My Policeman

I can hardly believe the 6.8 rating on here for this wonderful life long romance journey. The screenplay is brilliant - but perhaps some people marked it down because in fact its not just fiction.

Similar stories have continued for generations. The story of forbidden love and conformity collide together in this surprising piece of excellent work.

The (surprising) cast (young and older) were all excellent in this forbidden love triangle. This story is not make believe; whilst I am not saying the storyline is common - I am saying its not unusual for those times. Perhaps less so these days.

The low score on here surprises me - considering much higher scores are given to series/films that are complete codswallop.

Give it a go - but its not for the bigoted or squeamish.

SPOILER ALERT: there are no gun chases/Shoot outs not car chases.

My Policeman is the story of a love triangle between two men and a woman, and a forbidden love between the two men in 1957 in Britain. There are two sets of actors who play the older and younger versions of the characters. They were all good, but I particulary liked the excellent young cast. Young Tom, (Harry Styles), is a hunky, rookie policeman; young Marion, (Emma Corrin), is a teacher; young Patrick, (David Dawson), Tom's lover, is a museum curator. The camera loves certain people; Harry Styles is one of those people. He played Tom with a disarming innocence.

The story time jumps between 1999 - 2000, when the Tom and Marion are retired and Marion takes Patrick in to help him heal after he had a stroke, and 1957 - 1958 when the three meet. In 1999, Tom does not want Patrick in his house and refuses contact with him. Much of the story is relayed through flashbacks as Marion reads Patrick's diary. It's disturbing to watch the judgment and violence that gay men had to endure in 1950s America. The relationships are well developed, nuanced, and complex. I liked the film.

I've not read the book this is based on, so I'm torn if this is actually something of value or just a film version of something similar to a 1950's paperback type novel about "forbidden love." Somehow it has the feel of both. One thing it does have is a miscast actor as the pivotal character in this love triangle between two men and a one woman. Harry Styles showed a lot of potential in his small role in Dunkirk and he is not terrible here at all, but he totally lacks any sort of gravity or depth necessary for this role. He's a novice and it shows. Somehow the film is still interesting despite that. It's a three character film played by six actors in two different time periods, the late 1950's and the early 2000's. The other five all give fine performances of which I appreciated Gina McKee the most. This is very well directed, though it is not exactly an original storyline, but it still has relevancy and it is also a reminder of just how far gay rights have come since those horrid times not that many years ago. This is ultimately a sad story of three people who were never able to have the lives they wanted, most of that society's fault, some their own. There are some good old songs used to great effect here and the whole film has an appropriate mood. It's flawed, but I still admire some of it even if it might be similar to a 1950's forbidden love paperback.

Convenient set of diaries to facilitate the story moving back in time to the 1950s. I think the scenes depicting Brighton mid 20th century seemed very authentic. Homosexuality at that time was a crime. It must have been quite common in same sex relationships for one (or both) to marry some one of the opposite sex in order to hide their preferred sexuality. This film tells the story of 3 people and such a marriage in a very sensitive and credible way. Quite a thought provoking film contrasting how homosexuals were thought of and treated mid 20th century with present day. The story is told through Marian reading Patrick's diaries of the 1950s. Both she and he love Tom (My Policeman). If I have any criticism it would be that I felt Tom's perspective of having the love of 2 people and how this affected him was not depicted. I'm left wondering about the missing years in the film was he remorseful, was he a good husband ? Did Tom and Marian have the children they so desired ?

Brokeback Mountain perfected the tragically doomed period gay love story and "My Policeman" borrows more than a few beats from the original masterpiece. Emma Corrin is basically a more naive and developed version of Michelle Williams's character, both remarkable in each part to be fair.

The whole thing has a sightly deja-vu feeling and is classic to a fault. I guess this explains the bad reviews but, truth is, this is an absolutely fine film. It certainly didn't deserve all the hate especially compared to that other and really terrible Harry Styles vehicule. Here his soft spoken acting perfectly fits the blunt straightforwardly straight character. The harsh selfishness of youngTom is the most fascinating and refreshing element of the film.

My Policeman uses the traditional biographic structure of back and forth timelines to great results. The idealism of the 50s sequences full of gorgeous arts, elegant flats, cosy countryside and rapturous love is in stark contrast with the gloomy grey suburban present days. It is true than the movie would have benefited from a more balanced use of the present time rather than just being the obvious reminder of a world of redemption and social progress.

But My Policeman is gripping as an exploration of the dark places romance can put us through.