A Fan’s Reaction to Harry Styles’ New Movie: “My Policeman”

Spoilers ahead!

Harry Styles has furthered his film career with the romantic drama My Policeman. The story follows a retired couple Marion and Tom, as Marion becomes a caregiver for an old friend who has suffered a stroke, Patrick. Scenes travel between the 1950s and the 1990s as the story of how these characters became present in each other’s lives unfolds. 

In the 1950s, Styles plays young Tom, a policeman who begins a secret affair with a museum curator, Patrick (played by David Dawson). During this time, homosexuality is illegal so the two must keep their relationship private. Tom begins courting a schoolteacher, Marion (Emma Corrin) and introduces Patrick to her as a friend. The three immediately become very close as Tom and Marion’s relationship progresses, and even in marriage with Marion, Tom continues seeing Patrick secretly. They continue this way until Marion catches them in a loving embrace, but Tom and Patrick do not notice her or her growing suspicions and jealousy in the days that follow.

In order to have a romantic trip together, Patrick temporarily hires Tom as his assistant to help him retrieve art from Italy, where they spend their time embracing their relationship as ‘freely’ as possible; they feel they do not have to hide as much since they are away from Marion. When they return, Patrick is soon arrested after an anonymous report to the police accusing him of homosexual activities. Despite this anonymous report being filed by Marion—though she never tells Tom—her guilt pushes her to testify in support of Patrick. However, Patrick’s diary exposes his entire relationship with Tom, and he is sent to prison and Tom is fired from the police force. Tom and Marion remain together, vowing to put the affair behind them.

In the 1990s, Marion takes Patrick in after he has a stroke and needs a full-time caregiver, but Tom is angered by her decision and refuses to see him. By the end of the film, we know that Marion took him in because of guilt and Tom’s refusal to see him is due to his own refusal to acknowledge his sexuality. The film ends with Marion admitting to Tom that she was the one who reported Patrick. She tells him that their marriage was built on lies and that she is leaving him to be with Patrick.

As a longtime fan of Harry Styles, I was looking forward to this movie in hopes that his acting would outdo his performance in Don’t Worry Darling, and it definitely did. This film gave Styles a wider range of emotions to portray, which allowed him more room to grow as an actor. However, there is still plenty of room left for him. While more convincing than in his previous film work—a mere two movies—Styles seems to still be learning. Much of this film was watching him ‘look happy here’ and ‘look angry here’ without much being portrayed in between. Speaking of not much being portrayed in between, the film moves very slowly. This is done on purpose in order to build tension, as much of the plot relies on this, but quite honestly I fell asleep. This being said, Styles isn’t doing a bad job, he just needed to do a little more considering how complex his character is supposed to be. The emotions were there, they just didn’t seem strong enough.

However, since his name means more than ‘up and coming actor,’ fans and the media have been hugely critical of Styles’ acting skills, myself included. Although he is by no means Oscar-ready, I think it has to do with the parasocial relationship that society has created with him. Despite his privacy, those of us who have known his name for over ten years now have seen enough of him that subconsciously, we think we know him. And when we see him in these roles, he is obviously going to be behaving differently, but because we “know” him, it all seems unnatural. This has led to a multitude of headlines, Twitter trends, and conversations surrounding Styles’ inadequacy as an actor. 

What we need to remember is that Harry Styles is still finding his footing in the film industry. He does not have the same experience and expertise as his costars but manages to keep up with them pretty well considering he just started. People always say, “well he only got those roles because he is famous.” So what? He is trying something new and although not perfect, so far Harry Styles is doing a pretty good job. 

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