About halfway through Enola Holmes 3, something extraordinary happens.
Enola (Millie Bobby Brown) and Lord Tewkesbury (Louis Partridge) find themselves in a bathing cabin in Malta. The two have been on a roller coaster of emotions — going through a failed wedding ceremony and a terrifying kidnapping scheme — and, at long last, they have time alone to connect. As they get ready to take a dip in the ocean, Tewkesbury reaches over, bathed in sunlight, and braids Enola’s hair. If you haven’t had a chance to watch (or rewatch) this scene, we strongly encourage you to do so.
“It was a pitch I made to [writer] Jack Thorne, and I’m very thankful he liked it,” Brown tells Tudum. “One of the many reasons I love my husband, [Enola Holmes 3 executive producer] Jake [Bongiovi], is that he braids my hair before I go to bed. It’s kind of the most romantic, intimate thing a man can do.”
To prepare for his big hair braiding moment, Partridge was given a tutorial from Enola Holmes 3’s hair and makeup team. “I must be a fast learner because I picked it up pretty quickly,” he says. “You’ve got to separate it out into three strands and then bring the right side into the middle, crossing over the center one, then bring the left side over into the middle, center, and just repeat. It’s so satisfying.”
Sian Wilson, who leads the hair and makeup department, was impressed by Partridge’s delicate approach. “He was so careful,” Wilson recalls. “It worked for the character because Tewkesbury would have been so gentle and quite tentative … Louis was an honorary hair and makeup artist for the day.” (For the record, Wilson was on set while Brown and Partridge shot that moment, and it was equally impactful in real life. “The way the characters look at each other … the two of them — they’re so gorgeous together.”)
Brown and costume designer Consolata Boyle selected a white corset for Enola to wear in the bathing cabin, which the actor liked because it was both “feminine” and “youthful.” Tewkesbury, meanwhile, wore linen pants and a light button-down, a departure from his usual dark, formal garb. “He’s starting to look more and more at ease,” Boyle says. “Enola is making him feel at ease, which is absolutely wonderful.”
The scene ended up being a favorite of Matthew Lewis, Enola Holmes 3’s director of photography. “I felt like I was able to be a part of that special moment,” he says. “It was very emotionally vulnerable. You don’t often get that kind of access with actors — sometimes they can feel a bit guarded — but it was a very vulnerable space. I hope that feeling of intimacy really comes across.”
Adds Thorne, “I love the bathing cabin scene because it felt like such a place of possibility. Enola is trying to be strong at that moment whilst also being terrified, and Tewkesbury is just terrified all the way through.”
For Partridge, that quiet moment between Enola and Tewkesbury — who find themselves at painful odds during the early part of the film — was “quite important” for the couple. “It really serves as a way for them to come together in the privacy of these four small walls,” he tells Tudum. “They remember why they love each other. They remember that they’re each other’s best friend.”
Enola Holmes 3 is streaming on Netflix now.
