Review by C.J. Bunce
We discussed the surprising find of the burial place of King Richard III–the monarch made famous if not immortal by William Shakespeare in his drama–a decade ago here at borg. Back in 2012 an “ordinary British citizen” after researching medieval documents, books, and maps, prompted a legitimate archaeological dig, and a team dug into a nondescript parking lot in Leicester. On the first day they uncovered the body of the last king to die in battle, in 1485 after only two years on the throne (check out the documentary we discussed here in 2013 for some interesting follow-ups on Richard’s legacy in the 21st century). The woman who prompted the dig was Philippa Langley, who would go on to document her efforts in a book, The Search for Richard III (available here at Amazon). Directed by Stephen Frears (Dangerous Liaisons, The Queen, The Grifters, High Fidelity), and written by and co-starring Steve Coogan (The Other Guys, Hot Fuzz), The Lost King tells Langley’s story, and it’s streaming now on Hulu.
Truth is often stranger than fiction. When you’re adapting a historical event written by one side of a disputed occurrence, you’re never quite sure how much is the truth, and how much is embellished. In this case it’s easy to to tell some of the untruths while still cheering on the heroine of an underdog story. Academy Award winner Sally Hawkins (The Shape of Water) plays Langley, revealed as an ordinary woman who suffered from myalgic encephalomyelitis and whose illness may have allowed her to sympathize with King Richard, who she felt to be unfairly chronicled as disfigured and for being a usurper to the throne. Passed over for a promotion, she leaves her job and begins to read up on Richard as a hobby that becomes something more.
Rising to what the press would refer to as amateur historian, she joins a group of like-minded oddballs who meet to regularly discuss the slander of the King and swap theories about his fate. All of this comes to a head when she believes she has located the possible site of his burial.
Based on Langley’s book, the film presents King Richard as part of her journey of discovery. Counterpart co-star Harry Lloyd plays King Richard–or his ghost. But the movie is not played for fantasy. Steve Coogan plays Langley’s sometimes supportive, sometimes not, ex-husband. Keep an eye out for genre actors Amanda Abington (Sherlock, Humans, Case Histories), Lee Ingleby (Master and Commander, Harry Potter series, Life on Mars), and Mark Addy (A Knight’s Tale, Doctor Who, Game of Thrones).
What seems more than plausible is that once the King is revealed–unthinkably and surprisingly in a parking lot under a spot marked with an X–the local university that participated in the discovery with her took more than its fair share of the credit, dismissing her almost as an afterthought. Any good story, with such a fascinating tie to such a big character of history, is worthy of a movie, and this is no exception. It’s so quirky, and the heroine–if the movie has even a speck of truth–so out of the ordinary by all accounts, including apparently her own.
So much more than this finding came out about King Richard (see the documentary referenced above) that you might wish this movie explored more. Harry Lloyd’s king just doesn’t get enough to do, and you may just wish he’d have engaged with Langley’s inner psyche more somehow. What we’re left with is a big historical incident made to seem somehow small, but where an unlikely heroine gets to have the last word. With the force of a university trying to keep her at bay, it’s not hard to stick by her to the end, regardless of the quirks. The very idea that someone can solve a 500-year-old mystery is astounding, and whatever the whole truth, Langley was a substantial part of it.
A strange and curious tale worth seeing, The Lost King is now streaming on Hulu.
