The Lost King: Smart Fact-Based Historical Biopic Rewrites Shakespeare For Better
By Karen Gordon
Rating: B+
Oh, the joys of the small, intelligent, beautifully made, wonderfully cast, character-driven British movie.
As a history nerd, I was fascinated when the lost remains of King Richard III were found under a parking lot in Leicester, England, 500 years after his death in battle.
The Lost King is the story of the amateur historian and “Ricardian” whose grit and determination led to the discovery of the defeated king’s remains, and the rehabilitation of his reputation.
It also asks and answers the question, ‘Was Richard III the hunchback murderous villain portrayed by Shakespeare, or was his reputation as an evil usurper a propaganda campaign mounted by the Tudors?’ A Middle Ages version of fake news and cancel culture.
The film reunites the creative team behind the 2013 hit movie Philomena, producer-actor-writer Steve Coogan — whose interest drove both projects — with his co-writer Jeff Pope alongside director Stephen Frears.
Sally Hawkins stars as Philippa Langley, a divorced mother of two working in marketing in Edinburgh. She shares her two sons, and an affectionate friendship, with her ex-husband, John, played by Coogan.
Philippa’s life, and particularly her work life, is complicated by the fact that she suffers from myalgic encephalomyelitis, or chronic fatigue syndrome that, when it flares up, means she has to take time off work. Although it hasn’t cost her her job, it’s seen as a liability by her employers who quietly judge her as limited and stunt her career trajectory.
Her frustration at being judged and labelled because of a medical issue is in the back of her mind when she attends a performance of Shakespeare’s play Richard the Third. When the actor playing the king (Harry Lloyd) makes a speech about how having a hunchback and hating himself for his deformity caused him to be evil, and do evil deeds, Philippa feels that the rationale sounds false.
The image of Richard presented by Shakespeare has been the accepted image of the king even in academic circles. But Philippa wonders whether it’s accurate.
Her curiosity piqued, she starts to research, reading everything she can find on Richard, which becomes a fascination that soon supersedes her frustration at work. Her research leads her to connect with the nearest chapter of the Ricardians, a group of fellow amateur historians, who also believe that king’s image and legacy were deliberately distorted for political purposes by the Tudors.
They defeated Richard, killing him in battle, and seized the crown. The Ricardians believe the image of him as twisted and evil is Tudor propaganda, distorted for their political purposes.
When Philippa hears that there is no known grave for Richard and no one knows where his remains are, she becomes determined to find it, and in the process restore the reputation of a king she’s come to see as progressive and heroic.
The Lost King is based on the true story of Philippa Langley, who spent seven-and-a-half years researching and searching for the location of the king. The film compresses the story into a shorter time frame, focusing on the dogged determination of Philippa, the support of her ex and their sons, and the resistance she faced from academia when her researched started to point in a certain direction.
The film also acknowledges a less academic element to Philippa’s story. She also had strong intuitions as she searched that were so strong, she couldn’t ignore it. Ultimately paying attention to those feelings led her to the spot where she felt they would find his remains.
The filmmakers deal with that by externalizing her intuition by having King Richard appear to her at various points through the film. The king shows up in the form of the theatre actor (Lloyd) who played him in the production that started her off on this quest in the first place.
In a movie that this low-key and down-to-earth, this is a risky choice that could have been tipped the movie into something tacky. But in the hands of this filmmaking team, and with Hawkins’ empathetic, grounded performance, it works in quite a lovely way.
Initially it feels slightly whimsical to have her interact with a figment of her imagination, but as the film goes on, it underlines the growing sense of responsibility she feels. It’s not only about finding his remains, and giving him a proper burial, but it’s also about put his true legacy in the history books so that he is known for his true accomplishments, and not by a Shakespearean caricature.
The film also deals with the way the academic world dealt with Philippa, initially writing her off, and then joining with her. When the dig turned up the king’s remains where she had predicted they would be, the movie says that Philippa was pushed out of the spotlight, in favour of the academic establishment.
The film has caused some controversy with the University of Leicester, and archeologist and professor Richard Buckley, portrayed in the film by Mark Addy, who initially dismissed her, but ended up supervising the dig. Both Buckley and the University have denied that they took credit for her work.
Still, the movie plays as easygoing, doesn’t labour over the historical facts, and yet gives us enough context to understand what Philippa discovered while doing her research, and the historical importance of what she uncovered and the aftermath. Anchored by a beautiful performance by Sally Hawkins, it’s also a character study of what one very determined person can do.
The Lost King is a wonderfully satisfying movie. It gives both Philippa her due, and shows us how she not only found, but helped redeem the reputation of King Richard the third. Take that, Shakespeare.
The Lost King. Directed by Steven Frears. Written by Steve Coogan and Jeff Pope. Starring Sally Hawkins, Steve Coogan, Harry Lloyd. In theatres March 24.