Enola Holmes

“A subtle stench of the ‘not like other girls’ trope tarnishes Enola Holmes’ otherwise noteworthy treatment of gender.”

Title: Enola Holmes (2020)
Director: Harry Bradbeer 👨🏼🇬🇧
Writers: Jack Thorne 👨🏼🇬🇧 based on the books by Nancy Springer 👩🏼🇺🇸

Reviewed by Alicja Johnson 👩🏼🇺🇸

—SPOILERS AHEAD—

Technical: 4/5

Living up to a family name haunts many coming-of-age characters, in both fiction and reality. Yet teenaged Enola Holmes (Millie Bobby Brown) harbors no such desire to match the notoriety of her famous brother, Sherlock (Henry Cavill). Contentedly dwelling at Ferndale Hall with her dynamic mother Eudoria (Helena Bonham Carter) in the remote English countryside, Enola hasn’t seen either of her two older brothers since she was very little. Eudoria takes advantage of their secluded home, raising her daughter to love books, science, and other interests that most women couldn’t openly enjoy in 1884. But the progressive bubble pops when Enola wakes on the morning of her 16th birthday to find her mother missing, which prompts Sherlock and the elder Mycroft (Sam Claflin) to come home.

Brown, most well-known for her starring role in Stranger Things, simply shines as Enola Holmes. She portrays an energetic young sleuth brimming with intelligence, humor, and compassion. Claflin (and his villainous moustache) stands out as Mycroft, the eldest Holmes brother who epitomizes the oppressive society that Enola so badly wants to escape. On the other hand, Cavill is merely fine. Considering that we’re in Enola’s movie, his performance works well enough without forcing Brown to share the spotlight.

The film lasts over two hours, but thoughtful pacing keeps us engaged. Enola frequently careens to face the camera and breaks the fourth wall. (Unsurprisingly, Bradbeer’s past director credits include Fleabag, which employs the same device). Her quips mostly lighten the mood, yet they do feel excessive at times, as if Bradbeer doesn’t trust us to notice what he wants.

Despite the minor setbacks, however, Enola Holmes represents an exciting onscreen launch for Nancy Springer’s beloved young adult series.

Gender: 4/5
Does it pass the Bechdel Test? YES

Fasten your seat belts—we have much to unpack here. In terms of gender, Enola Holmes boasts lots of good, a little bad, and a smidge that toes the line.

Let’s start with the good, such as the fact that two young women drove this film’s existence. Millie Bobby Brown and her older sister, Paige, both earned their first credits as producers with this film. A fan of Nancy Springer’s Enola Holmes series, Paige thought the six novels would translate well to the screen and brought Millie on board. The elder sister reportedly identified which parts of the first Enola Holmes novel would fit into the movie, and made a point to highlight how oppressed women were in 1884. Meanwhile, Millie herself suggested to screenwriter Jack Thorne that Enola ought to break the fourth wall, which became one of the movie’s defining features. Rarely do young people—especially women—get the creative control the Brown sisters shared on this film.

Under their influence, Enola Holmes brims with depictions of how society marginalized women in the Victorian era. The most fervent perpetrator, Mycroft, constantly berates Enola as “uneducated,” “unbroken,” and “poorly-mannered” despite her wealth of intelligence and love for learning. He sends her to finishing school, where Miss Harrison (Fiona Shaw) teaches young girls that marriage and childbearing are the key to happiness for women.

Well aware of society’s marital expectations for her, Enola prefers to focus on her own ambitions. Even when a potential love interest shows up in the form of the Viscount Tewkesbury (Louis Partridge), she rebuffs his flirtations in favor of friendship. In addition to her smarts, Enola is physically strong, in one instance successfully defending herself against an adult man. Flashbacks to her childhood reveal that Eudoria passed down much of Enola’s wit and physical prowess, painting a beautiful mother-daughter relationship seldom seen in film.

All that said, a subtle stench of the “not like other girls” trope does tarnish Enola Holmes’ otherwise noteworthy treatment of gender. It begins in the first few minutes of the film, as Enola describes how her mother (not an “ordinary mother,” we’re told) didn’t teach her embroidery or stringing seashells. “We did different things,” Enola declares, proudly. Yes, raising a daughter to be more than a childbearing wife in the 1880s defied conventions, but Enola seems to look down upon women who do conform. Early on in the film, Sherlock suggests she might make friends at finishing school, but Enola rebuffs him with an adamant “I don’t need any friends.” As the story closes, Enola reverses her outlook, but only in the context of her friendship with the Viscount Tewkesbury. While the trope isn’t flagrant, it’s definitely there.

Finally, the film tries to touch on society’s nasty habit of stripping mothers of any identity unrelated to their motherhood, with mixed results. Upon his arrival at Ferndale Hall, Mycroft bemoans the fact that (in his view) Eudoria failed to do her one job—raising Enola—and comments that his mother had “no passions” to distract her from accomplishing such a thing. Bradbeer shows us that Eudoria does in fact lead a rich and busy life, all while being a loving mother to Enola. Once we learn why Eudoria chose to go to London, her reasoning does make some sense. What doesn’t compute, however, is why she didn’t tell Enola she was leaving. This confusing vanishing act slightly undermines the strength of Eudoria’s character overall.

Race: 2.5/5

Enola Holmes offers little space for people of color, featuring only two non-white speaking roles. Enola’s search for her mother leads her to a jujutsu instructor from her youth, Edith, played by the Black British actor Susie Wokoma. Though some speculate that Edith is based on 20th century jujutsu expert Edith Garrud, the historical timeline doesn’t add up, making jujutsu’s role in the film feel slightly exoticized, plunked in as a curiosity.

After a brief conversation in which the instructor gives Enola guidance, Edith appears in only one other scene. To the film’s credit, Edith is one of the three female characters who defy social conventions, but nonetheless she exists only to assist our white leading lady.

The British actor Adeel Akhtar, son of Pakistani and Kenyan parents, takes the role of the detective Lestrade. Hired by Mycroft to hunt down Enola, the film depicts him as a worthy colleague to Sherlock. Though squarely a supporting character, Lestrade moves the plot forward in a way that shows his competence.

London’s diversity data for 1884 is hard to pin, but by that time the city began seeing an influx of Chinese and Indian immigrants, as well as “a small but significant African and Black Caribbean community.” We don’t know enough about the two characters of color in Enola Holmes to know whether these blossoming communities play into their unique stories. All in all, Edith and Lestrade seem more like boxes checked than meaningful characters.

Deduction for Age: -0.50

Enola Holmes weaponizes older women as symbols of the Victorian constructs that held back progress.

All three of the female characters over the age of 60 who influence the action fall into an unfortunate stereotype. Miss Harrison echoes Mycroft in criticizing Enola for being “unladylike.” Thorne includes a scene in which she defends her traditional way of life to Enola, but otherwise he antagonizes the character for comic relief. The same can be said for Tewkesbury’s grandmother (Frances de la Tour), who gets a slightly humanizing scene midway through the film, but ultimately attempts to kill her own grandson just to prevent a bill that would expand suffrage from passing the British House of Lords. Finally, we have Miss Gregory (Ellie Haddington), an elderly woman who rents Enola a room in London but greedily sells her whereabouts to Mycroft.

Despite Thorne’s halfhearted attempts to explore these characters’ perspectives, we cannot ignore that by making them all conservative to a point that it harms Enola, he perpetuates the stereotype that older people never support progress.

Mediaversity Grade: C+ 3.33/5

Though full of life and energy, Enola Holmes focuses so much on its feminist messaging that it sleeps on opportunities to uplift its non-white and senior characters.

Like Enola Holmes? Try these other 19th century titles with modern twists.

*The Personal History of David Copperfield (2020)*

Grade: CLiOctober 3, 2020Female/Nonbinary Creator