Film Review: Mr Holmes

Mr Holmes. Rated M (mature themes). 104 minutes. Directed by Bill Condon. Screenplay by Jeffrey Hatcher. Based on the novel by Mitch Cullin.

Just like the recent Far from the Madding Crowd, but without the literary pedigree, comes this exquisite, contemplative and multi-layered film about a restless, confused and impatient Sherlock Holmes (Ian McKellen) who is facing the end of his days.

In his novel A Slight Trick of the Mind, Cullin’s masterstroke was to place one of the world’s most extraordinary thinkers and problem solvers on the cusp of his own mortality, and Hatcher’s adaptation and Condon’s (The Twilight Saga: BreakingDawn, Dreamgirls, Kinsey, Gods and Monsters) astute and beautifully considered direction, account for the engrossing story perfectly.

It is 1947, and haunted by the outcome of what would be his final case, Holmes returns to his Sussex farmhouse home, where he is cared for by his dutiful, if somewhat resentful, housekeeper Mrs Munro (Laura Linney). Her remarkably mature for his age young son Roger (Milo Parker) is curious about the beehives Holmes tends on the property, as much as he is fascinated by the increasing mental and physical deterioration of his mother’s famous charge.

Concurrently in flashbacks, woven together exquisitely by editor Virginia Katz, the story takes us back to the tragic circumstances of his final, unsolvable case involving Ann (Hattie Morahan) and her husband Thomas (Patrick Kennedy), who are grieving the loss of their two newborn children. The story also takes a less-interesting detour to Japan, where Holmes’ desperate hunt for a miracle cure for his failing mind and body finds him in the ruins of Hiroshima.

The performances from a uniformly outstanding cast are superb, with McKellen, Linney and young Parker in particular, managing to make even the slightest heart-beats of domestic drama feel utterly compelling.

This review was commissioned by the West Australian Newspaper Group.