Review of new film 'The Lost King'; main character has ME

Sly Saint

Sly Saint

Senior Member (Voting Rights)
How much do I love seeing Sally Hawkins (The Shape of Water) on screen? In role after role, she has demonstrated a remarkable ability to express a range of emotions and has perfected the art of projecting strength through vulnerability. In Stephen Frears’ new film, written, as was his 2013 Philomena, by Steve Coogan and Jeff Pope, she is marvelously at it again, playing the real-life Philippa Langley, the woman responsible for discovering the lost resting place of England’s King Richard III. Even those with little interest in British history (or Shakespeare) will find this tale of perseverance against nearly insurmountable odds, and official indifference, truly inspiring.
Click to expand...
It’s also infuriating, given the many ways Philippa is constantly belittled by the establishment. Suffering at the time from myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME, also known as chronic fatigue syndrome, or CFS), Philippa has enough trouble motivating to do much of anything, yet latches on to the idea that she knows where Richard III is buried and brings it to a rash of specialists.
Click to expand...

https://filmfestivaltoday.com/film-...-review-hawkins-brings-the-lost-king-home&amp

"Philippa has enough trouble motivating to do much of anything"

motivation is not the problem.

you can comment.
 
From the "Picturehouse Recommends" magazine produced for Picturehouse Cinemas:

The film is entitled "The Lost King"; the lead character is referred to as having suffered from ME or CFS - "an illness that has often elicited more blame than sympathy".

From an interview with co-writer Steve Coogan, who also plays a major role:
"How did you see Philippa's life in parallel to Richard III's?
Her battling M.E. and her personal struggle I thought was quite resonant to a lot of women of a certain age who feel invisible and judged and marginalised. ... We wanted to find the hope, the decency."
 
From the review in the first post -
Philippa, suffering from her own disability—and one that very few accept as real—takes exception to the inference that Richard was evil because his spine was crooked, that physical deformity equals moral corruption.
Click to expand...
I'm not sure if that comment about very few accepting the disability as real is talking about Philippa's experience in the film or about the reviewer's view of ME/CFS, or both.
 
"Philippa Langley, whose search for the remains of Richard III forms the centre of new movie The Lost King, says she was keen to be honest with the writers about her life with ME.

Myalgic encephalomyelitis, also known as chronic fatigue syndrome, is a long-term condition which can cause extreme tiredness, extended recovery time after physical activity and problems with sleeping.

The condition is commonly stigmatised and seldom depicted on screen, with those who live with chronic fatigue often experiencing prejudice from those who think they're just being lazy."

https://uk.news.yahoo.com/lost-king-phillipa-langley-me-steve-coogan-121741566.html
 
This is from a review in the Norwegian newspaper Klassekampen. No mention of ME, but the reviewer seems to find the main character irritating:

One of the film's problems is that Langley sees ghosts in broad daylight. During a performance of Shakespeare's "Richard III", she allows herself to be so bewitched by Richard/the actor that she not only sees him again and again (in full medieval king guise) in crowds, on street corners and park benches - she eventually starts talking to him . Apparently as a result of these hallucinations, she buys a load of books on Richard III, becomes a member of The Richard III Society and gets a "feeling" that she knows where his remains are buried - remains archaeologists have been searching for for 500 years.

Since the work of locating the remains and persuading professionals to dig them up is very time-consuming, Philippa shirks the job. Due to the family's finances, this is particularly unfortunate, and overall Philippa comes across as completely mad, or at "best" unreasonably self-centred. This makes it difficult to sympathize with her, and not with the rational-thinking professionals. Even when these are presented in an exaggerated (almost unrealistic) unsympathetic way.
 
I watched this film last night.
At the outset Phillipa Langley tells her boss 'I have ME' I get chronic fatigue.
Later in the film when visiting Leicester Uni she tells the archaeologist she needs to sit down because she has ME and it flares up when she gets stressed. Apart from a couple of times when she hasn't slept well she is literally running around with seemingly no after effects.

I have only briefly searched to find more info on her and can't find anything about her illness other than in the reviews about this film, so it's difficult to comment on it.

But I couldn't help thinking I wish she had not chosen to specifically name her illness as ME, and I hope that no one who knows me sees the film, as it really does pwME no favours in terms of raising accurate awareness.
 
Last edited:
Sly Saint said:
I watched this film last night.
At the outset Phillipa Langley tells her boss 'I have ME' I get chronic fatigue.
Later in the film when visiting Leicester Uni she tells the archaeologist she needs to sit down because she has ME and it flares up when she gets stressed. Apart from a couple of times when she hasn't slept well she is literally running around with seemingly no after effects.

I have only briefly searched to find more info on her and can't find anything about her illness other than in the reviews about this film, so it's difficult to comment on it.

But I couldn't help thinking I wish she had not chosen to specifically name her illness as ME, and I hope that no one who knows me sees the film, as it really does pwME no favours in terms of raising accurate awareness.
Click to expand...

Just watched the film and fully agree with everything you said.
 
This is Phillipa Langley in her own words: Judicial Reviews, Licences, a comma and a box in a University:

Philippa Langley found King Richard III's bones

"A: I don’t have an issue with where Richard is buried.

My issue is how he’s buried. I made it very clear that the ethos in the Looking for Richard project was that he wouldn’t be treated as a scientific specimen or resource or relic or object. I wanted him treated as a human being, a fallen warrior on the battlefield and, in that sense, I wanted him to receive what we give all who have fallen on the battlefield: They are laid out anatomically within their coffins and they are sent to a place of sanctity and rest prior to reburial.

That was very clear in my agreements. Once Richard III was identified, I would be able to take him to a place of sanctity and rest, so he wouldn’t stay in a box in the university. I’m still waiting to get that agreement from the University of Leicester.

So right now, Richard is still in a box, in the university, and he’s not in a place of sanctity and rest. I think that’s inherently wrong."
Click to expand...
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom