My Policeman

Greetings again from the darkness. This is one of those prestige movies that simply isn't as important as it portends to be. That doesn't mean it's unwatchable, only that it lacks the emotional weight and depth to which it strives. Director Michael Grandage (GENIUS, 2016) is working from a script that Ron Nyswaner (PHILADELPHIA, 1993) adapted from the 2012 book by Bethan Roberts ... itself inspired by the true story of writer EM Forster.

The film employs a familiar structure, alternating between the 1950s and 1990s, utilizing two sets of actors playing three main characters. Pop star Harry Styles and his handsome face and lush head of hair plays young police officer Tom, who one day at the beach is introduced to the lovely and educated Marion (Emma Corrin, Lady Di in "The Crown"). The two begin spending a good deal of time together with Tom being the perfect 'gentleman', even after an extended courtship. He introduces art-loving Marion to his friend Patrick (David Dawson, ALL THE OLD KNIVES, 2022), a museum curator who has many common interests with Marion ... including that of Tom.

The decades-later episodes find Marion (Gina McKee, IN THE LOOP, 2009) inviting stroke victim Patrick (Rupert Everett) to convalesce at the seaside village home she shares with long-time husband Tom (Linus Roche, BATMAN BEGINS, 2005). What we learn is that Marion has done so out of guilt and Tom is not happy with her for doing so, and completely avoids his long-ago friend by taking an inordinate number of walks with his dog along the shoreline. If the two time periods aren't enough for us to understand these relationships, older Marion begins reading Patrick's diaries from those past years and learns the details of what she suspected all along. This cruel invasion of privacy goes far beyond the doubts her younger self had when she saw the portrait of Tom that Patrick drew, or the time Patrick hired Tom as an assistant on art excursion to Venice.

The film opens with Dean Martin crooning his classic, "Memories are Made of This", and while it may be an obvious precursor to what we are to watch, it's always a pleasure to hear Dean on a modern sound system. The three characters navigate (quite poorly actually) a messy taboo triangle of love, passion, and deceit, making for a mostly sad story from all angles. It may stress the 1950's attitudes toward sexual preferences, but mostly it shows how the past is always present ... always hovering, even over once-close friendships and loves.

The film opens in select theaters on October 21 and on Prime Video on November 4, 2022.

This film was so much more than I was expecting! It's a beautiful story and the chemistry between the younger characters was fantastic.

This is a beautiful reminder of how far we have come and a shocking reminder of how things used to be in the 1950s

The intimacy scenes were wonderful and tastefully shot. From early on you can feel the spark and tension between Tom and Patrick.

David Dawson is a brilliant Patrick and Harry styles did a great job with Tom. Emma corrin was wonderful as always.

My only criticism is I didn't recognise the older characters to be a good fit. They didn't seem to embody the characters as the younger actors.

All in all a great movie which left me in tears.

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.

Not reading the book, being interested by music of Harry Stiles and admiring Rupert Everett, it is just easy to not ignore this movie.

The expectation - maybe influenced by Firebird by Peeter Rabane. Sure, different context but same spider webb of intolerance .

The film is just gifted. Good acting, fair story, seductive images.

But you can not feel the tension , emotions and the deepness of the inner fights of characters.

So, you have one verdict - a beautiful film. But the connections are too fragile and you feel entire story as exterior one .

But it works.

And the delicate bitterness remains a precious gift from Michael Grandage.

Harry Styles helped me propose to my girlfriend in October of 2014, so its hard for me not to be partial to him. Went into this movie having no idea what it was about and I'm glad. I will say that although Styles' acting skills have improved greatly, he was still outshined by his cast mates. There were times where his emotions came across as disingenuous and flat, but also times where I could tell that he's been working on his chops. Now, not knowing what I was going into, I must say I was quite surprised at some of the moments in this movie. There were a couple of things I wish they had conveyed better, such as the time between the 50s and 90s. I felt like there was big gap missing and I was left wondering what happened or how they lived their lives out between those years. I would recommend this to most of my friends, although I know some would cringe at the "love making" scenes. I, personally, was not put off by this and found it quite romantic at times, although Patrick did come across as pushy and off putting many times, almost creep like. In the end, I really enjoyed the film and look forward to seeing many more from Harry Styles. He's only going to improve.