FILM REVIEW: Mr Holmes

IN CINEMAS

In the last decade, the character of Sherlock Holmes has been revived as an icon of popular culture and attracted a new young audience.   The Downey-Jr. starring feature films made Holmes into a pugilistic action hero and the TV series Sherlock and Elementary have reinvented him as a 21st century detective.  Mr Holmes, artfully directed by the versatile Bill Condon, is neither action-packed nor modern but rewards the patient viewer with its unflashy intelligence and emotional depth. 

An adaptation of Mitch Cullin's A Slight Trick of the Mind, this film is more an exploration of character rather than a thrill-ride of clever deductions and plot twists.  The plots unfold gently through a non-linear structure in which we follow Holmes through three linked strands.  In the central strand, Holmes living out his retirement in 1947 Sussex;  in the second, some months earlier, he is in Japan seeking out a medicinal root which may help restore his memory; and in the third strand he is engaged in his final case thirty years earlier.  

Sir Ian McKellen skilfully plays Holmes at the ages of 63 and 93.  Aged roughly halfway between these two ages, he convinces as the older Holmes through subtle vocal and body mannerisms.  The make-up on the older Holmes is also excellent.  This Holmes is less eccentric than some portrayals.  He is a little grumpy but warm-hearted and develops a touching friendship with his housekeeper's young son, Roger (also acted very well by Milo Parker).  Roger and his mother (Laura Linney) are fully rounded characters too, and there is an interestingly unconventional family dynamic between the three of them. 

The story fits nicely into the Conan Doyle's canon with Holmes engaged in beekeeping as his retirement hobby.  On the surface, it appears an idyllic life.  The countryside is shot beautifully and near every scene appears to be a perfect summer's day.  However, Holmes is troubled by his increasing senility and memory problems; in particular he cannot remember what caused him to give up his detective work thirty years earlier.  As Holmes remembers the details of his last case, they are shown to the audience.

In 1917 London, Holmes is hired by a man worried about the mental health of his wife following two failed pregnancies.  When Holmes follows the blonde wife around London, it evokes James Stewart following Kim Novak in Hitchcock's Vertigo but with a tone of gentle melancholy rather than melodrama.   Although this case initially appears to be routine for Holmes, his older self is aware he got something wrong but he cannot remember what.  Watson is no longer working with Holmes during the last case and without him, we are able to fully empathise with Holmes rather than seeing him through the eyes of his friend.  However, though we barely see him, Watson does have a presence in the film when Holmes refers to the inaccurate myths his friend invented in his published journals.   This conflict between fact and fiction becomes another central theme to the movie.

The tone of melancholy is also evident in the sequences set in Japan.  In one moving and atmospheric scene, Holmes visit Hiroshima where he is touched when seeing a woman mourn her lost relatives.  The  theme of unhappy families is also explored when we see Holmes with his Japanese hosts. In all of the three plot strands, the lonely Holmes finds himself between mother-son or husband-wife relationships.  The Japan scenes may seem inconsequential at first but in the final twenty minutes of the film, the three strands come together dramatically and emotionally resonate with each other.

Mr Holmes is a very rich story which may have worked even if it didn't involve Conan Doyle's character.  However, Sherlock's inclusion adds poignancy because we come to understand that even his great mind is subject to human frailties.  The subtleties of this film would have been lost without a great central performance and McKellen delivers.  The only slight regret after watching this moving film is that it is Sir Ian's first and almost definitely last time playing the part.