A lot can and will be written about the 2022 edition of the Toronto International Film Festival but there is no doubt that one of the biggest stars to arrive in Toronto was Harry Styles. King street was crowded more than it has been in years which was a great change of pace form the last couple of Septembers. The screams, oh yes the screams. Loud is not a word that does this collective sound justice.
Waves cross the oceans. They can be rough or calm but they are always moving. Rolling in and out. Rolling out and in. The tide can be high and the tide can be low. Waves can be metaphors or they can be literal. There is a house by the sea where waves are literally crashing into the beach. Those same waves are extremely rough today such as the regrets of a life nearing an end.
J.M.W. Turner was a British painter. Arguably Britain's most famous painter. Turner primarily painted in water colors. His landscapes were vibrant, expressions of color. His maritime paintings were also beautiful practices of color interpretation. Fiery palettes. The seascapes were also violent. Turner's watercolors depicted life as both beautiful and turbulent. Ships on fire. Ships sinking. Snowstorms, swirling vortexes, slavers throwing the dead overboard. In Calais Pier (1803) Ships are in a momentary break from a storm and are desperately trying to navigate extremely turbulent seas trying to reach the safety of shore. Waves man.
My Policeman opens with the metaphorical and literal waves of the sea. A frail old man Mr. Hazelwood (Rupert Everett) arrives at a house. The house of Older Marion (Gina McKee) and Older Tom (Linus Roache). Older Tom is not happy to have Mr. Hazelwood staying with them.
Marion begins to care for the old man. She takes a reflective smoke break. As she looks out the window she spots Older Tom walking up the road. The camera lingers and she and us are back in time with Young Marion (Emma Corrin) and Young Tom (Harry Styles). They are standing on a beach. Young Tom says, "I'm a policeman now" The titular character. Young Marion remarks to Young Tom that "Must be quite fulfilling" Young Tom looks over to Young Marion kinda smiles and looks back at the waves. We since that life as a policeman is not so fulfilling. Since they are at a beach and you guessed it waves are rolling in. Could anyone have guessed that Marion is afraid of water. She is. As Young Tom says to her, "Well, you can't go through life afraid of the water." Instead of going into the ocean though they head to a pool or as Young Tom calls it a Lido.
Young Marion and Young Tom begin spending more time together. They are in a library and Young Tom mentions he has never really looked at art before. He know believes he could get something out of it. Young Marion asks if there is any particular painter Young Tom is interested in. He asks if there is a painter named Turner. Oh Young Tom, indeed there was. He was also arguably Britain's most famous painter whose water colors were interruptions of beautiful and turbulent life. They acquire some books and Young Tom studiously pours over the pages. Swimming lessons in the lido continue. Oh glorious summer days of youth.
Young Tom takes Young Marion to the Brighton Museum and Art Gallery will they will be going on a private tour conducted by the Director of the Western Art Galleries, Young Patrick (David Dawson). Young Tom met Young Patrick at the scene of an accident where Young Patrick was a witness. An accident, a random act that occurred in the never unfolding universe. The three of them stroll through the empty museum surrounded by so many beautiful pieces of art. They stop at a painting by arguably Britain's most famous painter, J.M.W. Turner. They then look at a painting done by Blake. As Young Tom says, "Blake's trying to startle the senses as well as the spirit. There's so much passion in his work. You just have to let it take hold of you." There is a lot at work in this sequence Young Tom and Marion are on a date. This is the first time all three people are in the same space. There are stolen glances from all three people directed to one another. Unspoken words, a tension is building. Perhaps the two boys fancy Young Marion.
The three become inseparable. Attending classical recitals. Dinners. Talk of travel. Young Patrick wishes to go to Mother Russia because it is the setting of his favorite novel Anna Karenina. The story of Tolstoy's novel goes, "The story centers on an extramarital affair between Anna and dashing cavalry officer Count Alexei Kirillovich Vronsky that scandalizes the social circles of Saint Petersburg and forces the young lovers to flee to Italy in a search for happiness, but after they return to Russia, their lives further unravel." Young Marion hasn't read it. Young Patrick assures her she must because it is literature's most tragic love story. He goes on to insist that all love stories are tragic.
Time is the frequency of longitudinal energy waves. If a wave frequency changed today we would not know the difference. Our perception of time would still be the same. So it goes with Young Marion, Young Tom has changed however Young Marion cannot register it. They get married, they consummate the union, Marion lies and says it was lovely. Time is a miraculous concept, it matches ever forward and yet while sitting still in a house by the ocean one can go back to the days of youth. A dairy written by one you caring for in elderly state of life helps. My Policeman takes on qualities of Rashomon. The glances and the subtle touches at the art museum take on different meanings.
The crux of My Policeman, many other writers and reviewers seemed to have a personal grudge against Harry Styles and what acting chops he brought to the film, some more than likely were caught up in a the stories out of Venice days prior. Stories of in fighting on another film, a possible spitting incident at another world premiere. Harry Styles was fine. The crux is My Policeman is a film that leans into metaphor of the art the characters are gravitating towards and a simple look at the plot of Tolstoy's novel leaves none too much dramatic surprise. Of course this story is going to be tragic, because aren't all love stories.
