After all the decimation of his war film, 1917, director Sam Mendes has traveled back in time, to the turbulent early 1980s in England, to tell a humble little story of human connection. His new film, Empire of Light, is the director's most delicate, a melancholic short story about two people caught up in circumstances who help each other find their way in life. It's an achingly beautiful film, the best Mendes has done so far.
Olivia Colman plays Hilary, a retired single woman who works at a seaside cinema in a small seaside town in England. 1980 is drawing to a close, and a Christmas blues fills the air. We see Hilary going about her solitary life, dinners for one and the occasional utilitarian date with her married boss, Mr. Ellis (Colin Firth). Yet something is stirring, all this stasis seems pregnant with anticipation. That sentiment is beautifully represented in the film's score, the moody piano dots and ambient hum, the sound of the planet in motion, composed by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross.
That quiet excitement and nervousness is answered, in part, by the arrival of a new theater employee, Stephen (Michael Ward), a young man who spins his wheels until he enters college. Hilary is instantly seduced. He exudes friendliness that wins over the entire staff, but Hilary feels something particularly like him. Both she and Stephen are isolated in this quaint but cold town: he because he is black in a bigoted country, she because of her mental health issues, which are gradually revealed as Hilary and Stephen fall into a tenuous romance.
Director: Sam Mendes
Writer: Sam Mendes
Stars: Olivia Colman, Colin Firth, Toby Jones
One tenses when Empire of Light seems to be heading into the didactic, smarmy territory of a lesson movie. We expect some screeching cure-all on race relations, and some outdated lectures on mental health. But Mendes, who wrote the screenplay, sidesteps the old cliché (and worse) by sticking close to Stephen and Hilary, these finely crafted portraits of people in flux by Colman and Ward.
Sure, Empire of Light has more than just this relationship in mind. The film is a universal coming-of-age story in its consideration of the charged and formative encounters of youth. It's a gentle pick-me-up out of the resigned depression of midlife. And it's a drama about the ugly resurgence of racist nationalism that gripped England at the dawn of the Thatcher era, and has now risen again. But those themes don't overwhelm the soft voice that Mendes and his actors have built. Empire of Light strikes a careful balance: listening to its characters instead of shouting a message at them.
Also important for a Sam Mendes film, Empire of Light's exquisite aesthetic doesn't overshadow the story for nothing. The film looks incredible, with sumptuous photography by Roger Deakins and richly textured production design by Mark Tildesley. Those visual graces support and enhance the story rather than drown it out; the same cannot be said for all of Mendes' past efforts.
I'm curious where this movie came from. After a season of festivals of memoir pieces by great directors, one wonders if any personal narrative is being retold here. However, the film doesn't gesture towards its creator in any easily discernible way, so I guess we should take it on terms. Whatever Mendes' connection to the material, he has made something humane and nurturing, a picture of rare thoughtfulness and decency. Seen from some angles, the film seems rather strange: as Hilary loses control over her well-being, Empire of Light takes on surprising new dimensions. It's shocking to see the film break its dream spell, as Colman suddenly turns up the volume on his performance. Mendes' calm, steady film stands tall throughout these jarring blows, and as Stephen is violently thrashed, it builds toward an astonishingly moving conclusion.
The general feeling of Empire of Light is hopeful, but not short-sighted. Stephen heads into an uncertain future, weighed down by other people's prejudices as he tries to stretch toward the fullness of himself. Mendes offers no balm for that, but at least he gives Stephen these precious moments of communion with the distraught and longing Hilary. In that, these characters escape the misery of so much prestigious cinema.
Watch Empire of Light 2022 Movie Trailer
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