In the The Lost King, an otherwise unfulfilled woman becomes a history hobbyist and literally digs up a British monarch. That monarch is the Shakespearean villain Richard III. The woman in question is Philippa (Sally Hawkins), who joins a cadre of misfits obsessed with rehabilitating Richard III’s image, which has suffered from the view that he murdered his own 12- and 10-year old nephews to cement his claim on the throne.
The story is based on fact. The real Phillipa didn’t succeed in turning Richard into a popular Good Guy, but she led a successful campaign that located Richard’s long-lost remains, buried under a parking lot in Leicester, and reinterred them in a historically more appropriate setting. Along the way, she had to battle lots of snooty academics and officials who “knew better”.
It’s a standard underdog story with two enhancements:
- Sally Hawkins is a singular, irrepressible actress who gets to shine in a lead role, as she did in her art house hit Happy-Go-Lucky and the Oscar-winning The Shape of Water.
- The character of Philippa is interestingly and unexpectedly textured, with her chronic fatigue syndrome and her unusual relationship with her ex-husband (Steve Coogan, who also co-wrote).
The little cadre of Richard III cranks is especially funny.
Steven Frears is famous for directing movies like The Grifters and The Queen, for which he received Oscar nominations, and Dangerous Liaisons and High Fidelity. But it’s worth remembering that he has also made made many much smaller, but satisfying, movies: My Beautiful Launderette, Dirty Pretty Things, The Hit, Tamara Drewe, Philomena. The Lost King is one of these.
This is an enjoyable, non-challenging movie. It may not be a Must See, but it’s not a waste if time.