Almost two years ago, the movie “The Excavation” was released on Netflix, which tells the true story of a British widow who in 1939 initiated the excavation of her land due to a feeling she had, which led to the discovery of the most important archaeological find ever discovered on English soil. The film, starring Carey Mulligan in the role of the widow and Rafe Fiennes in the role of the digger, turned out to be a heart- and soul-expanding gem. But it turns out that Edith Pritty was not the only English woman with gut feelings that led to sensational archaeological discoveries: Philippa Langley from Edinburgh had a feeling that King Richard III was buried under a parking lot in Leicester in central England. After a long struggle to convince more people of her feelings, she obtained a budget and recruited an archaeologist who in 2012 excavated the area and found the bones of the vilified king. This story is recreated in “Finding Richard” with Sally Hawkins in the role of Philippa, and a host of good British actors around her, and with Stephen Frears as director. But while not lacking in charm, the film is marred by questionable script decisions.
According to the film, based on a book written by the heroine of the story together with Michael Jones, Philippa develops an obsession with Richard III after watching a production of Shakespeare’s play, which she goes to with her young son. The king in the play is played by Harry Lloyd, and Philippa, who suffers from insomnia, begins to see him in her hallucinations, dressed in the royal robe he wore in the play. Being separated from her husband John (Steve Coogan, who also wrote the script) it is understandable why she is attracted to the handsome actor, and prefers to imagine the hunchbacked king as his character. But the film does not explore the romantic side of her fantasies, and also leaves her relationship with her husband as something unclear and unresolved. The hallucinations about Richard are presented as something Philippa has no control over, yet the film does not question her sanity (even in one scene she says she is not normal). Therefore, despite Lloyd’s attractive and pleasant appearance, this very present part of the story is strange and a little cringe.
The rest of the story is devoted to Philippa’s joining the Richard III Society, her rummaging through books, and her encounters with various academics, some of whom are nice to her (Mark Eddy from “Game of Thrones”) and others condescending to her (Lee Angleby from the series “Type A”). Just when the dig starts to yield results, the University of Leicester’s archeology department steps in to take credit and pushes Philippa aside, just as it does in “The Dig”, where a British Museum delegation takes over.
This is Coogan’s second collaboration with Frears. The previous one was in “Philomena”, which he also wrote based on a true story, and starred in it alongside Judi Dench, and the result was much more cohesive and touching. At the beginning of the film, he makes some refinements in the style of the characters he portrayed in the great comedy series he created, “I’m Alan Partridge” and “The Trip”. But later on he becomes an almost marginal and flat character who goes through a not very convincing transformation.
Ferris has some fine films on his rich resume, including “My Beautiful Laundromat,” “Dangerous Liaisons” and “High Fidelity,” but there are also quite a few misses. “Finding Richard” is somewhere in the middle of the scale. There are nice moments between Philippa and her husband, and there are funny moments in her meetings with members of the Richard III Society. But next to them there are also scenes that seem to have been staged by a novice director, trying his best to produce drama from dry material. Hawkins (“Paddington”, “The Shape of Water”) is charming as ever, but the film’s attempt to use Philippa’s story as the basis for a pseudo-feminist text about the systemic tendency to eliminate women is completely contrived.
Despite all this, as the excavation progresses towards its end known from the media, the film sweeps us into the excitement of the British at the discovery, what’s more, along the way we learned some interesting things about the king whom Shakespeare apparently wronged. So you can watch “Finding Richard”, or read about this piece of history on the Internet, and devote your viewing time to “the excavation”.
3 stars. The Lost King Director: Stephen Frears. With Sally Hawkins, Steve Coogan, Harry Lloyd. Great Britain 2022, 108 min