5 thoughts on “A Thwarted Romance in My Policeman (2022)

  1. What about poor Marion? I mean yes, it’s terrible that gay lovers couldn’t be open about their feelings for each other but dragging a innocent non-consenting woman in as a Beard is bad too. And cheating is cheating regardless of the genders and inclinations involved.

  2. I really found the film moving (especially the final scene) and I actually really liked Styles in the role – though, of course, I was far more drawn to Patrick as a character. I had so much sympathy for the plight that they both found their relationship put them in. I loved how Venice was such a liberation for them; that they could finally be themselves, which was something of an impossibility in 50’s Britain where suppression of their real selves was not only preferable but a necessity for survival. I must note that I also found myself thinking of Brideshead in the Venice scenes, gondola rides and such, which I am certain was no accident. It really made me realise that I have grown up with great privilege in the age I grew up in. I was able to come-out and truly be myself at the age of fifteen and have been happily married to my husband for nine years. But we still have so far to go, especially in regard to the Trans community at present and I believe stories such as those of Oscar Wilde and Quentin Crisp need to be told. My Policeman was a well crafted intermingle of many themes around the forced suppression of nature and looking at how society can push people into an iron clad closet. I shall be watching again.

  3. Not too much to say other than this movie was a brilliant queer Love Story! The costumes suited the characters! The costumes aren’t as well done as The Crown or The Marvelous Mrs Maisel,then again they weren’t supposed to be!

  4. Oh, I really, really hate it when costume designers muck about with historic uniforms because “the real thing doesn’t suit the character” and “when you have a young, handsome actor you work with that”. Grr ! No you don’t, you silly cow!

    The design principle behind British police uniforms, right from their beginning in 1929, has always been to project staid, unexciting, absolutely unmilitary authority. It’s not supposed to be dashing or attractive, or emphasise the youthfulness and slim waist of a constable. Just the opposite: the very dark blue (it was and is almost black) heavy fabric and tubular cut of the tunic were meant to give solidity and civilian authority. What Symons created for Styles doesn’t look like a police uniform at all; it’s almost RAF blue, and with that lighter fabric and self-belt he looks more than a fighter pilot than PC Plod! (See here and tell me if I’m not right: https://complete-costumes.co.uk/fancy-dress-images/1069-Men's_1940s_Wartime_RAF_Uniform_Jacket_Chest_36%22_.jpg)

    We’re always saying on this site that accurate costume matters in historical movies precisely because it describes the characters’ status and how that circumscribes what they can do and how they can be. In the case of this story, a realistic police uniform would have very clearly conveyed how this sensitive gay young man was obliged to enact – was literally encased in – mature masculine authority. But for the sake of making Styles into eye-candy, they emptied his working dress of its significance.

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