The Lost King

Philippa Langley (Sally Hawkins) is a divorced middle-aged mother of two boys. Her boss sucks. Her ex-husband John Langley (Steve Coogan) has a girlfriend. Nobody treats her seriously. She becomes obsessed with Richard III and even has visions of the dead King. She is frustrated with the popular image of the King as an evil troll cemented by the Shakespeare play. She goes on a journey to find the Lost King and maybe of self-discovery.

Sally Hawkins is the Queen of the meek mousy woman with an inner fire. I can't think of another actress who is a better fit for this role. It's the classic underdog character and apparently it's a true story. The story is pretty simple and very standard. Sally makes this sing.

This is Sally Hawkins' movie. Her performance plows past any weaknesses. The film (which is very entertaining overall; don't misunderstand me) is worth seeing on the basis of her work alone. Yes, on the poster's she is co-billed with Steve Coogan; but his role is relatively minor. He co-wrote the script, and no doubt helped get the film made. But it's her show.

The basic story: Philippa Langley works in a mid-level, deadend job, and thanks to some health issues, she struggles a little with enjoying day-to-day life. When she's passed over for a promotion mostly because she's not young, she has a minor life crisis. Her marriage has crumbled, her two sons are pretty decent to her, but still clueless and she's a bit at her wits end. In this state-of-mind, she attends a performance of RICHARD III, and is struck by his story and wonders if history has treated him fairly. (Was he really a murderous, villainous hunchback?) She's driven to discovered the truth about him, and dives into history books, a group of pro-Richard "kooks" and finally, into the desire to find the true location of Richard's remains. He's been unaccounted for (and not really sought) for over 500 years. Why would this amateur archeologist expect to have any luck finding the lost king?

As this is a true story, you can readily find out how her journey went. But what any news articles WON'T show you is how this journey became an obsession that ruled Philippa's life for so long. And how she had to fight not only a patriarchy, but a patriarchy full of particularly disagreeable academic snobs. It's a journey of her empowerment, which culminates in a few moments that make you want to just stand up and applaud.

Hawkins navigates us through all of this expertly. We have sympathy for her character even as we recognize that she's a "difficult" person. She's touchy and twitchy. She speaks up at "inappropriate" times. (Inappropriate in quotes, because it all depends on who it's inappropriate to.) She is an unlikely hero, and yet, she ends up a hero to herself and her family. (The world at large is another story.)

This movie is full of moments of very British humor. Everyone is perhaps a bit wittier than real life, but virtually every character has a little room to breathe. Coogan is good in a role that calls for him to be largely unlikeable, yet keep us at least marginally on his side. It's a quiet film that nonetheless moves forward with nice momentum.

The script includes the character of Richard III himself, who appears to Philippa as a largely quiet character, seemingly holding her to account for her actions. To me, this device was really not needed. Philippa's own explanations for what she's doing are strong enough reasons to follow her story avidly; we don't need a "cute" device like a phantom king.

But really, just sit back and let the quietly brilliant Hawkins carry you through the film. She's an engrossing guide.

I have been interested in Richard 111 eversince i saw Laurence Oliviers performance in the film in 1956. In May of this year i drove up to Leicester to visit first the Battle Of Bosworth field and museum and then to the modern museum in the city centre. So i was always going to like this film.

I could empathise with the main character as i also suffer from me or as its now known chronic fatigue syndrome.

It was a story worth telling and particularly to highlight the sterling work of Phillipa Langley. Who it would appear to have been sidelined by others,who are now complaining at their depiction in this film,notwithstanding the fact that they now have a spanking new museum which is bringing people like myself to go and visit Leicester.

For me this was one of the most enjoyable films that i have seen this year.

Amateur historian Phillipa Langley becomes fascinated with the life and death of the much maligned Richard III, she seeks funding, and the hunt begins.

If you're a fan of British feel good comedies such as Fisherman's Friends and Kinky Boots, those films of triumph over adversity, this will definitely hold your interest.

It's a truly fascinating story, and one of the only times I've ever seen Richard III given a bit of positivity in a film, he is often much maligned, known for Shakespeare's play, and for killing his way to the throne.

When the news of this broke it was an unbelievable story, so much controversy, so many view points, I remember it breaking on The BBC, it was quite something.

There are a few snippets I learned about Richard III, and some of the things he brought about.

Sally Hawkins is tremendous, she captivates from start to finish, despite a marvellous line up, including Steve Coogan, Harry Lloyd and James Fleet, she really does shown through.

It's a great film, 9/10.

Years ago I read Josephine Tey's fine book The Daughter of Time and was blown away by what it had to say. Shakespeare's Richard III is a vivid and effective drama and just about all that most people have heard about this short-lived king, but historically it's almost as far as you can get from the truth. This 'monster' version of Richard was a hatchet job by Henry Tudor (Henry VII), who killed and deposed him and then made sure to blacken his memory. The reality is that Richard was a forward-thinking and pretty benevolent ruler in an unfortunately violent time. Historians have known this for quite a while, but what was not known was what happened to his remains.

So The Lost King is all about that latter mystery and the persistence of writer and amateur historian Philippa Langley leading to the discovery of Richard III's remains under a Leicester parking lot. The main drama consists of the many obstacles she dealt with, as well as the post-discovery attempts by The Authorities to sideline her and hog the credit. It's all very watchable and engaging. Sally Hawkins is predictably excellent as Philiipa, and Steve Coogan (who was also a co-producer and guiding force behind the production) and Mark Addy have nice supporting roles. In a somewhat surreal and unexpected touch, Harry Lloyd plays Richard's ghost, whom Philippa finds she can converse with. All in all, worth seeing!

And -- it's kind of hard to blame Shakespeare. His job was to create great theater, and it would have been more than dangerous for him to put anything on stage that was critical of Queen Elizabeth's grandfather (Henry VII himself).