Felt familiar, didn’t it?
Enola Holmes has been on the Netflix roster for quite a while now, yet the attention surrounding the film hasn’t dwindled. I have a niece who is 10 years old and she’s seen it four times (as of this writing)—and I know she isn’t the only one engrossed in the film.
After all, how often do we get a look into the less experienced but equally brilliant younger sister of someone famous, like Sherlock Holmes?
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In the film, Enola Holmes (Millie Bobby Brown) wakes up on her 16th birthday to find her mother, Eudoria (Helena Bonham Carter), missing. And because she then becomes a minor with no guardian, older brothers Sherlock (Henry Cavill) and Mycroft (Sam Claflin) come by. Enola eventually runs away—to find her mother and/or not go to the finishing school her brothers put her in—and ends up stepping into more trouble than she bargained for. More specifically, she comes across another runaway, Viscount Tewksbury. The upside? Eudoria’s been training Enola for this her entire life.
As the titular character, Millie Bobby Brown is as I like seeing her: intelligent, charming and youthful. We’ve seen her look and grow into a young woman on magazine spreads and social media, but Enola Holmes is a nice reminder that she is, indeed, only 16 years old. Helena Bonham Carter is brilliant, as usual, in the scenes we’re fortunate enough to see her in (more of her next time, please?). Henry Cavill and Sam Claflin help take the story further and their roles definitely add more depth to the narrative, but they are supporting roles in this film (as they should be).
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Enola Holmes unfolds itself quite quickly, the mystery of Eudoria oftentimes overshadowed by that of Tewksbury (Louis Partridge), but you get the answers soon enough. Because just when you remember one side of the story still has a loose knot, the next scene neatly ties it together. There is enough action, albeit slightly minimal, and there are enough clues to work with—sometimes provided to you and sometimes you have to figure out yourself.
But at its heart, Enola Holmes is another addition to our feminist movie list. It stars an empowered mother empowering her daughter. Do they succeed? In risk of spoilers and stating the obvious, the answer is yes. Am I sick of seeing women win? Of course not.
As Tewksbury tells Enola, “You were made to fight.” But if you need a little more inspiration, then get to know Enola Holmes.
Enola Holmes is now streaming on Netflix.
Art Alexandra Lara
