Out of the 3 or 4 films I’ve seen so far this year, the best by far has been Empire of Light. It’s also the one I only found out about the evening before I went to watch it as opposed to the big budget Hollywood films that are invariably trailed months or even a year in advance regardless as to whether they are worth watching.
Empire of Light is set in 1980 and 1981 Margate, a small seaside town with a palatial cinema which is now rather down on its luck.
Hilary (Olivia Colman) is a cinema manager struggling with her mental health, and Stephen (Micheal Ward) is a new employee longing to escape the provincial town where he faces daily adversity. Together they find a sense of belonging and experience the healing power of music, cinema, and community.
Empire of Light is both a beautiful and at times shocking film but it is also funny, moving and authentic. I’m a huge fan of Olivia Colman, whilst there are more senior British actresses who are rightly lauded, I could watch Olivia until the cows come home.
Her character Hilary works for a very sleazy boss who looks for any chance to force himself on her. She suffers from mental ill health and for all intents and purposes is stuck in a huge rut having recovered somewhat from a recent breakdown. Life is going nowhere until Stephen walks into her life.
Stephen is a young chap, who starts at the cinema at the bottom of the career ladder. He’s a dreamer and with ambitions to make something of himself. He is also a black man.
Hilary and Stephen strike up a friendship that flirts with being something more. The pair are definitely good for each other and Hilary begins to feel more normal.
One thing the film is good at is showing the downsides of life for these two people 41 years ago. Everyone loves Hilary but at a certain level, no-one understands her or is very willing to help her except for Stephen. Whilst Hilary urges Stephen to make something of his life and not let himself be defined what others think of him.
From time to time Hilary witnesses some of the subtle and not so subtle racist behaviour that Stephen has to put up with. It’s not that very many people at all are racist to him but more that the big majority turn the other cheek when it happens. The same goes for Hilary when she is both taken advantage of and increasingly becomes unwell before having what can only be described as an epic scene or two before she is hospitalised.
It really is a beautiful film and as much as I can recall 1981, seems to have recreated things wonderfully. It also struck home how much better life is in many ways than back then for so many people.
Empire of Light has only had a relatively small opening but it’s proving to be very popular and opening on more and more screens. If you get a chance to see it, I really recommend it. Before going in, I’d never seen a bad Olivia Colman performance but with Empire of Light, I may just have seen her best one.
Stephen Liddell 
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