What Is the Story About?
Set in 1950s Brighton, My Policeman follows a gay policeman, Tom Burgess who marries school teacher Marion Taylor while being in a relationship with Patrick Hazlewood, a museum curator. The secret they share ruins their lives and burdens them with guilt for life.
Performances?
Although the main lead of My Policeman is Harry Styles who plays Young Tom Burgess, he is more or less one of the, if not the worst part of the cast. David Dawson‘s performance as Patrick Hazlewood is the fulcrum of the film. He is probably one of the only reasons why one should watch the film. Emma Corrin plays Young Marion who neither gets a well written part nor gives a good performance surprisingly.
Analysis
My Policeman is based on the 2012 novel of the same name by Bethan Roberts. Michael Grandage directs this romance from a screenplay penned by Ron Nyswaner. The film opens to a very sober seaside home where a bed-ridden and old Patrick is brought to, to be taken care of. An old Marion played by Gina McKee is burdened by a sea of guilt, the very sea that she encounters everyday. There’s Tom, her husband who also seemingly shares a history with Patrick being indifferent to Patrick’s arrival.
The premise is set well. By now we know the trio has some history and are chained by guilt. This is when Marion begins to read Patrick’s diary. The writing places Marion as the audience’ surrogate and we are taken back to late 1950s United Kingdom when homosexuality was illegal. The colour palette of the film’s flashback portions remind you of many yesteryear unrequited romances like The Portrait of a Lady on Fire, Carol, Atonement..etc quite expectedly.
What follows is a very predictable triangular romance between Tom, Marion and Patrick. Tom and Patrick are in love with each other, but as a law enforcer Tom decides to stick by the rules on paper and marries Marion who loves him. Marion openly mushrooms her homophobia and jealousy as she gets to know what has been cooking between her husband and Patrick. Things takes a supposedly drastic turn when the duo gets separated for reasons unknown to them.
As the story unfolds, most of the screen time is taken by Harry Styles, Emma Corrin and David Dawson. What starts off as a melancholic unrequited romance in the first 20 minutes drags itself into a soulless love triangle reminiscent of Netflix Teen romances very quickly. Add to the mix a very unconvincing performance from Harry Styles. He looks great, but that’s about it. He doesn’t have the juice or emotional depth in him to enact a part like this. Especially after watching the likes of Jake Gyllenhaal, Heath Ledger and Adele Haenel put flesh, bone and soul in movies like Brokeback Mountain and Portrait of a Lady on Fire. Styles’ mediocrity becomes even more evident opposite David Dawson, who churns out a heartbreaking performance as Patrick. His longing is in his eyes, his physicality and body-language as tender as a dew-drop. Emma Corrin also surprisingly does a bad job. After a terrific turn in The Crown, she disappoints as Marion with a more stiff and barely organic performance. However, Gina McKee is very good as Older Marion.
That being said, the screenplay is still the biggest villain of My Policeman. It barely moves. It barely has any revelations or elevations to offer. The viewer is fed with many flashback scenes with wattpad level dialogues. Each written with a depth lesser than that of a cardboard. Neither the longing, nor the guilt, nor the agony, nor the love translates well onscreen. Another drastic flaw with the writing is that, it doesn’t try to redeem Marion even when she is placed in the Narrator’s shoes. We know nothing about her. We dont even know if she changed for good. A promising same-sex love story on paper is drastically let down by amateurish writing. There’s no better way to put it and One wouldn’t expect this from Ron Nyswaner who has given us Philadelphia (1993).
To be concise, My Policeman suffers from every flaw there ever could be for a romantic film adaptation. The lead cast disappoints. The screenplay disappoints. The direction disappoints. Things would have been a lot different if the film was more about the older versions of Tom, Patrick and Marion, their guilt, redemption and psyche exploration rather than putting the entire screen time to their flimsy flashback. It also helps because actors who played older versions shared better chemistry with each other unlike their younger counterparts. The cinematography,music and writing desperately tries to deliver a heartbreaking period romance, only for it to end up as a tedious affair.
Other Artists?
Gina McKee plays Older Marion. She acts as the viewers’ surrogate for Tom-Patrick’s story. Unlike Emma Corin, she delivers a fine act in the minimal scenes she’s given. Linus Roache as Older Tom Burgess and Rupert Everett as Older Patrick along with McKee sells the triangular love story more convincingly than their younger counterparts.
Music and Other Departments?
Steven Price’ music is actually good enough. Even an averagely written film could have easily been elevated by some of the tracks used in the film. But sadly that’s not the case. Ben Davis’ camera work is beautiful call-back to the bygone era of heartbreaking period romances, but doesn’t save the film.
Highlights?
Core Story
David Dawson’s performance
Actors who play Older versions
Cinematography
Drawbacks?
Screenplay and Direction
Harry Styles and Emma Corrin’s performances
Characters lack depth
Duration
Did I Enjoy It?
Not Really
Will You Recommend It?
Yes But with huge reservations
My Policeman Movie Review by Binged Bureau
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