My Policeman

The two parallel storylines in My Policeman follow the same three characters about 40 years apart, with their youthful buoyancy and wide-eyed romanticism of the past yielding ambiguous melancholy and lingering bitterness four decades later.

However, as this handsomely mounted British period drama is destined to meet in the middle, revealing the reasons behind the deterioration, its nonlinear structure contributes to keeping the characters at a frustrating emotional distance.

Deliberately vague in its narrative exposition, the film opens in 1990s Brighton, where the turbulent waves crashing against the shoreline contrast with the muted emotions inside a cottage belonging to retirees Tom (Linus Roache) and Marion (Gina McKee), who are caring for bedridden houseguest Patrick (Rupert Everett). The unspoken hostility between the two men leaves Marion caught in the middle.

We learn why after flashing back to the sun-drenched 1950s, when Tom (Harry Styles) is a young cop who develops a mutual friendship with schoolteacher Marion (Emma Corrin) and art museum curator Patrick (David Dawson), who is a bit older. Tom eventually finds himself romantically attracted to both.

The passionate affair with Patrick evolves into a journey of self-discovery and sexual awakening for Tom, whose charming naivete masks a deep-seeded curiosity.

But considering his job, and England’s strict morality laws at the time, he needs to play it safe. Plus, his affection for Marion is genuine. “A man ought to be married,” he rationalizes. “I’m fond of her. Someday I hope to have children.”

Even after they marry and move away, Patrick schemes to remain in the picture, with the unrequited love and unfulfilled desires driving a wedge into the relationships among all three.

Renowned theater director Michael Grandage (Genius) coaxes expressive performances from his actors in both settings. Yet the film merely skims the surface in exploring their relationship within a broader social context of oppression and intolerance.

Despite some potentially provocative subject matter, the film is too flat to distinguish itself outside of Styles devotees eager to see the singer-actor ambitiously play outside of his wholesome heartthrob image.

The simmering sexual tension creates some intriguing character dynamics in the screenplay by Ron Nyswaner (Philadelphia), adapted from a novel by Bethan Roberts. Unfortunately, more than share in their happiness, My Policeman tends to wallow in their misery.

Rated R, 113 minutes.