As with most mainstream films dealing with the subject of homosexuality the subject itself overwhelms the film's content. It happened with 'Brokeback Mountain' and 'Call Me by Your Name' and this one too is full of deadening sorrow and dare I say it, pity. The acting I found variable. Out of the cast I found Harry Styles (Tom) and also Linus Roache, as the older Tom, being the main object of attraction, good. The story without giving away spoilers is fairly simple. It is set in two eras and using basic mathematics one is the late 20th C and the other is the late 1950's. A young woman falls for a policeman and marries him, but there is also a man who falls for him. The film fluctuates between the two eras and Brighton and its nearby coastline are the settings. Out of this entanglement we see a society filled with homophobia and cruelty, both physically and mentally. One scene set in prison and a vicious attack on a gay man appalled me and thankfully the UK has moved on. I tried to believe in the relationships but found the plodding direction boring and well-meaning, trying too hard to convince the audience that love is love despite the BIG subject of same sex orientation. To sum up - a strangely old-fashioned film. I thought of 'Victim' and Dirk Bogarde in the 1960's crying out to his wife, 'I WANTED him' and the pity and the shame of it all. A 5 for some of the acting.
Review of My Policeman
