The King is a 2019 epic war film directed by David Michôd, based on several plays from William Shakespeare's Henriad.[4][5][6] The screenplay was written by Michôd and Joel Edgerton, who both produced the film with Brad Pitt, Dede Gardner, Jeremy Kleiner, and Liz Watts. The King includes an ensemble cast led by Timothée Chalamet as the Prince of Wales and later King Henry V of England, alongside Edgerton, Sean Harris, Tom Glynn-Carney, Lily-Rose Depp, Thomasin McKenzie, Robert Pattinson, and Ben Mendelsohn.
| The King | |
|---|---|
 Official release poster | |
| Directed by | David Michôd |
| Written by |
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| Based on | Henry IV, Part 1, Henry IV, Part 2 and Henry V by William Shakespeare |
| Produced by |
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| Starring | |
| Cinematography | Adam Arkapaw |
| Edited by | Peter Sciberras |
| Music by | Nicholas Britell[1] |
Production companies |
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| Distributed by | Netflix |
Release dates |
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Running time | 140 minutes[2] |
| Countries |
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| Language | English |
| Budget | $23 million[citation needed] |
| Box office | $10,000+[3] |
The film focuses on the rise of Henry V as king after his father dies as he also must navigate palace politics, the war his father left behind, and the emotional strings of his past life. The King premiered at the 76th Venice International Film Festival on September 2, 2019 and was released digitally via Netflix on October 11, 2019.
Plot
Henry, Prince of Wales, "Hal", is the emotionally distant eldest son of King Henry IV of England. Hal is uninterested in succeeding his father and spends his days drinking, whoring, and jesting with his companion John Falstaff in Eastcheap. His father summons Hal and informs him that Hal's younger brother, Thomas, will inherit the throne. Thomas is sent to subdue Hotspur's rebellion but is upstaged by the arrival of Hal, who challenges Hotspur to single combat. Although Hal kills Hotspur, ending the battle without further conflict, Thomas complains that Hal has stolen his glory. Shortly thereafter, Thomas is killed in battle after taking his campaign to Wales.
Henry IV dies in his bed with Hal present, and Hal is crowned King Henry V. Hal opts for peace and conciliation with his father's many adversaries, despite his actions being seen as weakness. At his coronation feast, the Dauphin of France sends Hal a ball as an insulting coronation gift. However, Hal chooses to frame this as a positive reflection of his boyhood. His sister Philippa, now the Queen of Denmark, cautions that nobles in any royal court have their own interests in mind and will never fully reveal their true intentions.
Hal interrogates a captured assassin who claims to have been sent by King Charles VI of France to assassinate Hal. The English nobles Cambridge and Grey are approached by French agents hoping to induce them to the French cause. Their trust in the new young king wavers, and they then approach Hal's Chief Justice, William Gascoigne, with their concerns. Gascoigne advises Hal that a show of strength is necessary to unite England, so Hal declares war on France and has Cambridge and Grey beheaded. He approaches Falstaff and appoints him as his chief military strategist, saying that Falstaff is the only man he truly trusts.
The English army sets sail for France. After completing the Siege of Harfleur, they continue on the campaign but are taunted by the Dauphin. The English advance parties stumble upon a vast French army gathering to face them. Dorset advises Hal to retreat, but Falstaff proposes a false advance to lure the French to rush forward into the muddy battlefield, where they will be weighed down by their heavy armour and horses. They will then be attacked by the English longbowmen and surrounded by a large, lightly-armoured flanking force hidden in the nearby woods.
When Falstaff insists on leading the dangerous false advance, as it was his plan, Hal challenges the Dauphin to single combat, to decide the battle, but the Dauphin refuses. The Battle of Agincourt commences. Falstaff's plan works - the bulk of the French army charges to engage Falstaff's force and is soon mired in the mud. Hal leads the flanking attack, and the outnumbered but far more mobile English army overpowers the immobilized French, though Falstaff is killed. The Dauphin, still fresh and in heavy armour, reinvokes Hal's challenge but repeatedly slips and falls in the mud until Hal permits his soldiers to kill him. Hal orders all French prisoners executed for fear that they might regroup, an order that Falstaff had refused to carry out following the Siege of Harfleur.
Hal reaches King Charles VI, who offers his surrender, makes him his heir, and offers him the hand of his daughter Catherine of Valois. Hal returns to England with his new wife for the celebrations. In private, she challenges his reasons for invading France and denies the supposed French actions against Hal, suggesting the assassin was a plot from within his own court. Suspicious, Hal confronts Gascoigne, who confesses that he had staged the insult and acts of aggression and declares that true peace comes only through victory. In cold fury, Hal kills Gascoigne and returns to Catherine, asking that she promise to always speak the truth to him.
Cast
- Timothée Chalamet as King Henry "Hal" V of England
- Joel Edgerton as Sir John Falstaff
- Robert Pattinson as Louis, The Dauphin
- Sean Harris as Chief Justice Sir William Gascoigne
- Steven Elder as Lord Dorset
- Ben Mendelsohn as King Henry IV of England
- Dean-Charles Chapman as Prince Thomas
- Lily-Rose Depp as Catherine of Valois
- Thomasin McKenzie as Queen Phillippa of Denmark
- Thibault de Montalembert as King Charles VI of France
- Edward Ashley as Earl of Cambridge
- Stephen Fewell as Lord Grey
- Tara Fitzgerald as Nell Hooper
- Andrew Havill as Archbishop of Canterbury
- Tom Glynn-Carney as Sir Henry "Hotspur" Percy
- Tom Fisher as Earl of Northumberland
- Tom Lawrence as Earl of Westmorland
- Ivan Kaye as Lord Scrope
Production
Development
In 2013, it was revealed that Joel Edgerton and David Michôd had collaborated on writing an adaptation of Shakespeare's "Henriad" plays, Henry IV, Parts 1 & 2 and Henry V, for Warner Bros. Pictures.[7][8][9] In September 2015, it was announced that Michôd would direct the project, with Warner Bros. producing and distributing the film, and Lava Bear producing.[10]
Casting
In February 2018, Timothée Chalamet joined the cast, with Brad Pitt, Dede Gardner, and Jeremy Kleiner producing, alongside Liz Watts, under their Plan B Entertainment banner. Ultimately, Netflix distributed the film instead of Warner Bros.[11] In March 2018, Edgerton joined the cast of the film.[12] In May 2018, Robert Pattinson, Ben Mendelsohn, Sean Harris, Lily-Rose Depp, Tom Glynn-Carney, and Thomasin McKenzie joined the cast; Dean-Charles Chapman joined in June.[13][14]
Filming
Principal photography began on 1 June 2018 and wrapped on 24 August.[13][15] Filming took place throughout England and at Szilvásvárad, Hungary.[16][17] Many scenes were filmed on location at Berkeley Castle in Gloucestershire, England.[18] Lincoln Cathedral was used in place of Westminster Abbey for the coronation scenes.[19]
Release
The film had its world premiere at the Venice Film Festival on 2 September 2019.[20] It screened at the BFI London Film Festival on 3 October 2019,[21][22] and received a limited release on 11 October 2019 before being released on Netflix, for digital streaming, on 1 November 2019.[23]
Reception
Critical response
The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reported an approval rating of 71% based on 136 reviews, with an average rating of 6.56/10. The website's critical consensus reads: "While The King is sometimes less than the sum of its impressive parts, strong source material and gripping performances make this a period drama worth hailing."[24] Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 62 out of 100, based on 38 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".[25][26]
Accolades
Historical accuracy
The film was criticized for being widely inaccurate to both reality and the Shakespearean play. Being loosely based on several works of English playwright Shakespeare, the film contains many of the same ahistorical dramatizations and biases as its source material, including the introduction of some wholly-fictional characters and episodes as well as mischaracterizations of historical persons, not the least of which being Henry himself. Portrayed as a perpetually-inebriated sullen ne'er-do-well, Henry of Monmouth was in real life so engaged and experienced in battle that he almost died from an arrow to the face, which was subtly referenced by the facial scar he wears in the film. Like the 16th-century plays, the film was met with criticism by historians, with Christophe Gilliot, the director of the French museum Azincourt 1415, suggesting it has "Francophobe tendencies".[31]
The following is a non-exhaustive list of the most important historical inaccuracies present in the film that do not correspond to reality according to Gilliot:[32]
- King Henry V was neither humanist nor pacifist. The real Henry V was known to be bellicose, aggressive and warlike. The war against France was not solely the result of a plot against the King but also a continuity of the foreign policy of his ancestors, who claimed the rights of the English crown to the throne of France. Henry wanted to establish his legitimacy and reduced the population of Rouen to starvation during the siege of the city from July 1418 to January 1419, which killed 35,000 in six months.
- William Gascoigne was not killed by Henry V but dismissed by him from the start of his reign for being considered too close to his father.
- Henry V never gave up his responsibilities as Prince of Wales, and it was not the death of his brother that pushed him to accept the crown. Furthermore, his brother Prince Thomas died not in Wales but during the Battle of Baugé in Anjou, France, eight years after Henry V's coronation.
- The Dauphin of France, Louis de Guyenne, was not present at the Siege of Harfleur or the Battle of Agincourt. In addition, the film version of the character, interpreted by Robert Pattinson, is far from reality. Presented as an arrogant, silly and brutal character, the Dauphin, who died two months after the battle of Agincourt, was in fact a pious young man in fragile health.
- The Battle of Agincourt took place not in such a hilly and green place, as the film shows, but on fallow fields and plowing in the plains. In addition, it was the English who held the heights although the film suggests that it was the French.
- Falstaff, a fictional character, was of course not the strategist of the battle and neither took part in nor died at the battle.
- A crucial part of the English defence, the sharpened stakes, or palings, which were set at an angle towards the French cavalry to protect the archers, was almost entirely ignored in the film although there was a brief shot of a small pile of palings awaiting deployment.
See also
Chimes at Midnight, an earlier adaptation of the Henriad into a single narrative by Orson Welles.
References
- ^ "Nicholas Britell Scoring David Michod's 'The King'". FilmMusicReporter. 22 July 2019. Archived from the original on 22 July 2019. Retrieved 22 July 2019.
- ^ "The King". Venice Film Festival. 23 July 2019. Archived from the original on 25 July 2019. Retrieved 25 July 2019.
- ^ Brueggemann, Tom (13 October 2017). "Record-Breaking 'Parasite' Scores the Best Platform Opening Since 'La La Land'". IndieWire. Retrieved 6 November 2019.
- ^ Crabtree, Isabel (9 November 2019). "The King Might Not Be Totally Historically Accurate, But Timotheé Chalamet's Bowl Cut Sure As Hell Is". Esquire. Retrieved 14 November 2019.
- ^ Bunyan, Michael (25 October 2019). "The True Story Behind the Netflix Movie The King". Time. Retrieved 14 November 2019.
- ^ Nelson, Alex (11 November 2019). "Is The King a true story? How accurately Henry V and Agincourt are portrayed in the Netflix drama and Shakespeare plays". inews. Retrieved 14 November 2019.
- ^ Davies, Luke (June 2013). "Joel Edgerton after Gatsby". The Monthly. Archived from the original on 18 May 2018. Retrieved 18 May 2018.
With David Michôd he has written King, an adaptation of Shakespeare's Henry IV, Parts I & II, and Henry V, for Warner Bros.
- ^ Wood, Stephanie (26 July 2014). "Australian actor Joel Edgerton hits the Hollywood big time". smh.com.au. Archived from the original on 23 June 2018. Retrieved 30 May 2018.
- ^ Jagernauth, Kevin (3 September 2016). "Joel Edgerton Talks 'Game Of Thrones' Meets Shakespeare Project With David Michôd, 'Jane Got A Gun,' And More". Indiewire.com. Archived from the original on 26 May 2018. Retrieved 30 May 2018.
- ^ McClintock, Pamela (3 September 2015). "Former Universal Chairman David Linde on TIFF Bet, What He Misses About Running a Big Studio". The Hollywood Reporter. Archived from the original on 18 May 2018. Retrieved 30 May 2018.
- ^ Fleming, Mike Jr. (8 February 2018). "Timothee Chalamet To Play King Henry V In David Michôd Netflix Film 'The King". Deadline Hollywood. Archived from the original on 9 February 2018. Retrieved 30 May 2018.
- ^ Vlessing, Etan (22 March 2018). "Joel Edgerton Joins Timothee Chalamet in Netflix Drama 'The King'". The Hollywood Reporter. Archived from the original on 21 June 2018. Retrieved 30 May 2018.
- ^ a b Wiseman, Andreas (31 May 2018). "Robert Pattinson, Lily-Rose Depp, Among Cast Joining Timothée Chalamet In Netflix Pic 'The King', Cameras Roll This Week". Deadline Hollywood. Archived from the original on 1 June 2018. Retrieved 31 May 2018.
- ^ Wiseman, Andreas (1 June 2018). "'Game Of Thrones' Star Dean-Charles Chapman Joins Netflix Pic 'The King'". Deadline Hollywood. Archived from the original on 21 June 2018. Retrieved 1 June 2018.
- ^ "Day 58, #thatsawrap !". Instagram.com. 24 August 2018. Retrieved 24 August 2018.
- ^ Vierney, Joseph (15 May 2018). "Lincoln casting call for period film". The Lincolnite. Archived from the original on 8 June 2018. Retrieved 30 May 2018.
- ^ Goundry, Nick (3 May 2018). "Timothée Chalamet to film Henry V movie in Hungary". KFTV. Archived from the original on 8 June 2018. Retrieved 30 May 2018.
- ^ Horton, Kim (8 June 2018). "Netflix movie produced by Brad Pitt filming in Gloucestershire". gloucestershirelive. Retrieved 31 October 2019.
- ^ Verney, Joseph (1 November 2019). "The King released on Netflix featuring Lincoln's historic sights". thelincolnite. Retrieved 4 November 2019.
- ^ Anderson, Ariston (25 July 2019). "Venice Film Festival Unveils Lineup (Updating Live)". The Hollywood Reporter. Archived from the original on 25 July 2019. Retrieved 25 July 2019.
- ^ Mitchell, Robert (29 August 2019). "'Jojo Rabbit,' 'The Aeronauts,' Netflix Titles Feature in London Film Festival Lineup". Variety. Retrieved 29 August 2019.
- ^ "The King". BFI London Film Festival. Retrieved 29 August 2019.
- ^ McClintock, Pamela (27 August 2019). "Netflix Dates 'Marriage Story,' 'Laundromat' and Other Fall Award Films". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 27 August 2019.
- ^ "The King (2019)". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango. Retrieved 6 November 2019.
- ^ "The King (2019) Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved 6 November 2019.
- ^ Hans, Simran (13 October 2019). "The King review – Timothée Chalamet is all at sea as Prince Hal". The Observer. ISSN 0029-7712. Retrieved 24 November 2019.
- ^ "Winners & Nominees". aacta.org.
- ^ Vlessing, Etan (3 January 2020). "'Parasite' Named Best Picture by Australia's AACTA Awards". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 3 January 2020.
- ^ Harris, LaTesha (5 November 2019). "'Joker,' 'Lion King,' 'Us' Lead 2019 Hollywood Music in Media Awards Nominees". Variety. Retrieved 7 November 2019.
- ^ "'Parasite' Tops London Film Critics' Circle Awards". 30 January 2020. Retrieved 31 January 2020.
- ^ Samuel, Henry (4 November 2019). "Netflix's 'The King' is anti-French nonsense that flatters a war criminal, says director of Agincourt museum". The Telegraph. Retrieved 13 December 2019.
- ^ "Azincourt : comment le film "Le Roi" (Netflix) piétine allègrement la réalité historique". franceinfo (in French). 4 November 2019. Retrieved 4 December 2020.
