Despite the impeccable credentials, good looking leads, spot-on period details and heart-wrenching love stories, Michael Grandage’s adaptation of a famous novel is an inexplicable slog
Despite the impeccable credentials, good looking leads, spot-on period details and heart-wrenching love stories, Michael Grandage’s adaptation of a famous novel is an inexplicable slog
In spite of all his impeccable credentials, watching my cop is an inseparable slogan. For his second feature, renowned theater director, Michael Grandage chose Bethan Roberts’ 2012 novel of the same name. That the screenplay is written by Ron Niswaner, with Oscar, BAFTA and Primetime Emmy Award nominations under his belt, builds plodding momentum. my cop even more inexplicable.
my cop
Director: Michael Grandage
Cast: Harry Styles, Emma Corinne, Gina Mackie, Linus Roche, David Dawson, Rupert Everett
Story: The Difficulties of a Love That Shouldn’t Be Named in Brighton, 1950s
Run Time: 113 Minutes
Set in two timelines – the present and 1950s Brighton – my cop Tells the story of Tom (Harry Styles), a policeman who falls in love with Patrick (David Dawson), a gentle museum curator. Also, he is dating a sweet school teacher, Marion (Emma Corinne). When his boss tells him that bachelors don’t go far in their careers, he decides to marry Marion.
As a policeman, Tom’s decision to marry Marion may also have been informed by the widespread homophobia of the time – homosexuality was legalized in England and Wales in 1967.
In the present, Patrick (Rupert Everett) has a stroke and Marion (Gina Mackie) brings him home to live against Tom’s (Linus Roche) wishes. As Marion reads Patrick’s diary, we learn of their doomed love stories.
There is great scope for love, longing and his jealous sister, resentment, my cop– none of these admittedly beautiful frames come through. There has also been some study about the framing and dialogues, which doesn’t help the film.
“Taste is simply knowing how something makes you feel,” Patrick tells Tom, then asks him how they make him feel in front of a Turner painting. Later, when Tom brings Marion to the museum for a guided tour with Patrick, the three stand solemnly in front of the painting. And in case we didn’t get it the first time, we are brought back to the scene with Tom and Patrick taking a meaningful look behind Marion’s back. Ditto for the opera scene.
The acting doesn’t help the film either. Only Dawson is arresting as he seamlessly switches between sophistication, desire, hurt, and hunger. Corinne remains in Lady Diana mode revealing nothing below her limits and shining beyond a certain slyness. Genres, whose character’s motivations are the most complex, don’t seem to communicate the layers.
my cop, while not toe-twisting bad, not mind-blowing or even all-round vanilla. It’s a cipher, like its lead actor.
My Policeman is currently streaming on Amazon Prime Video