A powerful story of forbidden love, regret, and living as your true self, “My Policeman” is the (reductively) “gay policeman movie starring Harry Styles” that you’ve likely been hearing about for months. While yes, the movie, helmed by British theatre director and producer Michael Grandage (2016’s “Genius”), and written by Ron Nyswaner, based on the book by Bethan Roberts, is that a gay cop love story, it’s also much more complex and moving than that, frankly.
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Likely a sure bet for the fall film festival season and coming to theaters and Amazon in the fall, “My Policeman” is a sweeping, romantic drama and an emotional journey of desire and regret starring Styles, Emma Corrin (“The Crown”) and David Dawson (“All The Old Knives”). Essentially, it’s about a closeted policeman (Styles) who marries a woman (Corrin) –because it’s the 1950s, homosexuality is basically illegal, and it feels like the right thing to do— but is madly in love with a museum creator (Dawson). Flash forward some 40 years into the future, all these characters are reunited, and all the repressed longing is still bursting to get out.
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Here’s the official synopsis:
A beautifully crafted story of forbidden love and changing social conventions, My Policeman follows three young people – policeman Tom (Harry Styles), teacher Marion (Emma Corrin), and museum curator Patrick (David Dawson)– as they embark on an emotional journey in 1950s Britain. Flashing forward to the 1990s, Tom (Linus Roache), Marion (Gina McKee), and Patrick (Rupert Everett) are still reeling with longing and regret, but now they have one last chance to repair the damage of the past. Based on the book by Bethan Roberts, director Michael Grandage carves a visually transporting, heart-stopping portrait of three people caught up in the shifting tides of history, liberty, and forgiveness.
Co-starring Gina McKee, Linus Roache, and Rupert Everett as the older version of these characters, “My Policeman” is produced by The CW super-producer Greg Berlanti, along with Sarah Schechter, Robbie Rogers, Cora Palfrey, and Philip Herd.
While Berlanti’s association gives pause,(the CW superhero stuff is generally pretty terrible), this looks like a more grown-up and mature project that will likely disassociate itself from that cringey YA fare. Amazon Studios will distribute “My Policeman” in U.S. & UK theaters on October 21, 2022, and Prime Video globally on November 4, 2022. Before that, the film makes its world premiere soon at the Toronto International Film Festival. Watch the first trailer below.