My Policeman: A love story that highlights the heart-wrenching tragedy of wasted time

Love can be all-consuming and My Policeman is proof of that. Based on Bethan Robert’s 2012 novel of the same name, Michael Grandage’s second feature film tells the story of three friends – a school teacher, a policeman, and a museum curator – who find themselves caught up in the middle of a harrowing love triangle in a very complicated 1950s Britain.

Featuring a star-studded ensemble of young and veteran actors to play the romantic trio in different stages of their lives, My Policeman is a film that, despite its structural flaws, manages to convey a universal message of love, regret, longing, and forgiveness. 

If we had to sum up the film very quickly, we would say it is a gripping yet devastating love story that manages to encapsulate not only the pain that LGBTQ+ people have gone through living in homophobic societies but also the heart-wrenching tragedy of wasted time.

My Policeman had its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) on September 11 and at the 66th London Film Festival this past weekend (October 15). Ahead of its streaming release on Prime Video on November 4, the film is set to be heading to selected theaters across the US beginning October 21.

Here at Q+, we had the opportunity to see the film at a press screening earlier this month, and as you may have guessed, we have a lot to say about it. So join us as we share all our thoughts on Amazon’s My Policeman.

My Policeman: two stories in one

Jumping back and forth between two different timelines, My Policeman kicks off in the 1990s with the arrival of a stroke-stricken and physically disabled Patrick (Rupert Everett) at Marion (Gina McKee) and Tom’s (Linus Roache) home in the seaside town of Brighton. Tom is visibly unhappy and upset with Marion’s decision to aid Patrick in his time of need. He doesn’t know what his wife’s motives are – to really help Patrick or to punish him for what happened in the past.

This complicated and at times confusing dynamic between the three main characters in the future underlies the film’s premise, inviting audiences to put the pieces together and try to understand what happened between Tom (Harry Styles), Patrick (David Dawson), and Marion (Emma Corrin) 40 years ago that has them all in this tense and awkward situation four decades later.

It is through a series of flashbacks, that screenwriter Ron Nyswaner – best known for his work on the 1993 drama Philadelphia – attempts to give us the full picture. First using Marion’s own memories of the time they spent together in their youth. And then through Patrick’s own recollection of the events, which he documented in a series of diaries that he brought with him and that Marion, in an effort to better understand what transpired between them all, starts to read.

Although Nyswaner and Grandage’s intent is clear with a screenplay and direction that are intended to be very character-driven, at times the wobbly pacing and jump between decades paired with the lack of depth in the film seem to work against them, making parts of My Policeman feel lacking and disconnected. The performances are solid across the board with clear standouts from both sets of actors, but unfortunately, even that fails to help the film rise above conventional tropes. 

A visually stunning painting of forbidden love

Unlike its storytelling, visually My Policeman is flawless. References to art and artists are in all aspects of the film, making us feel as if we were inside a canvas ourselves and raising the aesthetic quality of the film above average. But it is perhaps the tender and delicate approach to the main romance that makes this film worth seeing (or streaming).

Forbidden love stories always have something that manages to push your heartstrings to the limit, and My Policeman is no different. The love that Tom and Patrick have for each other is as beautiful as it is heartbreaking.

“…This love is all-consuming. I pity people who don’t know what it feels like to be this in love.” Narrates Patrick during the film when talking about his love for Tom. And that’s probably all you need to know to guess that My Policeman will break your heart in tiny little pieces and leave you feeling all sorts of emotions at some point down the road.

Being part of the LGBTQ+ community in Britain in the 1950s wasn’t something you could be open about. Before the United Kingdom Parliament passed the Sexual Offences Act in 1967, homosexuality was considered a crime. As many as 1,000 men were locked up in Britain’s prisons every year amid a widespread police clampdown on homosexual offenses.

​​So when Tom meets Patrick and discovers that the man awakens feelings in him that he can’t control, he gets scared – too much is at stake: his career, Patrick’s career…their lives. But despite that, they decide to explore what’s blossoming between them. And although it all remains behind closed doors, it is still beautiful.

They hide what they have in plain sight, passing off their relationship as nothing more than a close friendship. They begin a romance that by its very nature goes against the norms of a society willing to condemn them for who they are and who they love. Tom, influenced by this, even marries Marion in an attempt to start a family, but Patrick remains a part of his life.

We won’t spoil what happens to them, but the best parts of the film come when the conflict between all the parties involved begins to rise and Tom, Patrick, and Marion have to face the realities and complexities of the world they live in.

The love story in My Policeman, as passionate, devastating, and intense as it is, gives way to an emotional melodrama that invites us to remember the many love stories that couldn’t be or were destroyed by homophobic laws that unfortunately still existed not so long ago. 

Tom and Patrick’s once-intense love affair is a clear reminder that LGBTQ+ rights have been fought for tooth and nail around the world for years. And that although change has been made, sadly it hasn’t come equally to all members of our community and many around the world still face threats of violence and death simply for existing.

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My Policeman is in theaters in the US starting October 21 and will arrive worldwide on Prime Video on November 4. Follow us on Twitter and Instagram for all queer stuff.