Empire of Light

Empire of Light is a 2022 British romantic drama film directed, written, and co-produced by Sam Mendes. Set in an English coastal town in the early 1980s, the film is about the power of human connection during turbulent times. It stars Olivia Colman, Micheal Ward, Monica Dolan, Tom Brooke, Tanya Moodie, Hannah Onslow, Crystal Clarke, Toby Jones, and Colin Firth. The film had its world premiere at the 49th Telluride Film Festival on 3 September 2022, and was released by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures through a limited theatrical release in the United States on 9 December 2022 and theatrically in the United Kingdom on 9 January 2023. Empire of Light received praise for Colman and Ward's performances and Roger Deakins's cinematography, but the screenplay was criticised. At the 80th Golden Globe Awards, the film was nominated for Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama for Colman, while Ward received a nomination for Best Actor in a Supporting Role at the 76th British Academy Film Awards. It also received a nomination for Best Cinematography at the 95th Academy Awards. Plot In 1980 Hilary Small works as a duty manager at the "Empire Cinema", Margate, on the north coast of the English county of Kent. Hilary struggles with bipolar disorder, lives alone, has been prescribed lithium by her GP, and is having extramarital sex with her boss Donald Ellis. New employee Stephen, who is Black British and lives with his mother Delia, a nurse, starts his new job at the cinema. Hilary is taken with the handsome and charming Stephen, and the two bond when she shows him the cinema's beautiful but disused upper floor.