The King

"All hail."

2019 2h 20m EN

👍

7.2

SOLID

★7.2TMDB · 3,700

DramaHistoryWar

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

England, 15th century. Hal, a capricious prince who lives among the populace far from court, is forced by circumstances to reluctantly accept the throne and become Henry V.

“All hail.”

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Where to watch · US

NetflixSubscription

Cast

Timothée Chalamet
Hal
Joel Edgerton
Falstaff
Sean Harris
William
Tom Glynn-Carney
Hotspur
Lily-Rose Depp
Catherine
Thomasin McKenzie
Philippa, Queen of Denmark
Robert Pattinson
The Dauphin
Ben Mendelsohn
King Henry IV

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: David Michôd
Writers: David Michôd, Joel Edgerton, William Shakespeare
Languages: English, French, Latin
Countries: Australia, United States of America

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

ERA

Did you know

Released 7 years ago.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

WORLD

Did you know

Dialogue crosses 3 languages: English, French, Latin.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

WORLD

Did you know

International production across 2 countries: Australia, United States of America.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by David Michôd, shot by Adam Arkapaw. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by Nicholas Britell. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Peter Sciberras shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

CAST

Did you know

Timothée Chalamet and Joel Edgerton and Sean Harris carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

FACT

Did you know

Marketing tagline: "All hail.".

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

David Michôd directs. Adam Arkapaw behind the camera. Nicholas Britell scores. Peter Sciberras cuts. Produced in Australia, United States of America. Dialogue in English, French, Latin.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

1Released 7 years ago.
2Dialogue crosses 3 languages: English, French, Latin.
3International production across 2 countries: Australia, United States of America.
4Directed by David Michôd, shot by Adam Arkapaw. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
5Original score by Nicholas Britell. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
6Editor Peter Sciberras shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
7Timothée Chalamet and Joel Edgerton and Sean Harris carry the top of the cast.
8Marketing tagline: "All hail.".
9IMDB entry: tt7984766 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
10Classified under 13 themes, including "biography", "based on true story", "hundred years' war", "historical fiction".

The technical file

Cinematography: Adam Arkapaw
Original score: Nicholas Britell
Editing: Peter Sciberras
Production design: Fiona Crombie
Costume design: Jane Petrie
Makeup / hair: Alessandro Bertolazzi
VFX supervisor: Oliver Atherton
Sound: Robert Mackenzie
Stunt coordinator: Steve Dent
Runtime: 140 min · 2h 20m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.37:1 (Academy)
Status: Released
Original language: EN
Certification (US): R
IMDB: The King (2019)

Awards

AACTA Award for Best Production Design
AACTA Award for Best Costume Design
AACTA Award for Best Cinematography

Individual records documented via Wikidata; the summary above may count more.

Also by

David Michôd

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Community reviews

What people are saying

Splinter2019-11-11
Just finished The King, a modern interpretation of parts of Shakespeare's Henry IV and Henry V, seemingly targeted at millennials. It's common knowledge that much of Shakespeare's Henry V is based on hearsay, yet his pre-battle speeches at Barfleur ('Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more.') and Agincourt ('We band of brothers') have become the stuff of legend and remain the most stirring battle speeches of our time. In The King, Henry's pre-battle speech at Agincourt is neither stirring or inspirational due to being a watered-down, 21st-century, politically correct rendition, which I found hard to stomach. The King portrays Henry (Hal) as a pacifist and reluctant leader, a fop to Catherine of Valois and I found Timothee Chalomet's (an American) performance as Hal to be too 21st century and not in the slightest bit convincing. In fact, he seemed reluctant to carry out any of the deeds that the real Henry V actually carried out. The battle scenes were very realistic and the cinematography was superb, but... This is yet another nod to the PC millennials, diluting and revising both Shakespeare and history into easily digestible snack bites for the sensitive of our era.
Roryyeung2022-10-04
★ 7/10
It’s a fine half-adaptation, but suffers from the compromise it makes. On the one hand, it is not simply another adaptation of Shakespeare - it has the advantages of taking a fresh look at the material, but for whatever reason still somehow carried across much of the fictional elements of Shakespeare’s plays. At the same time, whilst the writing is good, it lacks the poetry of a more straight adaptation (e.g. the Hollow Crown). I do find the performances to be compelling, and in particular, find it interesting to see Henry V as a contemplative humanist rather than a victorious warlord. It’s an interesting idea (if perhaps ahistoric) and does perhaps act as a medication on more modern conflicts. In particular, the film diverges significantly from Shakespeare’s plot significantly towards the end. It seems to try to this to change to modify the original 16th century propaganda of the play to a discussion of Realpolitik. This is a good idea in principle, but is somewhat undercut from having just watched an hour glorifying Henry. It is also technically impressive - both the art and cinematography departments have outdone themselves - standards we have perhaps come to expect from Netflix productions. On the whole, I admire the attempt to give a fresh take on the source material, but would rather they took inspiration from the history, rather than from a play written centuries after.
CinemaSerf2024-05-30
★ 6/10
At last an opportunity to see Timothée Chalamet doing something a little grittier. Sadly, t'was not to be. His portrayal of this great character from early 15th Century British history left me cold. He looked like a good meal would have killed him, never mind a bloodthirsty foe clad in iron armed with an axe. The accent held up reasonably well, but he still struggles to shake off the winsome, "butter wouldn't melt" image and as he has to pretty much carry this film en seul, it just doesn't really work. The rare appearances by Robert Pattinson border on the hammy; with his final appearance reminding me of the first few steps taken by "Bambi" back in 1942. It is great that Netflix are prepared to fund projects like this, but the plain truth is that no amount of money can compensate for a poor screenplay - think Shakespeare "light" - supplemented with a few high-profile cameo contributions and some, admittedly, fantastic battle scenarios.