Film Review: "The Lost King" (2022).

"Her story made history" with The Lost King. This British comedy-drama film directed by Stephen Frears, written by Steve Coogan and Jeff Pope, and based on the 2013 book The King's Grave: The Search for Richard III by Philippa Langley and Michael Jones. In 2012, having been lost for over five-hundred years, the remains of King Richard III were discovered beneath a carpark in Leicester. The search had been orchestrated by an amateur historian, Philippa Langley, whose unrelenting research had been met with incomprehension by her friends and family and with scepticism by experts and academics. The film is the life-affirming true story of a woman who refused to be ignored and who took on the country's most eminent historians, forcing them to think again about one of the most controversial kings in England's history.

In November 2020, a film dramatisation of Langley and Jones' 2013 book, penned by Coogan and Pope, was announced with Frears hired to direct and Coogan attached to co-star. In March 2021, it was announced that Sally Hawkins had joined the cast as Langley. By April, Harry Lloyd, Mark Addy, James Fleet, and Amanda Abbington rounded out the film's cast. At the same time, principal photography commenced and took place throughout Edinburgh, Scotland. There was some mild controversy prior to this films' UK release when several people involved in the archaeological dig gave interviews to some UK newspapers (notably The Guardian and Daily Mail) disputing the events depicted in the film and accused the scriptwriters of romanticizing and overplaying the role of Langley in the actual locating and discovery of Richard III's resting place. This criticism prompted Coogan to give an interview to the BBC defending the story-line of the film and accusing the University of Leicester of trying to discredit the role Langley played in the discovery and believing that, despite Langley being an amateur, they were embarrassed she had out-thought several of their renowned historical experts and they were not happy that this was portrayed within the film. The film alludes to Langley working out where the body was buried with very little help except by a prompt from a biographer. This is a slight distortion of the truth as there were already two published biographies at the time (that she may even have read) that theorized the same thing and in more or less the same place. However Langley was more pro-active in pushing for an architectural dig at the site than the two authors.

The film stars Hawkins, Coogan, Lloyd, Addy, Fleet, and Abbington. Hawkins gives an unwavering performance as a woman who is largely ignored in her life, with an impressive ability to have the determination to fight the system that has neglected her.

Frears overplays his hand occasionally, but the film is balanced by some fine performances, especially by Hawkins, and a delicate script by Coogan and Pope. While several dramatic liberties were taken with the actual true account, most of them help make this a good film.

Simon says The Lost King receives:

Also, see my review for Victoria & Abdul.