dashwood_one

I have just watched the 2015 film 'Mister Holmes'. What a beautiful, beautiful movie this is. As a big fan of Sherlock Holmes, this was a must. For everybody who was puzzled as to why the great detective should suddenly move to Sussex, and keep bees - as is stated in the 1917 short story 'His Last Bow' [set in 1913], this is a possible answer. For those of you out there that like your Sherlock Holmes to be young and dashing, this movie will take you well out of your comfort zone, for this film is set in 1947, and Holmes is 93, frail, and losing his memory. Want to continue? You really should. Holmes is played by Sir Ian McKellen, who turns in a fantastically restrained and moving performance, that of a man who knows that the end is not far away, but has got to correct a mistake he made in 1919 - if only he can remember exactly what it was; his last case, which ended so disastrously that he packed it all in to be with his bees. The most heartbreaking thing is that, although he and Watson had moved on by then, Watson came back to Baker Street [not 221b actually], for a month to help Holmes get over his failure. Whilst there, he wrote up the last case, but with a presumably 'happy' ending, to be kind to his old friend, however, this caused them to fall out, and Watson died in 1922, having never spoken to Holmes again. Heartbreaking too, is Holmes' memory loss. His doctor gives him a diary, and tells Holmes that every time he forgets something, to put a mark on that day's page. Later in the film, we see the doctor flicking through the diary - and each page has more and more dots on it. This is a sad, elegiac film, a Sherlock Holmes film, but one that shows Holmes to be more 'human' than most. A film about loss, loneliness, and what it is like to simply be human. Holmes says at one point: "I have been alone all my life, except for a short period, when I had someone to share my loneliness." This is a superb movie, well worth watching. It was directed by Bill Condon, who also directed the excellent movie about the 1930's film director James Whale, 'Gods And Monsters' [1998]