Empire of Light (Film)
Beautifully directed and shot (at an old cinema in Margate, UK), Mendes’ film is a tribute to cinema and the art deco buildings that used to house them. Colman plays middle to late aged Hillary as the cinema manager, while Ward (Top Boy, Small Axe), plays Stephen – a new employee at the cinema who Hillary takes under her wing. Hillary doesn’t have much in her life, just her job, and is engaged in a clandestine sexual romance with the owner of the cinema (a very good Colin Firth). But there is something about Stephen that Hillary finds alluring and attractive, and Stephen feels the same about her, somehow. Soon enough they fall into each others arms and have relations in the empty room that is on top of the cinema. But Stephen is only there short-term, he’s got big plans for his future, and a girl his age waiting in the background to be his girlfriend, and a mother who encourages him to leave the small town for bigger things.
Even though ‘Empire of Light’ will take your breathe away for its stunning oceanfront backdrop, the romance between Hillary and Stephen, which is the crux of the film, is not quite believable. Hillary is too dowdy and plain and we don’t quite believe that Stephen would fall into her arms when he can have the pick of any of the women in town. Mendes (American Beauty, 1917), should’ve chosen a more believable female star in this role (Kate Winslet would’ve been perfect), but nevertheless we are left with a stunning film with a plot that is just not believable.
FAB UK saw ‘Empire of Light’ at the London Film Festival.
