Enola Holmes (film)

Enola Holmes is a 2020 mystery film starring Millie Bobby Brown as the title character, the teenage sister of the already famous Victorian-era detective Sherlock Holmes (portrayed by Henry Cavill) and Mycroft Holmes (portrayed by Sam Claflin). The film is directed by Harry Bradbeer from a screenplay by Jack Thorne that adapts the first novel in The Enola Holmes Mysteries series by Nancy Springer. In the film, Enola travels to London to find her missing mother (portrayed by Helena Bonham Carter) but pairs up with a runaway lord as they attempt to solve a mystery that threatens the country.

Filming began in July 2019. Originally planned for a cinematic release by Warner Bros. Pictures, the distribution rights to the film were picked up by Netflix due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Enola Holmes was released on September 23, 2020. The film received positive reviews from critics, who praised Brown's performance. It became one of the most-watched original Netflix film releases, with an estimated 76 million households watching the film over its first four weeks. A sequel, Enola Holmes 2, was released on Netflix on November 4, 2022.

Plot

Enola Holmes is the youngest child in the Holmes family. She is extremely intelligent, observant, and insightful, defying the social norms for women of the time. Her mother, Eudoria, has taught her everything from chess to jujitsu and encouraged her to be strong-willed and independent.

On her sixteenth birthday, Enola wakes to find that her mother has disappeared, leaving behind only some gifts. A week later, she meets her older brothers, Mycroft and Sherlock. Sherlock finds her intelligent, whereas Mycroft finds her troublesome and as her legal guardian, intends to send her away to a finishing school run by Miss Harrison, his old friend who reunites with him after many years.

The flower cards left by her mother reveal secret messages and lead to hidden money, which Enola uses to escape disguised as a boy. On the train, she finds the young Viscount Tewkesbury hidden in a travel bag. She thinks he is a nincompoop, but warns him that a man in a brown bowler hat named Linthorn is on the train searching for him. Linthorn finds and tries to kill Tewkesbury, who escapes with Enola by jumping off the train. Tewkesbury forages for edible plants and fungi, and the two return to London and part ways.

Disguised as a proper Victorian lady, Enola continues to trace Eudoria, leaving cryptic messages in the newspaper personal advertisements. Enola discovers pamphlets and a safehouse containing explosives, and learns that Eudoria is part of a radical group of suffragettes. She is attacked by Linthorn, who interrogates her about Tewkesbury, then attempts to kill her. She fights back, ignites the explosives in the safehouse and escapes.

Enola decides to find Tewkesbury again, to save him from Linthorn. She visits the Tewkesbury estate too, meeting Tewkesbury's grandmother the Dowager. Meanwhile, Mycroft has Inspector Lestrade of Scotland Yard search for Enola Holmes.

Enola finds Tewkesbury selling flowers in Covent Garden and warns him of Linthorn. Taking him to her lodgings, she is caught by Lestrade and imprisoned in Miss Harrison's finishing school by Mycroft. Sherlock visits her and admits he is impressed by her detective work. Tewkesbury sneaks into the school and they escape together, stealing Miss Harrison's motor car. Enola decides they must go to Basilwether Hall and face Tewkesbury's uncle, who she has deduced was trying to kill him.

The estate is seemingly deserted, but Linthorn ambushes them. Enola trips him using jujitsu, causing a fatal head injury. Tewkesbury's grandmother is revealed as Linthorn's contractor. As a staunch traditionalist, she did not want him to take his father's place in the House of Lords and vote for the Reform Bill. She shoots Tewkesbury, but he survives, having hidden a plate of armor under his clothes. Sherlock arrives at Scotland Yard, where Lestrade informs him of Enola's actions as they plan to have the Dowager arrested.

Enola shares a tearful goodbye with Tewkesbury. She eavesdrops on a meeting between Sherlock and Mycroft, where Sherlock suggests becoming her guardian. Upon returning to her lodgings, Enola finds Eudoria waiting there. She explains why she had to leave, and why she must leave again, but she is impressed by what Enola has become. Enola has found 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. Enola occasionally breaks the fourth wall to explain things to the viewers.
  • Sofia Stavrinou portrays a younger Enola.
• Henry Cavill as Sherlock Holmes, the second-eldest of the Holmes siblings and a renowned private detective
• Sam Claflin as Mycroft Holmes, the eldest of the Holmes siblings; a government employee and Enola's legal guardian.
• Helena Bonham Carter as Eudoria Holmes, the matriarch of the Holmes family.
• Louis Partridge as Tewkesbury
• Burn Gorman as Linthorn, a man who targets Tewkesbury and Enola
• Adeel Akhtar as Lestrade, an associate of Sherlock Holmes who works at Scotland Yard
• Susie Wokoma as Edith, a friend of Eudoria and suffragettes who runs a secret martial arts class
• Hattie Morahan as Lady Tewkesbury, Tewkesbury's mother
• David Bamber as Sir Whimbrel Tewkesbury, Tewkesbury's uncle
• Frances de la Tour as The Dowager, Tewkesbury's grandmother
• Claire Rushbrook as Mrs. Lane, the Holmes family's housekeeper
• Fiona Shaw as Miss Harrison, the stern headmistress of a finishing school
• Ellie Haddington as Miss Gregory, a seamstress

Production

By February 2019, a film adaptation of the book series The Enola Holmes Mysteries by Nancy Springer was in development at Legendary Pictures, with Millie Bobby Brown producing and starring in the title role and Harry Bradbeer set to direct. The film adapts the first book, The Case of the Missing Marquess, in which the younger sister of famed detective Sherlock Holmes goes on an adventure after her mother's disappearance. 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 character. She later told her father they should make it into a film and partnered with Legendary Pictures, the same company she had previously worked with on Godzilla: King of the Monsters. Brown and Bradbeer discussed the film and wanted energy, emotion and eccentricity as key elements of the film. Brown discussed with writer Jack Thorne how she wanted to break the fourth wall. Bradbeer was enthusiastic about the script since it combined his interest in stories about "dysfunctional families coming to terms with each other" with his love of Sherlock Holmes. Brown took the opportunity to improvise, something she would not do on television series Stranger Things, which is heavily scripted and because the character of Enola Holmes allowed for it. Capturing those moments and keeping up with Brown proved challenging for the focus puller.

In June 2019, 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. Railway scenes were filmed in Worcestershire at Arley railway station, Kidderminster Town railway station and Victoria Bridge on the Severn Valley Railway. The Holmes family residence Ferndell Hall was filmed at Benthall Hall in Shropshire. Benthall Hall had not previously been used as a filming location, and the production design team received great help from the head groundskeeper who allowed the place to become overgrown to achieve the look they needed. Interiors were shot at West Horsley Place in Surrey. False walls were put up and inspired by the Arts and Crafts movement they included plant motifs in the decorations and period wallpaper. The East End and Limehouse Lane locations were created among outbuildings at Luton Hoo in Bedfordshire. The scene in which Sherlock and Mycroft try to meet Enola was filmed at Drum Court within HM Treasury Buildings in Westminster.

Bonham Carter called her role the "smallest, greatest part I've been offered" and her agent tried to discourage her from taking on such a minor part. She was appreciative of the depth of the character despite her limited screen time. In the final cut, Eudoria did ultimately appear more than in the initial script.

Consolata Boyle was responsible for creating the costumes. Boyle and her team custom-designed, dyed and made the costumes for the main cast and background actors. Approximately thirty costumes were created for Enola, and costumes such as the red powderpuff dress had to be repeated several more times because of the physicality of the role and any damage that might occur during fight scenes. The powderpuff dress was based on theatrical costumes of the period, and Boyle wanted to use red, the color of courage. Boyle's favorite was Enola's final dress, it used the same shape as the first dress Enola wore while riding the bicycle bringing the costumes back full circle, but also the natural untreated silk used in the final dress has no strong color and "it allows for anything to happen next." The colors violet, green and ivory were associated with the suffragette movement so Boyle consciously made use of those colors in the costumes.

Visual effects were supervised by Michael Ellis and done by Mr. X and Host VFX.