My Policeman

My Policeman

In the late 1990s, the arrival of elderly invalid Patrick into Marion and Tom’s home triggers the exploration of seismic events from 40 years previous: the passionate relationship between Tom and Patrick at a time when homosexuality was illegal.

  • Released:
  • Runtime: 120 minutes
  • Genre: Drama, Romance
  • Stars: Emma Corrin, Harry Styles, David Dawson, Linus Roache, Gina McKee, Rupert Everett, Dora Davis, Kadiff Kirwan, Andrew Tiernan, Jack Bandeira, Tristan Sturrock, Richard Dempsey, Maddie Rice, Róisín Monaghan, Pierre Bergman, Paul Candelent, Sarah Lockett, Ian Drysdale, Joseph Potter, Harry Attwell, James Hare, James Hare-Cole, Richard Cant
  • Director: Michael Grandage
 Comments
  • denkacik - 29 January 2024
    It was lovely movie!
    Even tho is was so sad it was pretty and beatufiul. I watched it because of Harry and it was worth it. The age rating is really too much, it wasnt that bad how i expected. There are few sex scenes but barely something is seen. But there was a lot smoking and drinking but i didnt mind it. It was amazing movie but again really sad how i said. I loved the music writen to it, it has its vibe and i love it, im here for it. But i really loved that even after so many years they got together. It was so heart warming and im proud they could be who they wanted to be. I loved acting, storyline, EVERYTHING.
  • moviesfilmsreviewsinc - 3 August 2023
    Heartbreaking
    Harry Styles' second film of 2022, an adaptation of Bethan Roberts' novel, is a weepy British queer period piece. The film's protagonist, PC Tom Burgess, is portrayed as a tourist awkwardly stumbling upon a movie set. His co-star, Emma Corrin, is hardly better as his stuffy lover, but neither proves themselves as a lead. Styles' inexperience as a leading man in this film is evident, as he stands and speaks awkwardly on the set. The film's youthful talent is a cause for concern, as it is a breathless bore."My Policeman" follows Tom and Marion, now retired, as they navigate their marriage in a seaside town. Their marriage is strained, but they are interrupted by Patrick, their estranged friend. Marion cares for Patrick after a stroke, and Tom refuses to see him, despite his wife's claims that he taught them art. The film's director, Michael Grandage, delivers a strong performance. "My Policeman" tells the story of a couple in 1950s Britain, Marion (Corrin) and Tom (Styles), who meet on a beach. Tom is a humble and working-class man who teaches Marion how to swim, and they start dating. Tom is the opposite of Marion, who is educated and arts-focused. They eventually meet Patrick (David Dawson), a museum curator who knows Tom from being a witness in one of his cases. The trio becomes inseparable, and it seems that Patrick might be attracted to Marion and her. However, they are in a closeted sexual relationship. The messy triangle suggests tension and sympathy for a hopelessly romantic woman who is a victim of two men who are also victims of the country's homophobic laws. However, the trio doesn't fit easily into easy boxes: Tom demands law and order, Marion is homophobic, and Patrick is a friend. The film's lack of chemistry between the actors and Grandage's blocking and editing by Chris Dickens hide Styles' deficiencies. His physical understanding of the character lacks specificity, his line deliveries are monotone, and he doesn't project allure. There is no interiority or charm in anything he does, and even his sex scenes are without bite."My Policeman" is a soporific film with a masterpiece screenplay that tells a gay love story through the elderly Marion, a straight cis-woman adopting Patrick's memories. The script's set-up is intriguing but lacks a coherent vision and a rushed ending. The characters' inner lives are underwritten, making them unmemorable, especially with Marion's flawed personality. The movie is surface-level queer representation lacking visual imagination and begging for better performances. It's a glacially paced movie that tells nothing new and leaves the viewer with no sense of emotion or wonder. The film commits the gravest crimes and is soulless. Michael Grandage's new film, set on a gloomy English seafront, is a delicate and Rattiganesque melodrama of repression and regret. The story follows the aging couple Tom and Marion, who are inspired by the famous ménage between novelist EM Forster, policeman Bob Buckingham, and his wife May. The film features Linus Roache and Gina McKee as Tom and Marion, respectively, who are a former police officer and retired schoolteacher. Tom's dismay is heightened when Marion takes a local resident, Patrick, as part of a volunteer outreach program.
  • sergepesic - 27 February 2023
    "Good old times"
    The good old days were not so good for everyone. Right mold, right gender, right color and the future was all yours. If you happened not to be so lucky... Happily, we live in different times, but they are still dangers on every corner. For every step forward, the outrage of the ever so always wronged ones among us seems to get shriller. All the characters in this crushing story are victims in their own way. Nobody benefitted from this insane oppression. The movie is devastatingly sad, because it has to be. Anything else would be silly and inane. Happy endings are few and far in between. So, good old times be damned.
  • barajasalize - 26 December 2022
    Blimey!
    Jolly good show! Made my fan girl dreams come true. Wattpad set me up for this moment. I watched other movies Harry Styles was in simple for the fact that he was in it, but I actually loved and enjoyed the storyline and characters of this film. Heartbreaking and absolutely amazing. The whole movie I was experiencing every emotion along with the characters. Harry Styles and Emma Corrin performance was so believable and I could feel that heartbreaking connection of being in love for all the wrong reasons. I have run out of things to say and just wanted to see the number of reviews on the tv change.
  • hannahb-56182 - 5 December 2022
    Underwhelming
    The story revolves around three individuals - Marion, Tom, and Patrick - entangled in a love triangle.

    The conflict of the plot, the resolution of the plot, and the plot itself do not divert from this point. There is nothing else this story tells us about but their relationships with one another. It is simple.

    Now, that's not to say that simple stories are not beautiful stories. There are plenty that are terrifically told, that pull at your emotions, and make you feel human again.

    This, is not that.

    The biggest reason this didn't get me emotionally invested is that none of the characters were likable. They all made decisions I don't believe rational people would have made. Honestly, I didn't want any of them to end up with one another in the end.

    Further, I had a hard time believing in the relationships. I didn't sense any natural chemistry with any of the love interests. Not between Tom and Patrick, and certainly not between Marion and Tom. At least when Patrick and Tom were sexually together, their scenes were passionate, but it didn't translate outside of those moments. I didn't have a scene where they were talking or looking at one another, and I truly felt they were infatuated with each other beyond sexual desires.

    Another hardship for me was the resolution of this story. Why did Patrick and Tom wait so long to be reunited? What kept them in this scenario for so long? Why did Marion stay as long as she did in a loveless marriage? Why did Tom beg her to stay in the end? What's the chance that Patrick was sitting around waiting for Tom all these years? Why didn't he move on?

    I had so many questions, and I felt nothing was answered.

    Another question that bothered me was that Tom kept telling Patrick he needed to marry Marion because a man should be married...and have kids. In fact, he brings up the children comment a few times. However, in the later scenes, it's unclear whether they had those kids. So...if they did, where are they? If not, why not?

    To reiterate, it needed to be clearer, it was stagnant, and it could have been more enjoyable. I would recommend it if someone were genuinely interested, but otherwise, I wouldn't.
  • exceladeogun - 25 November 2022
    Could have been better
    Rides on the wings of Emma Corrin and David Dawson, although a better performance from Harry Styles in comparison to his last effort (Don't Worry Darling), but he still fails to bring the complexity and nuance his character begs for. The plot of My Policeman doesn't deliver anything new, and definitely nothing grand, and the genteel approach it's given only hinders it further, stripping it of the emotional core it could have delivered. The gap the alternating time jumps left is also off-putting, it leaves a big wonder as to what the characters were up during that time.

    In summary, My Policeman has the makings of a beautiful movie, but the styling and approach prevent it from getting there.
  • tobermory2-1 - 17 November 2022
    Good but not Great
    I agree wholeheartedly with the reviewers who said they wanted to like this film but came away disappointed-- this was my experience, too. Perhaps being a gay man of a certain age and having gone through my own version of this story, I wanted to see something more, something genuine; and this was not delivered.

    At the root of the movie's shortcomings was what had to have been a directorial decision to dampen down the actors' emotions-- these are exceedingly emotional events and the actors remain uniformly wooden in their actions and especially in their reactions. There is no depth to their feelings, it is as though we, like they in the museum, are looking at a two-dimensional work of art-- powerful, yes, but not real. Isn't it the job of movies like this to seem real?

    Also, the movie was a little too pretty-pretty and, given the theme, this was not appropriate. We see the Brighton seashore, the Royal Pavilion, gorgeous countryside. Why do we not see a landscape more evocative the emotional upheaval these people are living?

    Pacing and music were also a little off-- too much filler of people driving and too much "mood music" from the '50s. You don't realize how intrusive this is until later in the film when it's no longer there and you think, "Well, that's good."

    Finally, even considering all these points, I do recommend the film-- it's about secrets and lies, but they are interesting secrets and lies we all have experienced in some form-- but I don't recommend it highly.