The New Murrey and Blue blog

By Maria Leotta

It was 2017 when I first heard of a film about the life of Philippa Langley. I immediately called her to congratulate her but I knew nothing specific about the film. I followed every update, I read every article and I waited in trepidation for the trailer.

When the cast was revealed, I was a little bit upset about the actress playing the main character, aka Philippa. She didn’t look an inch like her and this made me think she couldn’t be credible. Well, I changed my mind after watching a couple of clips from the trailer. I was impatient and counted the days until the 7^th October when the film was released in the UK.

My Panamanian friend, Gabby Arosemena, was in York so we decided to go together. It is wonderful when you can share a Ricardian moment with another person who thinks like you.

We booked our tickets and sat down. We were very excited to be there; we couldn’t believe a film about Philippa was in cinemas.

I don’t want to spoil the plot for those who haven’t seen “The Lost King”, but the story is very well-known so I won’t feel guilty for describing a couple of scenes.

The film’s opening scene is about Langley going to work waiting for a promotion that never materialises because the boss has already decided to give it to a sort of bimbo whose advantage was a younger age. One evening, Philippa, whose marriage is no longer a happy one, goes to the theatre with one of her sons to watch Shakespeare’s Richard III. She can’t avoid comparing herself with the maligned Plantagenet and feels compassion for the man so unjustly mistreated by historians and dramatists. From that moment on, Philippa decides to fight for the reputation of the king and her life changes dramatically and forever.

She is literally obsessed with Richard and, wherever she is, her mind can’t think about anything else. In order to make this evident, the inner thoughts of Philippa are represented by the presence of Richard, the man himself, whom nobody can see but Langley. She leaves her job and dedicates herself to Richard’s cause. This new situation creates a lot of misunderstandings and tension between Philippa and her ex-husband John, and her children’s remarks are noticeable during the film but she has just one goal: finding the King’s grave to give him the honour and dignity denied to him after Bosworth’s betrayal. She starts to attend Ricardian meetings in Edinburgh, reading every sort of book about him and even going to Leicester and back the same day in order to research, without revealing her plan to John, who, at some point, discovers the truth. Ironically, Philippa is largely misunderstood by her own family at first but, in the end, her down-to-earth ex-husband proves to be her best supporter.

I can’t deny having been deeply emotional while watching many different moments, especially when Philippa is laughed at, derided and robbed of her long years of research by the University of Leicester’s archaeology team and for her condition. Sally Hawkins is superlative in her role as she, herself, is affected by a chronic illness. This actress doesn’t need to speak, her eyes say it all. Harry Lloyd starring as Richard III is a very credible one, just a little bit taller than the original but his smile is one of the sweetest I have ever seen.

At the end of the film, the final scene of Bosworth made me sob and this happened every time I watched the film. A couple of weeks after, I went with my best friend, Joanne Larner, and eventually with my daughter in Leicester.

The very quick cameo where the real Philippa appears is a great surprise and gave me goosebumps. Needless to say, the film doesn’t tell the whole story as it happened. It was not a documentary and it had to condense about eight years into two hours, so a lot is not said, but the scene of Philippa sensing the King under the car park is one of the most emotional ever.

Steve Coogan, portraying John, is just amazing in the role and Lloyd too. Of course, the main characters are all Ricardians and great supporters of the real and only Kingfinder. The truth at last!