MY POLICEMAN Movie Review **SPOILER ALERT** 

Well said, thx.

Beautiful ❤

@@selenecelestial6039 I posted when I received the notification that the video would be up, in advance.

I agree! 👏🏾 well said!

Very insightful comment.

I see the exact opposite. Tom is the selfish man who dragged an innocent woman into his closet and went on to have a relationship behind her back . Tom could have stayed single like David but chose not to. Marion's actions were out of desperation and dejection faced. She felt betrayed by Tom and David who were robbed of her potential real love she could have had with someone else. Divorced women was a stigma back then. She kept silent even after she finds out the truth but reached a breaking point when David selfishly rubbed their homosexual relationship on her face by sending her postcard of their Paris vacation as a mockery. Paris was a dream place Marion wanted to visit with Tom which she shared with David before marriage. It was the sense of betrayal which led to Marion's actions. I empathize with her. Tom was the manipulative one

shaynalynn431 I broadly agree with you, but it was not just a question of Tom accepting himself - it was the knowledge, especially as he was a policeman and knew the law, that in accepting himself, he would be a criminal,. What he wanted, and needed could land him in prison. Imagine living with that knowledge. We saw how Patrick was treated in prison - Tom would have got it worse, because prisoners see policeman as "the enemy". It is not surprising there were so many suicides, even in professions where homosexuality was broadly accepted.

I take her side too. She was lied to by tom and Patrick to an extent. To think she wanted children...

I was on her side until she went ahead and did that instead of confronting them about it.

It’s certainly interesting to see gay men who weren’t alive even close to this time frame comment. As someone who came of age a decade later, I absolutely get Tom. I understand the motivations and actions. Not that I cheated or would have but lots of gay men and lesbians were torn like that. Most people don’t know what it was like to come of age in the 50s and 60s and even the 70s.

@@nightwishisthegreatestband6355 okay, she was lied to, but did she need to report the guy to the fucking police??? He was lucky he wasn't killed with all the abuse he suffered, the prison isn't just a walk in the park, also at that time a lot of people considered gay man worse than any other criminal, to reconstruct your life after that is almost impossible. So, yeah, she was lied to, but she could've get out of it, meanwhile Patrick will never be the same after all the trauma.

@@amandalopes3048 I’m with you! I’m so surprised at how this is so glossed over. I consider this an act of violence. She couldn’t hurt Patrick herself, so she called in the authorities to do it. Even when she confessed to Tom, she said she felt bad but still had to point out that she was lied to. That does not justify her actions. Also notice how She still had to make sure she left that wedding picture on the dresser in the opening scene. Also-- that time jump leaves me so confused. So did Marion just kinda stalk Patrick for years, keeping tabs on his whereabouts? Cuz Tom was too busy burying his feelings.

Read the book. You’ll get more insight.

@@monk3yboy69 😒 That goes without saying, but we’re talking adaptation.

I agree with your point but what about wife’s responsibility? She saw the men having an intimate moment, yet she chose to turn a blind eye to the situation. Why didn’t she take responsibility and leave the relationship?

@@curtismichael4703 Because Marion loves Tom and thinks she can change him as she is brainwashed by society, plus divorce is very frown upon during that time period. But I agree she should of stopped lying to herself and left the relationship decades sooner than she did.

I think 99.9% of the time, a woman will stay with her husband despite infidelity. Whether it’s because of children or just plain economics, I think we (especially other women) shouldn’t vilify women for that choice.

She didn't do something dtupid. She did something dangerous and violent. Even evil. She could have packed her bags and given herself a chance at happiness.

I agree, and this is particularly evident when Tom is in the car… these guys can be strangely insufferable at times 🥴

he's a cop though

@@MadailinBurnhope after everything I said you reduce his character to this?

It’s an opinion about a fictional character.🫣

They paralleled the book that expands further and found this to be basic in comparison, rendering the character more shallow, selfishness was way apparent, a perspective that's worth addressing, you can be a victim of times or circumstances yet it doesn't take away from roping others into your struggle.

Aint...I think you expressed some deep, insightful points. There's only one word I'd quibble with.. although you did fully flesh out the actions attached to the word:. Coward. Such a harsh word- to use-- in light of Such an oppressive society. Look at Oscar Wilde.... And-. I haven't seen the movie yet.. But-. I'd assume his career meant something MAJOR to Tom. So the price was Incredibly Steep to choose to Love And- Live Freely??? 🤔😊🤓✌️🌿🌜🏞️

@@anniemack6855 thanks. You’re right - coward is a strong word, maybe unfair. He is justified in his fear.

@@aintnobody3000 ✌️😊🤓😁 Appreciate your comment 🦋💚🌅🏞️

This… all the other comments that try to assign blame are missing the reality of people’s lives back then. I know because I came of age 10-15 years later. It took me until the early 90s to come out.

@@IExpectedBSJustNotThisMuchBS thank you for adding perspective. I have loads of criticism for this book and even more for this movie. Either way, I’m still glad it is sparking discussion about the realities of life in a repressive society.

He literally gets about three lines of dialogue and is in a vegetive state.

@@mattb6704 Sorry, the character of Patrick is not in a vegetative state. Look up what vegetative state means.

redbubble.com

I am too old to be a Harry Styles fan, but I thought he played Tom, with his innocence, guilt and shame very well indeed, and he was brave to play that role. Can you imagine Cliff Richard is his heyday doing it?

That's a fairly common practice for most youtube movie review channels of a certain size. It was common practice for film reviewers for written publications to get advance screenings to get their reviews out early. Since RU-vid is now a popular vehicle for movie reviews they get the same privilege.

Far from Heaven was painful to watch but a great story.

He is a bit tho. He marries for his own safety and for his career knowing he will never love Marion and be the husband she wants. It happened a lot back then and it’s messed up.

It's entertainment. Not everything has to be political

I agree with you. Why does the culture latch onto the tragic queer stories. They feed off our pain and win Oscar’s for it. It’s tiring. I’m not saying these stories shouldn’t be told, but lets also push other naratives forward.

The entire time I was viewing the review, I was thinking that this story sounds very familiar. I’ve seen a movie similar to this one but I couldn’t recall the name of it. I read your comment and you named it! “The Man In The Orange Shirt” I enjoyed that movie but this one sounds like it may not be as good.

I came back her to say that I just watched ‘man in an orange shirt’ and it is very good.

Just watched The Man in the Orange Shirt after reading your comment and have a different perspective. We watch period pieces all the time. Both are period pieces. That they have a marriage in common is no different from all the gay men and women I met at 39 (when I came out) who like me had been married. So marriage and beards or discovering one is gay after marriage (or learning that marriage didn’t arrest same sex desire) would likely figure into many love stories of a period-a long period. The interpersonal dynamics are different in many ways, though both women come to regret thinking they could save their marriages, and expected in some ways. The trauma experienced in the Orange Shirt ends up being generational. The thing they most have in common is the cottage (it’s the same one as far as I can tell). I enjoyed both, including the sweeping romance music of the Orange Shirt, which would have been typical of movies made in that era (a fun nod to the era). I was more moved by My Policeman, however, Likely the acting and because it felt more like a movie theatre movie (I’m sounding like Harry Styles) and less like a made for TV movie like Orange Shirt. Also, I liked that we got to see all of the characters later in life. As someone who lived the repressed desire and effortful denial portions of the story, I personally related more to My Policeman and that also contribute to my liking it more. For me one of the shocking things about My Policeman being set in 1957/58 is that they were 13 years out after fighting a war against fascism and in the UK they were still sending men to prison for sex with other men. The 50s was considered such a modern progressive time by the people living in it. I agree, however, it would have been nice to see a period piece of a male and/or female couple trying to navigate a life through this time period. That’s part of what we’re seeing in the series A League of Their Own.

I don't understand which weird relationship you were in but no woman with dignity want their husband to be involved with anyone

I think My Policeman was written a few years before Man In An Orange Shirt, but there are certainly similarities, not least both of the gay men being in institutions (police and army) where homosexuality was even more despised than in civilian life.

Lol they played this lady and you mad at her?

I agree with you Ben

She was lied to

Yeah - Honestly, I’ve read the book and watched the movie. I don’t really recommend either. yet here I am super-engaged in discussions about it.

@@aintnobody3000 Half way through the book and I recommend the movie over the book.

Having Tom say no at the beginning of their intimate scenes was a bad choice. I don’t know about ‘defile’.. that word carried a lot of weight. I’ll have to think on that. It could be my memory but I don’t remember this aspect in the book. I don’t fault Patrick for continuing to be with Tom though. That really was part of the reality of closeted life in an oppressive society. Obviously not ideal, but he was in love and love was hard to find and never safe in throes days.

I think brendaromero2990 makes an excellent point. When I saw the film, my impression was that Tom was a virgin, and hadn't had sex with a woman, still less a man, and it was his virginity that Patrick wanted to take away. That said, obviously the were both willing.

darren that is I think deeply unfair. "real" actors might have overplayed Tom, and he would have been unbeliveable. Harry Styles gives a naturalistic performance, and is streets ahead of "real actors" like the man who plays "Steve" in Coronation Street. I just single him out as an especially egregious example of bad acting - there are many others.

Speak for yourself