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Starring: Olivia Colman, Micheal Ward, Tom Brooke, Tanya Moodie, Hannah Onslow, Crystal Clarke, Toby Jones, Colin Firth
Story:
Romantic drama written and directed by Sam Mendes. Empire of Light (2022) follows Hilary (Olivia Colman) and Stephen (Micheal Ward), as romance develops between them in a beautiful old cinema in an English seaside town in the early 1980s.
We’ll add the best quotes once the movie is released and we’ve had a chance to watch it, but for now, here’s a small selection.
Quotes:
Norman: Look around you. This whole place is for people who want to escape. People who don’t belong anywhere else.
Dr. Laird: How do you feel?
Hilary: I do feel a bit numb, I suppose.
Stephen: Wow. Another world.
Stephen: Amazing.
Norman: It is amazing. Because it’s just static frames, with darkness in between. But there’s a little flaw in your optic nerve, so that if I run the film at twenty-four frames per second, you don’t see the darkness. It’s called the phi phenomenon. Seeing static images rapidly in succession. It creates an illusion of motion. An illusion of life. Out there, they just see a beam of light. And nothing happens without light.
Hilary: How am I making worse?
Stephen: By pretending it isn’t there.
Hilary: I really don’t know what you’re talking about.
Stephen: Alright. Put it this way. He’s not just angry, is he?
Donald Ellis: Hilary, what do you think you’re doing? You’re not invited to speak.
Hilary: Well, it can’t be all men droning on.
Donald Ellis: You knew what this meant to me, Hilary. You more than anyone. Yet, you willfully try to ruin it.
Hilary: Well, I’m terribly sorry. But you can’t always have it your own way!
Donald Ellis: You’ve got a problem. You know that? You need serious help. Now, we’ve all tried to help you here, but at some point you need to take responsibility for your own…
Hilary: Why don’t you go and f*** yourself!
Stephen: Hilary, are you alright?
Hilary: Stephen, tell me truthfully. Did I humiliate myself?
Stephen: What?
Hilary: Tell me. Did I?
Stephen: No. It wasn’t humiliating. It was just intense. To be honest, I thought you were a bit of a hero.
Hilary: That’s very nice of you. Hard to believe.
Hilary: My dad used to take me fishing when I was little. And we never caught any fish. And for years I just thought he was a bad fisherman. And then I realized it was something else. Something quite simple. He didn’t know where the fish were and he was too ashamed to ask. He was just ashamed. Shamed is not a healthy condition
Hilary: Why not?
Stephen: Because it’s pointless. They turned me down the first time.
Hilary: To study what?
Stephen: Architecture.
Hilary: Oh, that would be wonderful.
Stephen: Yeah.
Hilary: You have to try again.
Stephen: Yeah. Maybe.
Hilary: Well, you can’t just give up. Stephen, don’t let them tell you what you can and can’t do. No one is going to give you the life you want. You have to go out and get it. You can’t stay here.
Stephen: Alright.
Stephen: I just want to help.
Hilary: I am not your patient! I am not some problem to be solved!
Hilary: All these people. I’m the only one who knows the truth. Do you understand me? I’m the only one!
Stephen: Here’s to the future. Here’s to getting back up. And here’s to coming home.
Trailer: