Two-time Oscar nominees Sally Hawkins (The Shape of Water) joins forces with the team behind Philomena for The Lost King. Retelling the story of the historian who found the lost remains of King Richard III underneath a Leicester carpark, Katie Smith-Wong praises Hawkins’ performance as one of the film’s saving graces.
The Lost King
In 2012, Philippa Langley led a search to find the burial site of Richard III. Her research led her to a car park in Leicester where excavators discovered human remains that turned out to be the missing monarch. Ten years later, Langley’s story is dramatised into the latest film by British filmmaker Stephen Frears, and adapted by Steve Coogan and Jeff Pope.
Based on The King’s Grave: The Search for Richard III by Philippa Langley and Michael Jones, The Lost King stars Sally Hawkins as Langley, as well as Steve Coogan, Mark Addy and Harry Lloyd.
When we first meet Langley, she is a 40-something office worker who suffers from ME, causing her to feel tired all the time. As she is sidelined for a promotion to favour younger, less experienced colleagues, her inability to speak up and ultimately stand up for herself cast her, in the eyes of most characters, as weak so she has difficulty conveying her opinions.
Needless to say, the screenplay portrays Philippa as a timid and overlooked character. Inspired by watching a production of the Shakespearean play Richard III, she is driven to find the truth about his burial site. However, she has problems being taken seriously due to her ‘feelings’ and her amateur passion for history and archaeology. Her ambitions are subsequently brushed aside by professionals and educators who believe that her arguments about Richard III being a legitimate king, and a good person, fall on deaf ears.
What doesn’t help is The Lost King‘s undeterminable timeframe—the real project took several years to develop into a feasible archaeological dig so compressing the narrative loses the credibility impact of this otherwise feel-good, underdog story. The film’s frustrating conclusion and predictable opportunistic characters such as archaeologist Richard Buckley (Mark Addy) also exacerbate the film’s one-dimensional narrative, which makes audiences wonder whether they learnt anything from Phillippa’s journey.
In addition, Philippa is haunted by apparitions of Richard III (Lloyd), which not only guide her on her journey but encourage her to keep going. But their inclusion feels like an afterthought to further connect her emotively to the king – if anything, their occasional conversation adds cause for concern from supporting characters such as her ex-husband John (Coogan) and University of Leicester academic Richard Taylor (Lee Ingleby) about her mental wellbeing.
Needless to say, Hawkins saves The Lost King by proving she is a chameleon on-screen. Portraying the softly-spoken Langley, she is one of the film’s saving graces, overshadowing the humdrum supporting characters with her determination and persistence. Meanwhile, Zac Nicholson’s lovely cinematography captures a picturesque visual of the UK that is not necessarily about London, elevating Frears’ mellow direction into something mildly compelling.
Although The Lost King encourages the idea of having faith and trust in your intuition, the film fails to inspire through its meddling screenplay and lifeless direction.
