THE FILM
An amateur historian defies the stuffy academic establishment in her attempt to find the remains of King Richard III, which had been lost for over 500 years.
A wonderful film by Stephen Frears, which not only very aptly comments on academic puritanism and bureaucracy but also serves as a reflection on dramatic and historical truth. . It is said that Shakespeare’s Richard, like Plato’s Socrates, bears no relation to the historical figures.
The central heroine, therefore, in addition to searching for the remains and getting stuck in the bureaucracy that forms the superficial plot line of the film, also seeks to find out who King Richard truly was, to the point where it becomes an obsession. From her mania to discover him, she begins to see him in front of her and converse with him. The essence, then, lies in the secondary plot line, the search for the real Richard and not just his remains.
THE MUSIC
In the music, Desplat signed a masterpiece that gives propulsive power to the film and makes it flow smoothly, allowing you to enjoy it as if you were watching a blockbuster.
To describe King Richard and his spirit haunting the heroine, the French composer wrote one of his best themes, the track The lost King, inspired by the English Middle Ages, featuring soloist James Bramley playing a medieval lute, accompanied by the London Symphony Orchestra, an organ, and medieval percussion. This is a dual-natured theme, deafening and imperial in its first part, closing subtly and subterraneously. Essentially, Desplat, and this is his genius, comments on the two Richards. The real one, charming, tall, with aristocratic finesse, and the Shakespearean one, the lame and ugly, slimy creature who moved in the shadows and plotted his serpentine schemes. A wonderful inspiration that one might think could have been written for Hitchcock’s The Shadow of a Doubt.
However, he also wrote a secondary theme for Richard, To Prove a Villain, a strikingly sensitive melody with solo harp and piano, which is there to emphasize the relationship between him and the heroine Philippa, and his loneliness. It could even be described as a latent love theme, as it represents the image of the King as Philippa perceives him.
For the heroine who seeks him, the adorable Philippa, he writes a very tender and human theme, which in the track Greyfriars, we hear in the form of a comical march, brilliantly capturing both her character’s optimism and her naivety and kindness.
These three themes will be fragmented and, in the form of leitmotifs, will intertwine and be presented in many elaborate variations throughout the score.
The score’s climax will offer the stunning Farewell Richard, where the secondary theme will be given to the strings with overflowing lyricism, and Bosworth, which constitutes an epic bittersweet farewell to the king as he is buried in the muddy fields.
This is a masterful score that fits the film perfectly and can also be enjoyed as a standalone listening experience. And this is what differentiates Desplat from others who simply do their job amazingly within the film, serving the creator’s vision without making their presence distinct. This is naturally contributed to by the flawless and inventive orchestration, the volume and performance delivered by the London Symphony Orchestra, and of course, Desplat’s complex and rhythmic writing, who, despite his intense creativity – approximately 200 titles – has never resorted to sound design, drone music, or atonal paths, and always remains faithful to the melodic line.
