{"id":24783,"date":"2022-10-28T16:23:56","date_gmt":"2022-10-28T14:23:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.radiotimes.com\/?p=1730016"},"modified":"2022-10-28T17:11:10","modified_gmt":"2022-10-28T15:11:10","slug":"my-policeman-review-a-poignant-story-with-some-weak-performances","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/rss_feed\/my-policeman-review-a-poignant-story-with-some-weak-performances\/","title":{"rendered":"My Policeman review: A poignant story with some weak performances"},"content":{"rendered":"

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By Patrick Cremona\n \t\t<\/p>

Published: Friday, 28 October 2022 at 12:00 am<\/p>

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<\/div> 3.0 out of 5 star rating<\/span> <\/span> <\/div> <\/div>

By Jayne Nelson<\/strong><\/p>\n

When Bethan Roberts wrote the novel My Policeman<\/a> in 2012, her story was based, loosely, on a real-life love triangle: author EM Forster\u2019s relationship with a married police officer, and the effect it had on the man\u2019s unsuspecting wife. But her book \u2013 and by extension, this film \u2013 also functions as a history lesson.<\/p>\n

My Policeman details the shocking hatred directed towards homosexuals in 1950s Britain, an era in which being \u2018outed\u2019 could result in a prison sentence. By casting former One Direction heart-throb Harry Styles as the lead, director Michael Grandage has found a canny way to draw in and educate new generations about our shameful history.<\/p>\n

The story opens in the sleepy seaside town of Peacehaven in the 1990s. Marion (Gina McKee) receives a bedridden invalid into her gloomy home, becoming his carer despite the unspecified objections of her husband, Tom (Linus Roache). Robbed of speech by a stroke, the patient, Patrick (Rupert Everett), seems angry and uncomfortable.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s all very mysterious: why is he there? Marion doesn\u2019t seem to like him much. Worse, Tom refuses to even look at their visitor; instead, he spends hours away from the house, furiously walking his dog. (Kudos goes to Roache for somehow making \u2018strolling by the sea\u2019 look like a declaration of war.)<\/p>

The answers lie in the past. We leave the claustrophobic, dreary house to flash back to colourful Brighton in 1957. Emma Corrin \u2013 who played Princess Diana in The Crown<\/a>, with the same doe-eyed vulnerability on display here \u2013 is the younger Marion. She\u2019s dating a dashing policeman named Tom (Harry Styles, trying his best but out of his depth). Marion is in love, but is confused about how Tom feels in return: does he like her or not?<\/p>\n

Tom then introduces her to his friend Patrick (David Dawson), a museum curator who\u2019s been educating him in the joys of art and culture. As Patrick becomes a huge part of their lives, Marion starts to sense that perhaps the two men are closer than is prudent. It\u2019s a feeling that worsens when she eventually marries Tom, but Patrick still insinuates himself into their lives \u2013 even taking her husband on a trip to Venice, alone.<\/p>\n

Back in the \u201990s, the older Marion finds Patrick\u2019s diaries from that era and we get confirmation that he and Tom were indeed in love. Their sex scenes are handled delicately by both the script and the director, but this section focusing solely on the men is also where the film starts to come undone.<\/p>\n

Dawson is excellent as the refined, worldly Patrick, but Styles\u2019 acting skills simply aren\u2019t on the same level. It\u2019s most noticeable when he\u2019s forced to play \u2018drunk\u2019\u2026 the downfall of many an accomplished actor, let alone a man still learning his craft. As a result, what should be a sensitive, passionate love story between two characters occasionally lacks conviction.<\/p>\n