Bright and sparkling like its lead, Netflix film Enola Holmes has a feminist core but lands light on its feet
Nonika Singh
Enola Holmes! Does that ring a bell? Well, pay heed to the surname. Yes it’s the famous Sherlock Holmes family. Produced by Millie Bobby Brown and headlined by her, this story (based on a book by Nancy Springer) of the famous detective’s kid sister is heart-warming and delightful in equal measure.
Harking back to the late 19th century, it begins as first person account of its lead character. Coming from an age when women hadn’t even got the right to vote in England, the mother-daughter duo we get to meet is rather unusual. The mother Eudoria Holmes (Helena Bonham Carter) has trained her daughter not to sew or embroider but life skills; from how to fight to how to put clues together. Certainly, Enola is a detective in the making who comes into her own when the mother disappears one fine day leaving trails for the daughter to connect. It’s also the time for her brothers to make an appearance. The eldest Mycroft Holmes (Sam Claflin) is an autocratic feudalist, who wants to make a lady out of his rather intrepid sister and send her packing to finishing school.
Sherlock is well Sherlock trying to unravel the disappearance of his mother and tells his sister; you are being emotional, it is understandable but unnecessary. The real surprise however; he is a brother who cares, the reason for which house of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s estate has filed a case against this Netflix film. For Sherlock is meant to be a man without emotions. Of course, this valuable nugget isn’t about Sherlock though Henry Cavill aka Superman looks as handsome as ever and makes a fine cut as an appreciative, almost indulgent brother.
Enola Holmes is essentially and expectedly about Enola and Millie; charming in more than one way, and swirls around us like a breath of fresh air. Equally endearing is her romantic interest young Viscount Tewkesbury (Louis Partridge) whom she helps dodge dangers, as grievous as murder.
You bet, our dear Enola is no damsel in distress. Quite the contrary, she leads the way not just for her beau but even her brother, the famed detective. In the end when the Inspector Lestrade of Scotland Yard (Adeel Akhtar) enquires of Sherlock; how did your sister get there first, you can’t suppress a chuckle! The film has a progressive, even feminist core with dialogues like, ‘perhaps she wants to change the world, perhaps, it’s a world that needs changing’, but lands light on its feet.
Despite the obvious inequality of those times, very little is dismal here and fetchingly recreates an era of yore when equal rights eluded women. Hence, this encounter with Enola and her mother, clearly ahead of their times, is invigoratingly refreshing. Though we dare say the film doesn’t rub its feminist beliefs hard.
Rather, it packages an interesting premise in engaging and telling ways where words like capricious and cantankerous don’t seem odd, but so much a part of this world. Capturing the picturesque panoramic beauty of erstwhile England, set in 1884, it is bright and sparkling like its sassy heroine who trades her feminine clothes for a man’s, even masquerades as her brother’s assistant. We stay right through with Enola who solves a mystery as astutely as her brother.
Sure, if you are a fan of Sherlock’s sleuth ways, this mystery may seem far too elementary. But if you look at Enola as a lively sixteen-year-old and the film as a beginning of a new franchise, its beating heart will enrapture you.
