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The Empire (film)

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The Empire
Theatrical release poster
FrenchL'Empire
Directed byBruno Dumont
Written byBruno Dumont
Produced by
  • Jean Bréhat
  • Bertrand Faivre
Starring
CinematographyDavid Chambille
Production
companies
  • Tessalit Productions
  • Red Balloon Film
  • Ascent Film
  • Novak Prod
  • Rosa Filmes
  • Furyo Films
  • Shelter Prod
  • RTBF
Release dates
  • 18 February 2024 (2024-02-18) (Berlin)
  • 21 February 2024 (2024-02-21) (France)
Running time
111 minutes[1]
Countries
  • France
  • Germany
  • Italy
  • Belgium
  • Portugal
LanguageFrench
Budget€7,990,000[2]
Box office€693,000[a][3]

The Empire (French: L'Empire) is a 2024 apocalyptic science fiction comedy-drama film written and directed by Bruno Dumont. It is a parody of the Star Wars franchise and Hollywood blockbusters in general, set in Dumont's home region of northern France.[4]

The international co-production between France, Germany, Italy, Belgium and Portugal premiered on 18 February 2024 at the 74th Berlin International Film Festival, where it won the Silver Bear Jury Prize. It was theatrically released in France on 21 February 2024.

Premise

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"Two opposing forces from the depths of outer space unleash an apocalyptic conflict on Northern France's picturesque Côte d'Opale."

Cast

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Production

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Development and casting

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In January 2022, Bruno Dumont was announced to be preparing a new film entitled L'Empire, which would feature actresses Virginie Efira and Adèle Haenel. Haenel was described as making "her comeback to the cinema", following a controversy at the 45th César Awards after which she stepped away from film.[5] Lily-Rose Depp and Fabrice Luchini, as well as Bernard Pruvost, Philippe Jore and Julien Manier, were also announced as cast members. The film was teased as a confounding mélange of science fiction and social realism set in Dumont's home region of northern France.[6][7] Bernard Pruvost once again appears as Commandant Van der Weyden, and Philippe Jore, as Lieutenant Rudy Carpentier, characters who originally appeared in the miniseries P'tit Quinquin (2014), also created by Dumont.[8] At the end of April 2022, Camille Cottin and Anamaria Vartolomei joined the cast.[9] In May 2022, Adèle Haenel left the project due to disagreements with Bruno Dumont over the script, which she characterised as "dark, sexist and racist".[10] In August 2022, Lily-Rose Depp and Virginie Efira were confirmed to have left the project due to "filming having changed dates several times" which ultimately conflicted with their schedules. They were replaced by Lyna Khoudri and Camille Cottin, as well as Anamaria Vartolomei who took the place of Adèle Haenel.[11]

Jean Bréhat and Bertrand Faivre produced The Empire for Tessalit Productions. The film is co-produced by Red Balloon Film (Germany), Ascent Film (Italy), Novak Prod (Belgium), Rosa Filmes (Portugal) and Furyo Films (France).[12][13]

Filming

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Principal photography began on 16 August 2022 in Wimereux (Pas-de-Calais), located in France's Côte d'Opale region, where the production was set up on the Dunes de la Slack beach, stretching between Pointe aux Oies and Fort d'Ambleteuse. Boulonnais horses and drones were used on this day. Filming, which took place primarily in Audresselles, continued until 10 September. Scenes were also filmed on 13 August on board a boat off the coast of Audresselles.[14] Filming resumed for a few days in late September in Brussels, then from 3 to 10 October in Caserta, with a final shooting day scheduled for October or November in Berlin.[12]

Release

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Anamaria Vartolomei, Brandon Vlieghe and Lyna Khoudri at Berlinale 2024

The Empire premiered on 18 February 2024 at the 74th Berlin International Film Festival,[15] where the film was selected in the main competition for the Golden Bear.[16]

ARP Sélection distributed the film in France on 21 February 2024.[17] World sales are handled by Memento International,[12] who presented the film for sale at the Marché du Film of Cannes in May 2023.[18] In March 2024, it was announced that the film had been acquired by Kino Lorber for North America, with a theatrical release set for later in 2024.[19]

Reception

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Bruno Dumont with the Berlinale Jury Prize

Critical response

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On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 62% of 13 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 5.2/10.[20] Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 53 out of 100, based on 4 critics, indicating "mixed or average" reviews.[21] On AlloCiné, the film received an average rating of 3.6 out of 5 stars, based on 24 reviews from French critics.[22]

Accolades

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Award Date of ceremony Category Recipient(s) Result Ref.
Berlin International Film Festival 25 February 2024 Golden Bear Bruno Dumont Nominated [23]
Silver Bear Jury Prize Won [24]

Notes

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  1. ^ Estimated on the basis of the number of tickets sold in France

References

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  1. ^ "L'EMPIRE" (in French). ARP Sélection. Retrieved 26 January 2024.
  2. ^ "L'Empire". Scriptoclap (in French).
  3. ^ "L'Empire de Bruno Dumont (2023)" (in French). Unifrance. Retrieved 22 June 2024.
  4. ^ Dupire, Vincent (22 September 2023). ""L'Empire" le nouveau film de Bruno Dumont, parodie la Guerre des étoiles sur la côte d'Opale". France 3 Régions (in French). francetvinfo.fr. Retrieved 26 January 2024.
  5. ^ Lachasse, Jérôme (22 January 2022). "Adèle Haenel va faire son grand retour au cinéma". BFMTV (in French). Retrieved 27 January 2024.
  6. ^ Garreau, Marc-Aurèle (21 January 2022). "L'Empire : le prochain film de Bruno Dumont a un casting royal et un pitch incroyable". CinéSérie (in French). Retrieved 27 January 2024.
  7. ^ Schütz, Violaine (25 January 2022). "Quel film réunira Virginie Efira, Lily-Rose Depp et Adèle Haenel ?". Numéro (in French). Retrieved 27 January 2024.
  8. ^ Faucquez, Grégory (12 April 2022). "Le calaisien Bernard Pruvost et Lily-Rose Depp dans le même film : c'est quoi c'bordel ?". Nord Littoral (in French). Retrieved 27 January 2024.
  9. ^ Goodfellow, Melanie (28 April 2022). "Bruno Dumont's 'The Empire' to star Lily-Rose Depp, Anamaria Vartolomei, Camille Cottin; Memento International boards sales (exclusive)". Screen International. Retrieved 27 January 2024.
  10. ^ Orozco, Édouard (17 May 2022). "Adèle Haenel veut s'éloigner du cinéma : "C'est une industrie réactionnaire et raciste"". Première (in French). Retrieved 27 January 2024.
  11. ^ Delfort, Julien (18 August 2022). "Clash, changement d'agenda : le casting "flamboyant" de Bruno Dumont chamboulé". La Voix du Nord (in French). Retrieved 27 January 2024.
  12. ^ a b c Lemercier, Fabien (24 August 2022). "Bruno Dumont shoots The Empire". Cineuropa. Retrieved 26 January 2024.
  13. ^ "L'Empire" (in French). Furyo Films. Retrieved 26 January 2024.
  14. ^ Delfort, Julien (16 August 2022). "Cinéma : des scènes du film L'Empire tournées ce mardi à Wimereux". La Voix du Nord (in French). Archived from the original on 26 January 2024. Retrieved 27 January 2024.
  15. ^ "L'Empire". Berlinale. Archived from the original on 15 February 2024. Retrieved 15 February 2024.
  16. ^ Abbatescianni, Davide (22 January 2024). "The Berlinale unveils its Competition and Encounters titles". Cineuropa. Retrieved 26 January 2024.
  17. ^ Sauvion, Marie (9 January 2024). ""L'Empire" : comment promouvoir le "Star Wars" du ch'Nord signé Bruno Dumont". Télérama (in French). Retrieved 26 January 2024.
  18. ^ Lemercier, Fabien (9 May 2023). "Memento International to present a highly promising trio in Cannes". Cineuropa. Retrieved 27 January 2024.
  19. ^ Roxborough, Scott (7 March 2024). "Kino Lorber Takes French Sci-Fi Satire 'L'Empire' for North America". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 29 June 2024.
  20. ^ "The Empire". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango Media. Retrieved 17 September 2024. Edit this at Wikidata
  21. ^ "The Empire". Metacritic. Fandom, Inc. Retrieved 17 September 2024.
  22. ^ "Critiques Presse pour le film L'Empire". AlloCiné (in French). Retrieved 12 April 2024.
  23. ^ Vivarelli, Nick; Shafer, Ellise (22 January 2024). "Berlin Film Festival Unveils Full Lineup: 'La Cocina' Starring Rooney Mara, 'Another End' With Gael García Bernal Among Competition Titles". Variety. Retrieved 26 January 2024.
  24. ^ "The Prizes of the International Jury". www.berlinale.de. Retrieved 30 March 2024.
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