Quartile rating: 6.5/10 · 1 rating
On Quartile, My Policeman scores 6.5/10 across five categories — strongest on Plot (Above Average), weakest on Novelty (Below Average).
In the late 1990s, the arrival of elderly invalid Patrick into Marion and Tom’s home triggers the exploration of seismic events from 40 years previous: the passionate relationship between Tom and Patrick at a time when homosexuality was illegal.
My Policeman tells a structurally familiar forbidden-love story across two timelines, with the period setting and gay theme handled competently but without great distinction. The acting is earnest — Harry Styles receives mixed notices for emotional range, while Emma Corrin and David Dawson fare better — but the ensemble never quite elevates the material. Cinematography is handsome and period-appropriate without being visually inventive. The dual-timeline romance between a closeted policeman and a museum curator in 1950s Brighton is emotionally resonant but well-trodden territory, offering little that hasn't been explored more powerfully elsewhere (e.g., Brokeback Mountain, Maurice). The ending, meant to be cathartic, feels muted and somewhat unsatisfying, leaving threads unresolved in a way that reads more as incompleteness than deliberate ambiguity.