‘Empire of Light’ is an emotional story

Category: Blu-ray's and DVD's

Empire of Light is a touching drama set in the early 1980s in a small English coastal town. The story revolves around the Empire Theater where the employees interact and form friendships outside of their work. Olivia Colman stars as Hilary, a manager at the theater who has emotional issues and was recently released from a hospital. She seems fine now and is happy with her job. Colin Firth is her boss who fancies her in more ways than just an employee, even though he has a wife. Their affair is common knowledge within the theater but what happens in the theater stays in the theater.

Michael Ward plays Stephen, the new employee, Toby Jones is Norman, the projectionist, and Tom Brooke is Neil, another employee. Hilary takes an interest in Stephen and back in the 1980s their relationship was not highly sanctioned. After all, she is white and he is black. Their friendship, however, helps her mental health issues for a while.

The story deals with plenty of human issues. There is the interracial issue, the anti-black issue, the philandering issue,
the mental health issue, and more. While it is a deep and dark story, there are some lighthearted times. The theater itself is like a home to the employees and in many ways they are a family.

The bonus feature looks at how the film was created and how writer/director Sam Mendes brought out his love of film and music in this movie.

Coleman won an Oscar for her performance in the 2018 movie The Favourite and an Emmy in 2021 for her performance as Queen Elizabeth II in The Crown. Ward was nominated for a BAFTA for his performance in this film. Firth took home an Oscar for his performance in the 2010 film The King’s Speech. The caliber of actors in this film is phenomenal.

Empire of Light is now available on Blu-ray and DVD and digital. The movie is rated R.

About the Author

Francine Brokaw has been covering all aspects of the entertainment industry for over 25 years. She also writes about products and travel. She has been published in national and international newspapers and magazines as well as Internet websites. She has written her own book, Beyond the Red Carpet The World of Entertainment Journalists, is the entertainment correspondent for Good Day Orange County, and has her own TV show, Beyond the Red Carpet, on Village Television in Orange County. She is a longstanding member of the Television Critics Association and is accredited by the MPAA. Follow her on Twitter.