Mr. Holmes wants to be a quiet, reflective meditation on aging and memory, and for stretches it succeeds. But the film’s central mystery — the unsolved case that drove Sherlock Holmes from Baker Street — gets buried beneath a slow, talky pace and a protagonist whose mental decline feels more like fatigue than tragedy. Ian McKellen plays Holmes at 93, retired in a Sussex farmhouse, struggling to recall the details of his final case because his mind is slowly failing. That premise is promising, and the film spends its early runtime establishing Holmes’s routine: tending to the bees in his apiary, walking the lanes near his home, and spending time with his housekeeper’s son, Roger, played by Milo Parker. The relationship between Holmes and Roger is the emotional spine of the picture, and it works better than the case itself. Roger is curious and intelligent, and his questions prod Holmes into remembering details he thought were lost.
Trailer, via RoadsideFlix.
Memory and the Case
Holmes’s memory problem is the engine of the film, but the film doesn’t use it effectively. He forgets things because he is old, and his forgetting feels less like a crisis and more like a condition. The film keeps telling us that Holmes can’t remember, but it doesn’t show us what he can’t remember in a way that makes us care. The flashbacks to his final case — involving a woman named Ann Kelmot who became estranged from her husband after two miscarriages — are told in a flat, expository manner. We learn that Ann forged cheques, confirmed details of her husband’s will, bought poison, paid a man, and checked train schedules. Holmes deduces that she wanted to have gravestones made for herself and her miscarried children, then kill herself.
That’s a grim conclusion, but the film doesn’t dramatize it. Instead, it tells us about it, and the effect is cold. The climax of the case, where Holmes confronts Ann and offers her comfort, is rushed and anticlimactic. The emotional weight of the scene should be substantial — a man who has spent his life alone offering solace to a woman who has lost everything — but the film’s pacing dilutes it. Holmes is tempted by Ann’s offer to share her loneliness, but he advises her to return to her husband instead. She pours the poison on herself, and the film moves on.
Roger and the Bees
The relationship between Holmes and Roger is the one thing that consistently works. Roger’s questions about the bees, about the world, and about Holmes’s past are the moments where the film feels alive. Milo Parker is excellent as Roger, and his performance anchors scenes that might otherwise drift. The film’s best stretches are those where Holmes and Roger walk together, talking about deduction, about family, and about what it means to be a father figure to a boy who has lost his own father. These scenes are tender without being sentimental, and they give the film its heart.
The Case That Won’t Resolve
The case that drives the film is the one thing that doesn’t resolve. Holmes knows he failed somehow, and that failure led to his retirement. But the film never makes clear what the failure was. Was it a mistake in deduction? A misreading of evidence? A personal flaw? The film raises the question and then lets it sit. This is a structural weakness. A film about a man trying to remember his final case should be obsessed with that case, but Mr. Holmes is more interested in the present-day routine than in the past. The result is a film that feels unfinished, as if it’s waiting for a moment that never arrives.
The Supporting Cast
The supporting cast is strong, and they do what they can with limited material. Laura Linney plays Mrs. Munro, the widowed housekeeper, with warmth and dignity. Roger Allam is excellent as Dr. Barrie, and Frances de la Tour is memorable as Madame Schirmer. Hiroyuki Sanada plays Tamiki Umezaki, a Japanese official who helps Holmes acquire the prickly ash plant. Phil Davis is effective as Inspector Gilbert, and Hattie Morahan brings depth to Ann Kelmot. But none of them get enough screen time to matter beyond their function in the plot.
The film also features Frances Barber as Matinee “Madame Schirmer” and Charles Maddox as Oswald. Their roles are small, and they don’t leave much of an impression. The film is populated with capable actors doing serviceable work, but the script doesn’t give them anything to do that feels essential.
The Premiere and Release
The film premiered out of competition at the 65th Berlin International Film Festival on 7 February 2015. It was released in British cinemas on 19 June 2015 and in the United States on 17 July 2015. Principal photography began on 5 July 2014 in London. The film is based on Mitch Cullin’s 2005 novel A Slight Trick of the Mind.
What Works
What works in Mr. Holmes is the specificity of its setting and its characters. The Sussex farmhouse, the apiary, the prickly ash plant — these are small details that give the film texture. The film is at its best when it slows down and lets Holmes observe the world around him. There’s a moment where Holmes watches Roger tend to the bees, and the film captures a genuine tenderness between the two men. These are the scenes that stick with you.
What Doesn’t Work
What doesn’t work is the case. The film sets up a mystery that it never fully resolves, and that failure undermines the entire enterprise. The film is also too slow. At 104 minutes, it should move faster, but it lingers on Holmes’s routine in a way that feels indulgent rather than reflective. The film is also overly talky, with Holmes explaining his deductions and his memories to Roger and to himself. This is a man who is supposed to be brilliant, and the film keeps telling us how brilliant he is rather than showing us.
The film’s tagline is “The Man Behind the Myth.” That’s a fair description of what the film attempts. It wants to strip away the legend of Sherlock Holmes and reveal the man underneath. But the film fails to deliver on that promise. The man we see is competent and kind, but he’s not particularly interesting. He’s a man who has forgotten his past, and the film doesn’t make us feel what that loss means.
The Verdict
Mr. Holmes is a thoughtful, occasionally moving film that is hampered by a central mystery it can’t be bothered to solve. The relationship between Holmes and Roger is the film’s best element, and it elevates scenes that might otherwise be dull. But the case that defines Holmes’s life is treated as a footnote, and the film’s refusal to engage with it leaves the whole enterprise feeling incomplete. Ian McKellen is excellent, and the film is well-made, but it’s a film that promises more than it delivers.
Key Facts
– Title: Mr. Holmes (2015)
– Director: Bill Condon
– Writer: Jeffrey Hatcher
– Runtime: 104 minutes
– Genres: Drama, Mystery
– Tagline: “The Man Behind the Myth”
– Premiere: Out of competition at the 65th Berlin International Film Festival, 7 February 2015
– Release Dates: UK: 19 June 2015, US: 17 July 2015
– Based on: Mitch Cullin’s 2005 novel A Slight Trick of the Mind
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