Acclaimed director Sam Mendes (American Beauty, Spectre) draws on his own personal experiences for his latest drama, the ‘80s-set Empire of Light. Set in a fading cinema in seaside Kent, it’s both a love letter to the power of movies and a portrayal of a marginalised woman struggling with her mental health. If that sounds like your kind of matinee, you’re in luck, because Empire of Light is in cinemas now.
The great Olivia Colman delivers a powerful performance as Hilary Small, the duty manager of the Empire Cinema, recently returned to work after a mental health crisis. Trapped in a loveless affair with her lecherous—and very married—manager, Donald (Colin Firth flipping the Mr Darcy script) and with her work colleagues her only friends, her life seems small and miserable, but things change when a new employee, the smart and charming Stephen (Michael Ward), comes on the scene.
Hilary and the much younger Stephen embark on a tentative romance, but there’s trouble on the horizon: Stephen is Black, and the National Front are on the rise in Thatcher-era Britain. Closer to home, Hilary’s mental health issues begin to take their toll, and as the cinema staff—including top notch character actor Toby Jones as a world-weary projectionist—prepare for a make-or-break gala premiere of Chariots of Fire, it all comes to a head.
Empire of Light marks Mendes’ first time out as solo screenwriter. The film is greatly influenced by his childhood living with his struggling single mother, and he wrote the role of Hilary expressly for Colman. It’s clearly his most personal film yet, balancing the inherent glamour of film with social realism, and the result is a poignant and affecting drama that’ll have you reaching for the tissues more than once. Rarely has nostalgia been so clear-eyed.
