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My Policeman Review: Conventional Drama Is Still Emotionally Effective [TIFF]
Directed by Michael Grandage from a screenplay by Ron Nyswaner, My Policeman, adapted from the book by Bethan Roberts, is a story filled with pain, heartbreak, and regret. While it veers into melodrama territory and doesn’t explore its characters any more than it has to in order to make its point, My Policeman pulls at the heartstrings as it explores a tangled relationship between Tom and Patrick, a gay couple, and the woman the former married. It could have dug a lot deeper into its story and characters, some of which lack proper development, but while the love triangle drama is conventional, it will resonate with audiences nonetheless.
Set primarily in Brighton during the 1950s, Tom Burgess (Harry Styles), a policeman, meets and falls in love with Patrick Hazelwood (David Dawson), a museum curator. They carry on their relationship while Tom marries Marion Taylor (Emma Corrin), a schoolteacher who suspects that Patrick might be gay and is influencing Tom. Decades later, Patrick (Rupert Everett) is revealed to have had a stroke. Marion (Gina McKee) takes him in, caring for Patrick while trying to convince Tom (Linus Roache) that he should speak with his former lover. The past and present collide in a film that highlights the complicated relationships at its center and the past traumas they must all deal with.
Harry Styles is charming as younger Tom, though his performance doesn’t quite reach the levels of emotional depth needed to explore his character beyond the surface. The scene stealers here are certainly David Dawson as the young, passionate, and witty Patrick and Gina McKee, whose older Marion is trying so desperately to make amends, but is at her wit’s end trying to get through to her husband. Their respective performances offer so much longing, emotion, and empathy. It would have been so easy to paint Marion as a villain, but the script offers insight into her actions, and McKee delivers her final speech with so much heart, gusto, and frustration that one cannot help but feel sorry for her to some extent. The same goes for Dawson, who imbues Patrick with so much vulnerability. His performance is magnetic, infused with an abundance of charisma, sadness, love, sensitivity, empathy, and strength. The audience won’t be able to take their eyes off him.
My Policeman depicted how difficult it was to be gay in the United Kingdom in the 1950s. The passage of time allows the audience to see how much things have changed, but also how much shame and guilt can still plague the lives of queer people who suffered through such heinous laws and mistreatment (and still do to some extent). There is a lot of regret and anger that permeates the film, and it brings the tension between the trio of characters to a boil. But there is also joy, though short-lived, at having found the love of one’s life. The latter is just as crucial to include in a film laced with so much pain and emotional suffering. For a while, Tom and Patrick are happy; it’s a feeling that sustains Patrick at least for the remainder of his life.
The film’s biggest crime is that it waits too long for any real closure. The characters and their relationships with each other suffer because of it, leaving some of the depth that would have benefited them behind for a devastating ending that is so gut-wrenching it will no doubt leave many emotional. To that end, Marion and Patrick are written with more depth than Tom, who gets the short end of the stick because he would rather not express his emotions and avoids a number of hard situations out of discomfort. It leaves the audience wanting more from him, and he doesn’t fully get his big moment until the very end, which hinders Linus Roache’s performance especially because it neglects much of his perspective. The older Tom is still angry with himself, but there could have been more done to address aspects of his shame and regret.
And while the film could have spent more time exploring its central characters, their emotions, actions, and how time has shaped them in the intervening years, My Policeman remains a tender, heartbreaking film that has one of the most devastating and emotional final scenes in recent memory.
My Policeman had its premiere at the 2022 Toronto International Film Festival on September 11. The film releases in theaters October 21 and will be available to stream on Prime Video November 4. It is 113 minutes long and is rated R for sexual content.
