Mr Holmes

In 1947, the long-retired Sherlock Holmes, aged 93, lives in a remote Sussex farmhouse with his housekeeper, Mrs. Munro, and her young son, Roger. Holmes is unhappy about his ex-partner Watson's published version of his last case, which involved a young married woman who was distraught after two failed pregnancies. Holmes hopes to write his own account, but due to the deterioration of his memory struggles to remember what happened. In an attempt to improve his memory he uses royal jelly (he practises beekeeping) and visits Hiroshima, Japan in search of prickly ash. The film, like the novel, uses flashbacks to reveal events of the past, when he was still at the height of his fame and mental ability at his Baker Street consulting rooms. Eventually, after Roger finds a glove belonging to the woman in Watson's old desk, Holmes remembers that the woman committed suicide in her grief over her lost children, Holmes blaming himself for the loss after he had a chance to approach her as a human being seeking companionship and instead approached her case as a matter of logic, assessing that she was trying to create the impression that she planned to commit suicide rather than realizing her true agenda. At the conclusion, Holmes acknowledges the value of a more spiritual, personal connection with others, planting small stones in memory of those he has lost and taking a moment to pray and recall his loved ones.