Director Sam Mendes returns to the big screen bringing along with him actress powerhouse Olivia Colman. In Empire of Light we meet Hillary (Olivia Colman) a middle-aged manager of a movie theater in the United Kingdom in the 1980s who leads a largely solitary, unfulfilling life, devoid of contact except for an illicit affair she is having with her boss and the theater’s owner Mr. Ellis (Colin Firth). When a younger man named Stephen (Micheal Ward) is hired to work as a ticket-taker for the summer, he and Hillary find a spark that invigorates her, but may also lead her to spiral back into old, destructive habits.
Empire of Light has been marketed as another, “power of the movies” awards season film, but as its story unfolds and we walk alongside the characters, this film speaks more toward the innate human need to feel connected to others, to feel and be seen, than the healing power of moving pictures. Sure, it has its moments such as Toby Jones’ well executed monologue as theater projectionist Norman about the technological marvel of using speed to trick the human eye into thinking that still pictures are moving or the conclusion of Hillary’s character arc at the film’s end, but this is largely the tale of how people who feel as if they have no place in their environment find each other and help the other cope with their plight.
When we first meet Hillary, Mendes takes great care to show the audience her frame of mind and the world in which she inhabits. Hillary eats alone, lives alone, and even largely works alone despite her co-workers being in the same building. She is an anonymous person living a life of solitude, deeply unhappy but feeling as if there is nothing she can do about it. Her life is emblematic of what both older women face as they age out of conventional attractiveness, turning invisible once they are no longer desirable by society’s standards, and the ostracization that many people face who have battled mental illness, something that Hillary has suffered with in her past. Stephen is her polar opposite in terms of his personality, easy to talk to and largely able to get along with those who wish to get along with him. But Stephen is the son of Jamaican immigrants in the 1980s UK as Thatcher’s conservatism is on the rise and racist Britons feel emboldened to let people like Stephen know just how much they dislike them. Both are victims of social constructs that other them, Hillary as an older woman past what has been determined to be her physical prime and Stephen as a non-white person that draw them toward each other, people alone in the world finding solace in each other.
Empire of Light is a tender story of a woman battling the world around her and her own mind in an attempt to find peace and the story of Hillary and Stephen’s connection is a sweet one to watch develop as Stephen offers Hillary a bit of happiness and confidence that she had clearly been missing and Hillary offers him a friend in a city where he often feels like an outsider. Despite its tenderness and examination of 80s social and political trends in the UK, the film could’ve come across more rote and by-the-numbers but for the performances of Colman and Ward. The two are magnetic together with Colman being her usual virtuoso self offering a powerful portrayal of a broken woman slowly putting back the pieces of herself and Ward playing an earnest and strong young man with much to offer the world. Their chemistry elevates the material and creates a rooting interest in the characters and their fates through their empathetic performances. You want to see these two end up in good spaces, overcoming the obstacles set in their way. The awards worthy performances offered by Colman and Ward are what should drive you to see this and prevent Empire of Light from being just another tale of romance helping people find themselves. Some may find the weaving in of cinema and the part it plays in bringing Hillary’s arc full circle to be slightly hokey, but the actors are what makes this work more than it probably should; a testament to the skill and ability of Colman and Ward.
Image: Searchlight Pictures
