- Directed by Michael Grandage
- From a book by Bethan Roberts
- Starring
- Harry Styles
- Emma Corrin
- David Dawson
- Linus Roache
- Gina McKee
- Rupert Everett
I have to commence by saying I had a lot of difficulty watching this film. I finally completed it over three separate sittings. It tells the story of three people over a 40-year period. I have never met three such distressing people in a film before. Generally, each character will have a redeeming feature, however small, but in this film the characters have no redeeming features at all.
I always thought an actor, if playing a disagreeable character, should look for, at least one noble quality to insert into his/her portrayal. Not so here.
Everybody probably knows by now that the storyline concerns a same sex relationship between two men, one of whom is a policeman and his older lover, an art gallery curator/artist. It commences in the 1950s when such practices were jailing offences.
Well, at least we know who wears the handcuffs in this relationship
The policeman marries a young schoolteacher, Emma Corrin, but she is well aware of the fascination he has for the artist, particularly, as the artist keeps appearing in their honeymoon cottage after their wedding, when they should be discovering each other’s art treasures. Things come to a head when the two men have their ‘Death in Venice’ moment and it’s all downhill from there-on in. The art curator is caught out and jailed, the policeman gives up his police career and takes on odd jobs, and the teacher continues to teach.
Like that scene from "Ferris Bueller's Day off", but grumpier.
Fast forward to the 1990s and the teacher and the policeman are still together. This I find highly implausible; she could have made a good life for herself as a teacher and met any number of men. The policeman of the title is a total wreck and seems to do nothing but walk his dog along the foreshore, and the wife brings home the incapacitated artist [yes, the same one who went to jail] and installs him in their marital home and commences to care for him.
Are you still with me, dear readers?
One would like to comment on the acting. All I can say is the six people involved probably did exactly what the director asked of them, in that respect they are probably all very good.
It’s just that the characters are so horrible one doesn’t care if they are good or bad. I mean, Gina McKee is a fine actress, and she is playing a horrible character, and she does it very well. Linus Roach, who’s first film ‘Priest’ had a similar story line, but in that one he had a redeeming feature and you wept for him at the climax. Not so here. I wouldn’t care if he and the dog walked off the end of the pier. Emma Corrin does what she has to do well. But, once again, her character carries a most horrific secret, that when it is revealed any sympathy you had for her disappears.
David Dawson and Rupert Everett, flesh out the artist. Once again, I suppose it’s good, but did it have to be so over the top?
And then to cap it all off, Gina McKee packs her bags and leaves in a taxi, waving her hand in the breeze, something she should have done 40 years before. She leaves My Policeman to care for the artist and it appears he will do that very well. Is this the redemption I was looking for?
"Having wasted my life caring for you, I shall now bid you adieu. Here. On this non-wheelchair-accessible beach. Toodleoo!"
I’m sorry to sound so cynical, but I have read rave reviews for this film, and I don’t know why people are applauding it. [Could it perhaps be ‘The Power of the Dog’ of 2022?]
I had to have a long hot shower, with lots of suds, when I finally completed my viewing.
[Les Miserables – c 1950-1990]
Star Rating: 2/5 [Tried to give it 3/5, but just couldn’t!] [Tried to give it 3/5, but just couldn’t!]