Finding Comedy in ‘The Lost King’

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History was unkind to Richard III, thanks in some measure to William Shakespeare, one of history’s greatest authors. Shakespeare wasn’t only a brilliant playwright; he was also a shrewd proprietor who knew how to keep his patrons happy. The support of England’s monarch, Elizabeth I, was essential to his success, and her ancestor, Henry VII, had reasons to blacken the name of Richard III. And so from Shakespeare’s pen came the familiar portrait of the hunchbacked Richard, hateful from the abuse he received for his deformity, who would stop at nothing to be king.

That’s the story behind the true story behind The Lost King. For fear of being dry, director Stephen Frears (Dangerous Liaisons, The Queen) and writers Steve Coogan and Jeff Pope transformed the memoir of their protagonist, Philipa Langley, into a humorous fantasy. Langley was the driving force behind the 2013 excavation of a parking lot where Richard III’s long lost bones were recovered (and identified through DNA testing), a discovery that triggered a reevaluation of the defeated ruler. So, maybe he didn’t murder his two young nephews, imprisoned in the Tower of London, to clear his path to the throne?

In the movie version, Langley is inspired by seeing a performance of Shakespeare’s Richard III—and continues to see the dead monarch who appears to her and eventually engages in conversation. He’s a sensitive young man whose feelings are hurt when she asks if he really killed the two young princes imprisoned in the Tower …

“Based on a True Story: Her Story,” the credits proclaim, announcing The Lost King’s subtheme. Langley feels that she’s not taken seriously because she is a woman, a situation complicated by her chronic fatigue stress disorder. The boss at her marketing firm writes her off as neurotic. The archeologist she approaches with the idea of digging in Leicester for Richard’s grave calls her “the cake lady” because of the treats she brings to their first meeting. He only agrees to give her five minutes because her friend from the Richard III Society (more on that later) knew the lord mayor. And when the grave is discovered, the unctuous bureaucrats from the University of Leicester try to seize the credit.

Despite Shakespeare’s brilliant portrait of an emotionally as well as physically twisted tyrant, the defeated king continues to have followers, not only in the U.K. but elsewhere, willing to “go-fund” the archeological dig in the Leicester car park. They are depicted in The Lost King as benign conspiracy theorists, forever trying to trump the experts and scholars. “You look normal,” one of them tells Langley, surprised at the unexpected arrival of a new devotee to the apparently lost cause of restoring Richard’s good name.

Sally Hawkins is perfectly cast as Langley, flustered but determined, if not obsessed, by her quest to find the real Richard III. Coogan is superb as her amicably divorced husband, skeptical about her preoccupation but willing to lend his support, still loving her without still being in love. Spoiler alert: there is a happy ending. In a display of women united, Elizabeth II honored Langley by making her a Member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire, the same award given to The Beatles. 

The Lost King is screening at Marcus South Shore Cinema, Marcus Ridge Cinema, Marcus Showtime Cinema, AMC Mayfair Cinema, the Oriental Theatre and Silverspot Cinema-Corners of Brookfield.