A year on from its Berlinale debut, where it picked up the Silver Bear Jury Prize, Bruno Dumont’s sci-fi feature The Empire is finally headed stateside. Picked up by Kino Lorber, who will release it on March 7, they’ve now unveiled a new trailer and poster for the film starring Lyna Khoudri, Anamaria Vartolomei, Camille Cottin, and Fabrice Luchini.
Here’s the synopsis: “In a quiet and picturesque fishing village in Northern France, a very special child is born, unleashing a secret war between extraterrestrial forces of good and evil. In an attempt to restore their empires, two opposing forces from the depths of outer space, One and Zero, unleash an apocalyptic conflict on Earth. The villainous Zero forces secretly take over the bodies of village locals in order to foster pandemonium on the planet. At the same time, a new species engineered by the One is working towards a new, harmonious evolution. While waiting for the final battle, the imperial legions struggle to win humanity over to their cause. Featuring performances from Fabrice Luchini, Camille Cottin, and Anamaria Varolomei, THE EMPIRE is part Star Wars, part Spaceballs, and 100% Dumont.”
Rory O’Connor said in his review, “Playing his signature brand of rural French absurdity in stark counterpoint to the grandiose strains of a space opera, Bruno Dumont returns with The Empire: his Barbarella bourguignon, his dijionnaise Dune. The Empire is the story of two warring factions: one whose mothership resembles the palace of Versailles; the other’s as if someone glued together two Notre Dames, crypt to crypt. It follows their envoys on earth, now in human form and attempting to capture a toddler who they believe to be the Chosen One––whose mere presence makes them bow down like bodies in rigor mortis. There are blasé beheadings with lightsabers, a group of men on Boulonnais horses who call themselves the Knights of Wain, and, for no apparent reason, the commandant (Bernard Pruvost) and lieutenant (Philippe Jore) from P’tit Quinquin.”
See the trailer below.
