missing, Enola decides to go ask her brothers for help – especially Sherlock, as she’s been following his career as a detective. But they are typical men, and don’t feel it’s that big of an issue. Eudoria’s been a bit of a free spirit since their father passed, after all, and this is no doubt just another one of her ‘crazy ideas’.

While Sherlock seems somewhat concerned anyway, Mycroft is more concerned that Enola is not a ‘proper young lady’, and vows to get her into a boarding school and learn to be a polite, dress properly, and basically be a silent member of society waiting to be married off.

She escapes, and runs across Inspector Lestrade (Adeel Akhtar), who’s on the case of a missing Viscount, Lord Tewksbury. Of course, in true mystery trope, Enola runs across Tewksbury (Louis Partridge) in her own adventure, and the two cases merge.

Overall, I highly enjoyed the film. It was a great adventure, and the mystery was actually well done. It was exactly what I needed during this pandemic, a breath of fresh air in terms of story and theme. I love Brown’s continued acknowledging of the fourth wall, which I can only assume is in the books as well. (My favorite is when she asks the audience if they have any suggestions for getting her out of her current predicament.)

The acting was excellent: Brown deserves kudos for carrying most of the load here and holding her own against such talent. Meanwhile, the ensemble is somewhat diverse: from a Pakistani Lestrade to a black woman that is Eudora’s confidant (and who had taught her how to fight).

But that’s where the movie draws up short. One of the major themes is the racial and gender division that is in society. “Politics doesn’t interest you because you have no interest in changing a world that suits you so well,” Edith says to Sherlock at one point, bringing up the point that of course a cis white man can ‘not care’ about politics when he is so rarely affected by it.

And the feminist theme is definitely there throughout the movie. From Enola’s upbringing to the reason Eudioria has left, we are shown time and time again that women deserve so much better. But like many ‘feminist’ art, it’s geared toward white women. Edith is the only woman of color with any kind of major role, and while we have a Pakistani Lestrade, it’s not mentioned how that may tie into this theme.

Additionally, for a supposed feminist film, it barely passes the Bechtel Wallace test. Enola is really the only major female character, and she’s surrounded by men for most of the movie (and most of them white). Additionally, they have a romantic subplot between Enola and Tewksbury (near the end of the film, Mycroft is somewhat mollified that Enola may ‘settle down’ with him and thus stop being such a ‘nuisance’). I’d love to see if anyone has sat down and actually counted the dialogue / scenes to see how much dialogue and screen time Enola actually has compared to the men. (Although I will admit I was a little miffed that we didn’t hear about John Watson, and Lestrade even at one point says Sherlock ‘works alone’. According to Wikipedia, he does show up later, so if Netflix continues with more movies from this series, please follow the fancasting of Joey Batey as Cavill’s Watson, please.)

However, it’s still world’s better compared to other certain Sherlock Holmes interpretations for female representation and diversity. I also can give it the praise that it finally made me start liking Sherlock Holmes again. (Why yes, I am still bitter about Sherlock – how did you guess?) Enola Holmes is currently streaming on Netflix.