The Empire

Anyone expecting a conventional sci-fi epic that ticks all the expected boxes may be frustrated, even a little puzzled by L’Empire, but it’s their loss. The film contains all those expected boxes, and it’s just that writer-director Bruno Dumont has taken a number of instantly recognisable genre tropes and reassembled them in an unexpected way.

Much of the plot is literally explained by various intergalactic factions at the start of the feature, which is convenient, although the specifics aren’t hugely important. It’s good to get it out of the way though. The evil Zero forces are waiting for the prophesied destroyer (presently a rosy-cheeked toddler) to grow up so he can get on with destroying the world. They’re regularly foiled by the Ones, who alternate between wanting to kidnap or murder the child. However, these Zeroes and Ones are all extraterrestrials disguised as humans, having taken over the bodies of unsuspecting villagers in picturesque Normandy.

These villagers are not very observant, since they barely notice massive spacecraft whizzing overhead, incognito aliens regularly kneeling to their galactic overlords, not to mention the occasional laser sword skirmish that Disney’s copyright lawyers might be looking into. Aside from a few sequences taking place in space (with impressive visual effects), the entire movie unfolds in a small coastal village, where everyone is hot and bothered; with varying degrees of enthusiasm about the upcoming final battle between good and evil.

The evil Zeros in their flying space palace are represented as gelatinous dark blobs, ruled by Beelzebub (French acting legend Fabrice Luchini, having a tremendous time). They’re evil for the sake of being evil, and make it look more fun than the virtuous Ones in their flying space church, who are beams of white light. Their queen (Camille Cottin from Call My Agent) is fascinated and amused by humanity, and yes, it’s all quite probably a religious metaphor dressed up as charmingly strange French sci-fi. The symbolism isn’t subtle.

L’Empire is chaotic without being messy and is beautifully bewildering fun. It’s also nice to see an epically-scaled sci-fi film that’s self-contained, instead of being the first instalment of an attempted franchise. That being said, more please!

Oliver Johnston

The Empire does not have a UK release date yet.

Read more reviews from our Berlin Film Festival 2024 coverage here.

For further information about the event visit the Berlin Film Festival website here.