Its been a while since the I last wrote a film review, mostly because I suck at it. Couldn't bear to read the stuff, after I had written it!
But every once in a while, a film surprises you, and you feel compelled to pen your thoughts. It doesn't necessarily be about the movie either. It could just be a trigger for something inside you to come tumbling out.
I've had My Policeman on the watchlist for a while now - not sure why - I don't read reviews to the end, but usually rely on flashes of comments I see on various websites, or as is the case recently, on Twitter(I refuse to call it X), which in this case left me thinking this was one I would want to watch.
Directed by Michael Grandage, based on the book by Bethan Roberts, "My Policeman" boasts of the extraordinary acting talents of Gina McGee (hadn't seen her since "Four Weddings.."), Linus Roache, David Dawson, Emma Corrin(sent me down a rabbit hole of discovery this one-completely unrecognisable from her take as Cassandra Nova on "Deadpool and Wolverine"), and best of all Rupert Everett, whose name I saw in the opening credits, and didn't realise I was watching till very much later. And yes - the man who the PR was mostly about - Harry Styles.
The plot is simplicity itself - It is the later 1950s. Girl likes boy, isn't sure he likes her, but they are "a couple", then he introduces her to another boy, who also seems to like her, they get on like a house on fire. So far, usual conventional love triangle. Then girl pushes first boy to admit to liking her back, and he promptly kisses her and proposes marriage. Everything is fine and dandy, except for a rather uncomfortable sex life. That, among other things, gets clarified when boy 2 arrives to cook them a wedding dinner, and she later catches both boys kissing in the tool shed.
Flash forward to the present, Boy 2 is now an invalid old man, whom a stroke has rendered without the ability to speak. Irascible, haggard, seemingly on the point of death, he is brought back into the "happy couple"'s lives by the girl, now older woman. Boy, now older man, wants nothing to do with him. These scenes unfold at the beginning of the movie, so the tale is to be told in what else -the flash back.
There are several themes running in the film, and it is remarkable how neatly the story is knit together from patches of love, yearning, life in the late '50s, art, and the social stigma of the "wretched times" for homosexuals. These themes are not new, and they are perhaps expressed in more evocative terms in several earlier movies - but this one felt fresh, new, empathetic, judgmental, non-preachy.
The film however tries to offer the view from the 3 chief characters
Patrick(boy 2) played by Dawson and Everett, becomes the fulcrum around which the film spins. Desperately seeking a way to just live his days, his struggle is only alleviated by the moments he snatches with his lover Boy 1(played by Styles and Roache). He has the best lines in the movie, and at one point when he says - I pity those who dont feel love this way - you cant help wonder if the one to be really pitied (completely wrong word for this) is those who can never own up to the love they feel. the need to live a lie, the need to keep lying, just to keep up an appearance of "normality", to avoid censure and the accusation of being "a pervert". The moments of unabashed love that are few and far between may be worth it in the telling of the story, but you wonder - how much of this tortuous double life - the watching of your love in the arms of another - must chip away at the soul.
"His" policeman Tom is also a complex yet simple character. You recognise in him all the people you knew who lived closeted lives, never came out, seemingly even to themselves. Societal pressures is the reason he latches on to - to his discredit, he marries out of readily available compulsions - his career depended on it. His justifications for simultaneously having his cake and destroying two other lives in the bargain seem lame, but socially acceptable - even to his wife, who can claim the 'most wronged individual' in this equation. His refusal, years later, when times have changed to acknowledge the past, show the sedimentation of cultural tropes deep in his psyche. When he burns his police uniform after Patrick is arrested and punished for his depravity, it feels like an attempt to kill his former, unclean self.
The girl in the equation(yes I know I'm re-using, sorry) is Carol - a schoolteacher looking for love and a simple normal life. Her struggles to maintain the picture perfect marriage go beyond just keeping the husband happy. Even after discovering that her man is in love with another, she perseveres to keep the marriage afloat, convinced she could change her man. This seems more like a device to represent societal reprobates that opined that homosexuality was a disease that could be cured. It also forces an uneasy revelation from a best friend at work coming out as a lesbian. Slightly forced, I thought, but well, the point had to be made. Years later when she rescues Patrick from a care facility, you wonder what she hopes to achieve. The damaged relationships seemed beyond redemption, but perhaps in one unselfish last push, she hoped to bring back the true lovers together - to recompense for the lives (including her own) that she herself was instrumental in putting in harm's way.
I don't know much about scriptwriting, and screenplay, so won't comment on it. I thought the scenes fitted well together, kept me watching without a lot of alt-tabbing (except in that one scene when Tom and Patrick get drunk during the wedding dinner, where I felt myself drifting). The scenery around the seaside of Sussex and the moody landscapes seemed appropriate for the setting and themes. Music too.
The performances were top notch. Styles, Corrin, Roache and McGee are reliably efficient, Styles definitely fit the role like a glove, and Corrin is surely the Foster, maybe even Streep of the future. Rupert Everett, once I emerged from the shock of realising it was him, is brilliant with so little to do in the movie. For me though, the standout performance was from someone I knew nothing about - David Dawson shines in his role - Patrick's courage, his vulnerability, his myriad of emotions, all conveyed with the minimum of fuss. I hope I see more of him in the future.
My Policeman is a movie that can't fail at evoking a response. It is a small, but sharp cry - one that is as important and as relevant as one wants it to be. And I for one, am glad to have listened to it.
