I do not share the admiration that some people have for British royalty, instead seeing them as a long line of greedy and murderous individuals who connived their way to the throne and sucked wealth from the people. But I am a sucker for mysteries and the story of Richard III has many unresolved puzzles and so I watched this film that is based on the true story of one woman’s quest to find out the truth about the man who died in 1485 at the young age of 32. He has long been portrayed as exceedingly malevolent, scheming, vicious, and murderous, whose personality was twisted by the rejection he felt due to his physical deformity of being a hunchback and who usurped the throne after the death of his brother the king and imprisoned his two nephews in the Tower of London and later had them murdered because he saw them as potential rivals to the throne.

But later scholarship suggests that he may not have been nearly as evil as has been traditionally portrayed and also that his physical deformity may have been not as severe and that the evidence is scant that he murdered his nephews. These revisionists argue that the ‘official’ story was put out by his successors in order to discredit him and build support for their own rule.

Often dubbed “the greatest mystery in British history”, their fate is key in the fight for Richard III’s reputation. It was long believed that Richard had his nephews, the 12-year-old Edward V and nine-year-old Richard, killed in 1483. Certainly, the princes disappeared from record – and later two small skeletons were found under a staircase in the Tower of London in 1674. But they have never been DNA-tested – and recently, new research emerged that supports the counter-theory that the boys escaped.

But the official story has become firmly embedded in the public mind, largely due to the Shakespeare play of the same name that was written over a hundred years later in 1592/1593. It has been suggested that Shakespeare himself was not above trying to curry favor with Queen Elizabeth by suggesting that she was the legitimate heir to the throne seized by her ancestors by killing the usurper Richard.

One particularly mystery is what happened to Richard’s body after the battle in which he died. It was never found, with various theories put out including one that it was thrown into a river. This film is based on the true story of Philippa Langley, a lowly office worker who, despite having no academic credentials whatsoever, becomes convinced that Richard has been maligned and sets out in 1998 on what becomes a ten-year quest to do her own research to find his body and restore his good name, fighting condescension and skepticism from historians and archeologists. It is the classic story of an ordinary person combating experts.

This little film is not great but is enjoyable. Its greatest strength lies the performance by Sally Hawkins as Langley. Hawkins is a fine actor (best known for her major role in The Color of Water (2017)) with an engaging everywoman quality about her. The film also uses the device of having Richard appear to her as an apparition that she talks to, giving the filmmakers the opportunity to reveal her thoughts.

Here’s the trailer.

There have been other good treatments of this mystery. Josephine Tey’s last novel The Daughter of Time published in 1951 had her protagonist, Scotland Yard detective Alan Grant, laid up in hospital for some time, and who becomes convinced that the official story is a lie and from his hospital bed researches the issue and uncovers a very different narrative. It was this novel that first made me realize that the story told by Shakespeare should be viewed with some skepticism.

As for Shakespeare’s play, although the history in presents is highly dubious, it contains many memorable lines. Al Pacino has long been fascinated by the play and the title character and made a documentary about it called Looking for Richard (1996), giving clips from various productions, with commentary. The role of Richard is perfect for the exaggerated over-the-top style of acting that Pacino often adopted later in his career.

Here’s the trailer.