Empire of Light Lives Up to Its Title

 

Empire of Light (2022)

Directed by Sam Mendes

Searchlight Pictures, 113 minutes, R (for ridiculous!)*

★★★★★

 

 

What a beautiful little film! Ignore the cranks who reviewed Empire of Light as underdeveloped or dull. Many were American reviewers for whom anything more subtle than an oil refinery explosion is too subtle. I will concede, though, that the film’s rom-com billing did it no favors.

 

Empire of Light is one part Cinema Paradiso, one part a look at personality disorder, and one part probe of British racism. Call it a pastiche of charming, serious, and sad. Such a difficult mixture takes a director as skillful as Sam Mendes to stitch together. It is filmed in the British seaside resort (an oxymoron?) of Margate, which even during the films’ setting of the 1980s had seen better days. The Empire is a grand old movie house barely hanging on. The top floor has been closed for so long that pigeons rule the roost, but the staff still dress sharp, keep the theater clean, and take pride in their work. Its oddball crew includes geeky Neil (Tom Brooke), punk wannabe Janine (Hannah Onslow), and diminutive projectionist Norman (Toby Jones). Much of the drama, though, centers on theater manager Donald Ellis (Colin Firth), Jill of all trades Hilary Small (Olivia Coleman), and new hire Stephen Murray (Micheal Ward), a black man in a town in which just 0.5% of the population looks like him.

 

We sense that Hilary is a bit “off,” and learn that she is on lithium to control bipolar disorder. She’s an emptied out loner looking for human connection, which isn’t easy in a workplace that’s a collection of oddballs with their own baggage. That also makes her easy prey for Donald’s sexual advances, which are grounded more in power than consent. Though she essentially runs The Empire, Hilary has never even seen a movie. Enter Stephen, a breath of fresh air by virtue of being the most normal person in the room. He wanted to be an architect, but he’s adrift after being rejected for college and his girlfriend. To his surprise, he likes working in the theater and becomes close with its employees. Too close to Hilary, actually, as the two embark on an unusual affair. He finds out the hard way about her fragile mental state.

 

Although The Empire might be on borrowed time, it remains a place where magic happens. It even gets an unexpected boost by scoring the Southeast England premier of Chariots of Fire. Unexpected things swirl around that as well. After all, hope was as fragile as Hilary for people on the bottom looking up in Margaret Thatcher’s England. If you need further confirmation of what happens in a society ruled by privilege-stirred anger, observe the skinhead sequences in Empire of Light. Credit goes to Sam Mendes for finding small redemptions amidst anger and injustice. Although some might find these insufficient or naive, I’ll take hope over relentless gloom. When Norman schools Stephen on how arc projectors work and explains how light at 24 frames per second tricks the eye into not seeing the black between the frames, it feels like a motto for our time. Also make note of what’s on the screen when Hilary finally enters the theater. It too is–dare I say it?–a subtle message quietly sent.

 

The film works in large part due to strong performances. Coleman has established herself as a topflight actress. Much like Cloris Leachman was in her prime and Tilda Swinton is now, Coleman has a clay-like face that she molds as the moment demands. At times she is frumpy, but when her spirit is unleashed, she makes us believe that a young man half her age could find her alluring. Ward’s role could have used more depth, but he deftly showcases his liminality as a black man in a white world, and again by toggling between disaffected, kind, or optimistic. Toby Jones also turns in an affecting turn as a doleful man whose life is in the projection booth–shades of Philippe Noiret in Cinema Paradiso–but no longer recalls exactly how or when he got that way. It’s also a departure to see Frith as a smug villain.

 

Empire of Light isn’t a perfect film. Some of the drama unfolds to improbable contrivances, for instance, and other moments skirt being saccharine. Yet, there’s much to be said for a tale in which we root for everyone to find what they’ve lost.

 

Rob Weir

 

*R because we see Ward’s naked bum, and people make out in the shadows. Gimme a break!