Friday, December 25, 2009

"Sherlock Holmes" question (spoiler)

***** Tiny spoiler below! *****

In the movie, there is a scene at the end where Irene Adler says to Sherlock Holmes, "Everyone has a weakness. Moriarty found mine."

Sherlock asked, "What is it?"

She didn't reply. Instead she just smiled sadly at him.



Is she indicating that she doesn't want to reveal her weakness to him? Or is she implying that her weakness is her feelings for Sherlock Holmes?

Curious minds need to know.

===== UPDATE =======
Here are the reasons why I was originally un-convinced that her weakness is Holmes.

There was a scene in the train where Moriarty threatened to kill Holmes if Irene didn't finish the job. She looked shocked to hear the threat, which implies that he had not delivered the threat previously. She had already been working for him for some time, and Holmes described her at the start of the movie as intimidated and afraid of Moriarty.

This implies that Moriarty had already grabbed hold of her weakness (thus leaving her afraid), before he upped the ante with a threat on Holmes' life which surprised her even more.

12 comments:

Ben said...

I interpreted it as the latter. Especially since Moriarty threatened to kill Holmes in the train car if she didn't succeed in her mission.

Anonymous said...

I took it as the latter.

Victor Huang said...

Can't live with deliberate ambiguity?

Unknown said...

I would say its her feelings for Sherlock.

Great movie.

Honeybunny said...

I'd say its her feelings for Professor Moriarty.

Well, only if Brad Pitt agrees to play Moriarty in the sequel. :D

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/content_display/film/news/e3i2abb9d0f8f4b8fdc99be642eda6424df

Anonymous said...

I am guessing that Moriarty is got her kid and it's Sherlock's.

Strider Aragorn said...

Inside the train when she was going to flee, her 'employer' said that she needed to finish her job or he would kill Holmes. Thus, I'm pretty sure he was her weakness since it was his life that was holding her there.

Victor Huang said...

I was just reading Margaret Atwood's "The Blind Assassin", which included (among its many events) the recounting of a marriage proposal in early 20th century Canada. The man proposed marriage. The woman only looked down but stayed silent. The lack of an immediate reply meant that the proposal was accepted!

N said...

By the scene in the train where Moriarty threatened to kill Holmes if Irene didn't finish the job, Irene had already worked for him for some time. She started working for him before the threat on Holmes's life. That's why I wasn't sure if Holmes was her weakness.

When Holmes discussed her employer to Watson at the start of the movie, he said Irene was intimidated by her employer and afraid of him. This was before the scene we saw of Moriarty saying he'd kill Holmes. Maybe he has also threatened it previously in a not-shown scene, but then Irene shouldn't be so shocked to hear him issue the threat again.

Joanna said...

Argh.
Rachel McAdam as Irene Adler?
NOOOO.

Anonymous said...

Elementary - it's the latter.

"She didn't reply. Instead she just smiled sadly at him."
What happens after this scene describes why it's the latter...

Plus it's a guy ritchie flick.

-L

Eric Broberg said...

When I saw this, I immediately thought the latter explanation (her feelings for Holmes). It was only later that I thought it might have meant the former (Tell a worthy adversary my biggest weakness? I don't think so).

I would say the latter, though I hope the former (not that they are mutually exclusive). The former keeps the extremely enjoyable wordplay and adversarily/attracted duality going while the latter has a hollywood sappy boring love story ending...