Making its world premiere at Toronto International Film Festival 2022, The Lost King is Stephen Frears’ newest movie since 2017’s Victoria & Abdul. It stars Sally Hawkins as Philippa Langley, who, fresh off a divorce and currently dealing with ME (myalgic encephalomyelitis, or chronic fatigue syndrome), finds herself drawn to King Richard III, specifically, on his demonization (as a result of 500 years of continued misinformation) as a cruel monarch. What starts as a curiosity soon turns into a steadfast determination to uncover his long-lost remains and retell his story. The Lost King traces Philippa’s story as an amateur historian and the hurdles she jumps through — from the misogynistic to the bureaucratic — as the past meets the present.
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The Lost King is a Philomena reunion for Frears and screenwriters Steve Coogan (who also plays Philippa’s husband, John) and Jeff Pope. In addition to Hawkins and Coogan, the film stars Harry Lloyd (Game of Thrones) as Richard III, first appearing as an actor starring in a stage performance of Shakespeare’s eponymous play (this is the catalyst for Philippa’s interest in the man), and then as the King himself in Philippa’s imagination throughout the rest of the movie. What’s more, The Lost King is based on the monumental true story of the real-life Philippa Langley, as reported by The Guardian in 2013, who raised the funds for a two-week dig and, with research and a keen instinct, ultimately located Richard’s remains under a parking lot in Leicester.
It is, of course, precarious timing that The Lost King, which deals with the death of a monarch, had its premiere the day after Queen Elizabeth II’s passing. Frears, who directed 2006 biopic The Queen, even took to the stage prior to the TIFF screening to address the unfortunate coincidence and pay his respects. That said, The Lost King is less about a modern obsession with British royal history itself than it is about the ways in which we are remembered and, more significantly, misremembered. It’s a touching and, at times, a hilarious film about redemption and proving wrong those who may have preconceived misconceptions about who you are and what you can — and, in Philippa’s case, cannot — do.
One of Sally Hawkins’ Best Performances
Hawkins really can do no wrong; she’s proven that time and again with awards-worthy performances in Happy-Go-Lucky, Blue Jasmine, and The Shape of Water. Indeed, her characters in these films run the gamut of everyday people doing what they can to move forward. As Philippa in The Lost King, Hawkins may continue playing an ordinary woman, but, this time, she is one who sets out to achieve the extraordinary. Slighted by her boss, who uses her medical condition against her when she has the opportunity to be promoted, navigating a post-divorce relationship with her ex-husband and their two kids, campaigning for the exoneration of a long-dead monarch, and then being cast aside by the men in academia who claim credit for her work — Hawkins is given a lot to do, and she makes it look effortless.
It also helps that Coogan and Pope’s script is a sharp examination of not just Philippa’s journey towards redeeming Richard III, but also an elevation of it. As we saw in Philomena, Coogan and Pope know how to fuse comedy with the most serious of circumstances, using it, in fact, as the perfect launchpad for a larger-scale critique of the world we live in. The Lost King is no different. In perhaps lesser capable hands, the idea of having Philippa converse with a Richard III throughout her mission could have easily raised an eyebrow. However, it’s deftly done, effectively giving us access to Philippa. Because, of course, The Lost King really is about Philippa. By helping Richard III reclaim his narrative, she is ultimately reclaiming — and, by extension, redefining — her own.
The Lost King is fine film from Frears, featuring everything you’d expect from the director: an emotional struggle that unearths socially-relevant themes, and puts forth a reflection of who we are as a people. Memory and history, here, get put to the trial, as questions of who we were then are raised as possible statements of who we are now — and how mercurial it all can be, how easily manipulated, propagandized, weaponized. As The Lost King shows, all it takes is one person, for better or worse, to inspire change.
