CONTAINS SPOILERS!
Bethan Roberts’s 2012 novel is a devastating story of wasted time in a society “where lives were destroyed by intolerance” - The Guardian. My Policeman follows the lives of Marion and Tom Burgess, a happy suburban couple from Brighton. However, when Tom meets Patrick, a dangerous and secretive relationship develops under Marion’s nose and threatens to tear the dynamic of the entire group apart.
Directed by Michael Grandage, the 2022 adaptation stars Emma Corrin, Harry Styles, and David Dawson (respectively) in the lead roles and closely follows the narrative within Roberts’s book. When interviewed at a recent press conference, Styles said that: “wasted time is the most devastating thing,” underpinning the cruelty of an anti-queer Britain and the hostility that accompanied it. The authenticity and complexity of the relationships within the novel were one of the reasons that I was so excited to watch the film, closely followed by my adoration of Harry Styles which will be mentioned minimally to spare anyone who is reading.
Tom, a policeman in 1950s Britain, falls in love with a schoolteacher (Marion) on the Brighton coast. However, he soon begins a passionate same-sex affair with a museum curator (Patrick), in spite of homosexuality being illegal. Tom and Patrick continue this affair in secret until Marion discovers what has occurred behind her back, consequently reporting Patrick to the police, although the men do not know of her involvement. His arrest also leads to Tom’s expulsion from the police force and ultimately ruins the lives of the whole group.
Years later, Marion’s guilt brings the group together once again as Patrick inhabits their retirement home after suffering a stroke. Throughout the film, we see Marion attempt to forgive herself for her decisions and in the final scenes of the film learn that she is leaving Tom so he can be with Patrick. The men are left alone in the house, able to love freely without persecution and fear, but not forgetting the years they had wasted due to discrimination.
The story is retold using Patrick’s diary entries that were written when he first met the pair and became friends with them both.
Grandage’s use of flashbacks/forwards shows the toll that the trauma has had on each character. As well as seeing the physical aspects of their appearance change with time, we are also presented with a change of character - especially from Tom.
Possibly the most complex character in the story, Tom goes through many stages of development without having time to accept his reality or even grieve when it comes to light and is destroyed. The audience discovers that Tom and Patrick’s relationship is genuine, not just sexual, and witness the devastation of their acknowledgement of secrecy and guilt, especially from Tom, who is married to Marion during this affair. The genuineness of the men’s love for each other contrasts with what appears to be “fondness” (as Tom puts it) between him and Marion.
The dynamic between Marion and Patrick is also a very interesting one to observe whilst watching My Policeman. Marion’s obliviousness to the relationship between her husband and her friend creates a tense atmosphere for the viewer, contrasted with the ease of their friendship. We recognise that Tom is the glue that keeps everyone together and that Marion and Patrick, however similar and suited to each other, would never have become as close as they had if Tom had not been there to entertain them both.
After watching the film I feel a strong sense of animosity towards Marion, however, acknowledgement of her situation within the context of the time period has to be taken into account when judging her character. Whilst there are many other ways in which she could have gone about tackling the situation, she chose probably the most ruinous ones, negatively impacting her too. Her anger is understood, as finding out you’re being cheated on and lied to isn’t an especially joyous revelation, but the lack of remorse for what she did until almost 50 years later is appalling. I would be able to excuse her actions if we had seen her act welcoming to Patrick in the present day, however, putting a wedding photo of you and his ex-lover on the side of your invalid friend’s bed so he has to stare at it every day and be reminded of the life he could have had, is not an act I see as harmless. It shows the bitterness of the entire situation and conveys just how dangerous it was to be queer (openly or not) in Britain during the mid-90s. This danger still exists to some extent today, which is why I believe the film resonated with so many people and drew such an emotional response.
Casting someone as famous as Harry Styles in such an important queer story was a brilliant play from Grandage as the viewership has increased and the story has been watched and interpreted not just by fans, but by the press too. Having a narrative such as this in the mainstream media recently has been amazing; LGBTQ+ stories need to be shared on a larger scale.
The devastation of this film (and novel) will hopefully serve as a lesson to those who perhaps don’t treat everyone with equal respect. Self-discovery and acceptance are nothing to be ashamed of - a lesson that this film shows the impact and importance of.
By Felix Wiseman
Comments