The Lost King

Watch: The Lost King

PG-13

3/24/20231h 48m

Theatrical (limited) Release (US)

~ Her story made history. ~

Overview:

An amateur historian defies the academic establishment in her efforts to find King Richard III's remains, which were lost for over 500 years.

Director:

Stephen Frears

Status:

Released

Language:

English

Buget:

$0.00

Revenue:

$1,183,336.00

Key words:

based on true story
archaeologist
archaeological dig

Cast

Sally Hawkins

~ as ~

Philippa Langley

Steve Coogan

~ as ~

John Langley

Harry Lloyd

~ as ~

Richard III/Pete

Mark Addy

~ as ~

Richard Buckley

James Fleet

~ as ~

John Ashdown-Hill

Lee Ingleby

~ as ~

Richard Taylor

Adam Robb

~ as ~

Max Langley

Benjamin Scanlan

~ as ~

Raife Langley

Amanda Abbington

~ as ~

Sarah Levitt

Lewis Macleod

~ as ~

Tony

View full cast & crew

Reviews (2)

CinemaSerf
Written 2 year(s) ago
7
Sally Hawkins turns in an enthusiastic performance here as the determined Philippa Langley. Separated from her husband (Steve Coogan), she is sort of at the end of her tether when she takes her young son to see a stage version of Shakespeare's "Richard III". Taken with the tragedy of that story, she joins the local "Ricardians" and soon determines that this particular historical figure has had a bit of a bad press, and so she sets out to try and track down the hitherto unidentified location of his corpse. It's based on a true story, so we know what actually happened but the drama offered here is still quite engaging as she has to convince the powers that be to allow her to dig up their car park, then try to fend off their collective claims of success before the ultimate battle to get the man buried with some semblance of his real life status and is enjoyable to watch, especially once her adventure begins in earnest. Then together with archaeological lead Mark Addy and some spiritual assistance from Harry Lloyd's spectral version of this final Plantaget King - who, along with his horse - seems keen to help her from the grave, this film moves along entertainingly. It certainly doesn't need to be seen at the cinema, and It's a bit of a slow burn to begin with, but overall I quite enjoyed it.
Peter McGinn
Written 2 year(s) ago
9
I really enjoyed this movie. Mind you, I have been interested in the long suppressed truth about King Richard III for a long time, so at the very least I appreciate a feature film trying to set the record more straight.

But even setting that aside, I thought the movie was entertaining and interesting. They made a lot of small changes from Philippa Langley’s book describing her journey to discovering the body of Richard III, but it was to give the story more dramatic appeal and quirkiness. It seemed to all work for me. I loved Sally Hawkins in Persuasion and she doesn’t disappoint here. Steve Coogan gives an impressive layered performance, and James Fleet and Mark Addy are two terrific British character actors.

Having Philippa actually see and speak to Richard III is a device used in many films before, but I think it is an effort to replace strange feelings Langley describes in her story where she felt his presence near where he was buried, even before they confirmed he was there. So I will forgive them that somewhat hackneyed decide. I think the relationship between her and her husband was complex enough to be believable. In my mind I predicted the applause scene at the end, but it did provide a nice closing to the story.