Get your debit cards ready, Harry Styles’ second film of the season, My Policeman, is out in cinemas today. Starring opposite Emma Corrin and David Dawson, Styles plays a closeted policeman caught in a love triangle with his wife (Corrin) and forbidden love (Dawson) who he falls for in 1957 - when homosexuality is still heartbreakingly illegal.
Directed by Michael Grandage and based on a 2012 novel of the same name by Bethan Roberts, My Policeman is a story of lost love and violent homophobia—but it’s the sex scenes which punctuate the narrative that have dominated the film’s pre-release coverage and garnered public intrigue.
In the film, Styles’ character, Tom Burgess, first begins to explore his supressed desires after a chance encounter with a sharply dressed and highly intelligent art curator, Patrick Hazlewood, who expands Tom’s knowledge of culture, travel, as well as his own sexuality.
My Policeman uses sex to celebrate the romance and release of Styles’ character falling in love. But lingers on moments of devastating shame that cause him to stay closeted. ‘I was worried, to be honest, that they might tone down the sex, but they really haven’t’ Roberts told Grazia of the adaptation. ‘I’m delighted about that.’
Choreographed and overseen by intimacy coordinator Ben Wright, My Policeman’s sex scenes are as much about passion as they are about prejudice - sandwiched between depictions of the slurs and stigma that still thrived in the 1950s and ultimately prevent Styles and Dawson’s characters from sharing a life together.
‘I’m hoping that they [the audience] will be really moved by a great love story,’ says Bethan when asked what she wishes for from an audience’s response. ‘They’ll be moved to remember how dangerous life was and how easily we could go back there,’ she added.
Taking on the role of a closeted gay man has reignited endless speculation over Styles’ sexuality - a public obsession that needs to stop. ‘I think everyone, including myself, has your own journey with figuring out sexuality and getting more comfortable with it,’ he previously told Rolling Stone in reference to the film. ‘It’s not like, “This is a gay story about these guys being gay” It’s about love and about wasted time.’
Speaking of Styles performance in the film, Linus Roache (who also plays Tom in a flash forward to 1999) told Grazia Harry was ‘very present and honest’ when taking on the role of Tom. Adding he hopes their performances make viewers feel ‘a little bit of gratitude you’re not around in the 1950s when it was illegal to love who you wanted to love.’
‘Don’t be afraid to love who you want to love,’ he added as he urged audiences to come and see for themselves the character he and Harry have embodied. One word of warning, it’s a tearjerker: ‘Get ready to cry,’ he said.
My Policeman is out in UK cinemas on 21 October and is available to stream on Amazon Prime from 4 November.