How a teenage detective outsmarted the Victorian establishment and a major copyright lawsuit
In short: Enola Holmes, the brilliant younger sister of Sherlock, arrives in London to find her missing mother. While navigating a web of suffragette secrets and family dysfunction, she defies social norms and breaks the fourth wall. This 2020 film became a massive streaming hit, despite facing a high-profile legal challenge.
The film adapts Nancy Springer's book series, centering on Enola, a teenager raised by her mother Eudoria to be independent, observant, and skilled in jujitsu. When Eudoria disappears on Enola's sixteenth birthday, the girl escapes her older brothers, Sherlock and Mycroft, to solve the mystery. Her journey leads her to a runaway lord and a dangerous conspiracy involving the House of Lords and the suffragette movement.
Director Harry Bradbeer and star Millie Bobby Brown aimed for a tone defined by energy and emotional depth. Brown, who also produced the film, frequently improvised and addressed the audience directly, a departure from her scripted work on Stranger Things. The production team meticulously crafted the Victorian aesthetic, using locations like Benthall Hall and creating costumes that utilized symbolic colors associated with the suffragette movement.
The film's release faced an unexpected hurdle when the Conan Doyle Estate sued Netflix. The estate argued that depicting Sherlock Holmes as emotional violated copyright, claiming this specific character trait was only present in stories published between 1923 and 1927, which were still under protection at the time. The case was dismissed in December 2020, and by 2023, the remaining Sherlock Holmes stories had entered the public domain in the United States.
Upon its release, the film was a significant success for Netflix, with an estimated 76 million households watching it within the first four weeks. It received positive critical reception, particularly for Brown's performance. The film's popularity eventually spawned a franchise, with sequels released in 2022 and 2026, cementing Enola's place as a detective in her own right.
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- Summary by Intellect · source: Enola Holmes (film)
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