Empire of Light ***
of Sam Mendes
Anglo-American film, 1 h 55
A symptom of the times and of the upheavals in the industry following the arrival of platforms, many great filmmakers take a nostalgic look at their art. After Damien Chazelle (Babylon) et Steven Spielberg (The Fabelmans), it’s Sam Mendes’ turn to place cinema at the heart of his new film.
It is physically through this magnificent and imposing art deco building on the seafront in the seaside resort of Margate, in the south-east of England. With its majestic hall, its central staircase and its large bay windows overlooking the sea, the L’Empire cinema appears as one of those relics of the glorious times of the 7e art. It is also symbolic, both as the central setting of the plot, and the only means of escaping external reality.
An England plagued by race riots
Here, thatcher England of the 1980s, undermined by race riots and the rise of the National Front. A context that the British director Sam Mendes chooses to voluntarily leave offscreen. He appears sporadically behind the windows of this cinema which shelters the melancholy of Hilary (Olivia Colman).
A solitary and taciturn woman, this fifties manages the establishment with mechanical application. Recovering with difficulty from a severe depression that had occurred the previous year, without knowing the precise reasons for it, Hilary reigns over the confectionery stand, carefully counts and recounts the ticket stubs at the end of the day and submits to reluctantly to the quickly satisfied wishes of the hall manager, Donald Ellis (Colin Firth). First arrival, last part, she turns on and off the lights of this stage on which her destiny will be played out.
The arrival of a new opener, Stephen (Micheal Ward), will shake up his routine. Between this woman dented by life and this young black man, plagued by disillusionment and racism, a romantic idyll is formed in which each seeks consolation. She finds refuge in the abandoned floors of the cinema as if this relationship, condemned from the outset by the age difference and the weight of social conventions, could not survive the external reality. Gradually brought back to life, Hilary regains her smile and hope, before everything goes off the rails again.
An intimate vein
After two James Bonds (Heavy rain et 007 Spectre) and a spectacular film about the trenches of the First World War, imbued with the memories of his grandfather (1917), the filmmaker rediscovers the intimate vein of his rebel wedding and pays poignant tribute to his mother who inspired him to write this story. The cinema has replaced the pavilion in the New York suburbs but offers the same frozen and theatrical setting. It locks up the feelings of its protagonists, reduced to observing life and passing time through glass.
Except that, this time, the Empire vibrates with the love of the director for the cinema. This is present everywhere: in the beauty of the location, superbly filmed by its chief operator Roger Deakins, in the passion of the projectionist scrupulously watching over his reels of film and in the comforting power of his images. “The human eye has an optical defect: when it sees 24 photograms per second, it does not perceive darkness”, explains Norman, the projectionist.
Olivia Colman, impressive
The strength of the bond that unites Hilary and Stephen, and beyond that the whole small team that watches over the Empire like a family, will help them overcome their ordeals. And who else but Olivia Colman, a great British actress, to interpret this woman, constantly on the edge of the precipice?
Sam Mendes says he wrote the role with her in mind after seeing her as Elizabeth II in the series The Crown. She is impressive. Behind an almost impassive face, each of his emotions is palpable. Until they overflow, like a furious torrent, in a masterful scene taking place during the preview of chariots of fire. Cinema, always, as catharsis, in a film that probes the depths of the human soul.
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Sam Mendes, rare filmmaker
Born on 1is August 1965, Trained in theatre, passed by the Royal Shakespeare Company, Sam Mendes took a position behind the camera in 1999 with American Beauty. The film won five Oscars, including Best Picture and Best Director.
He then realizes The Paths of Perdition (2002) et Jarhead. The end of innocence (2005).
In 2008, he staged his then-wife, Kate Winslet, In The Rebel Weddingswhere she reunites with her partner from TitanicLeonardo DiCaprio.
In 2012 and 2015, he signs two parts of the James Bond franchise: Heavy rain et 007 Spectre.
In 2019, he is shooting the movie 1917.