December 1980, and in a Margate cinema, troubled duty manager Hilary Small is shaken out of her rut by a new black member of staff called Stephen. He introduces her to two-tone music and shares his passion for architecture, but racist thugs soon threaten their happiness. Writer/director Sam Mendes's drama, starring Olivia Colman, Micheal Ward, Colin Firth, Toby Jones and Tom Brooke
Sam Mendes's ambitious first film as solo writer and director is informed by memories of his mother's mental illness. Taking a personal rather than an autobiographical approach, he tells the story of Hilary (Olivia Colman), the duty manager of a fictional seaside cinema in the early 1980s. Numbed by the lithium she has been prescribed as part of her recovery from a breakdown, Hilary leads an isolated but otherwise stable life. However, when romance with a younger black colleague (played with warmth and sensitivity by Micheal Ward) opens up her world, she secretly comes off her medication. Colman is mesmerising, spinning from joy to rage to very public outbursts, while Ward subtly conveys the underlying fear created by racial violence erupting across the country. Mendes waxes lyrical about the importance of cinema, but his view of Thatcher's Britain is far from rose-tinted. Although not everything coheres, Empire of Light feels like it comes straight from the film-maker's heart, direct to ours. Which, for a film about human connection, is perfect.
| role | name |
|---|---|
| Director | Sam Mendes |
