The reason why the story is devastating is because, ultimately to me, the whole story is about wasted time and I think wasted time is the most devastating thing, because it’s the only thing we can’t control, it’s the one thing we can’t have back. This continues even after Marion and Tom eventually get married, which Tom claims is because bachelors don’t go far in the police force. Tom then introduces her to his friend Patrick (David Dawson), but as Tom and Marion’s relationship develops, he’s also having a passionate affair with Patrick. In the 1950s, Marion, now played by Emma Corrin, has a rather instant physical attraction to Tom (Harry Styles). Marion ends up discovering a diary Patrick wrote from the 1950s, which details the relationship that formed between him and Tom, and Marion. Tom isn’t very happy about this arrangement but Marion insists Patrick stays with them. “I was attracted to something that really looked and investigated societal change over the huge period.”Ī 1990s Marion (Gina McKee) welcomes an ailing friend to the home she shares with husband Tom (Linus Roache), who we eventually find out is Patrick (Rupert Everett) and he has just suffered a stroke, now bound to a wheelchair and can’t speak. “The idea really was to create…three characters played by six actors, and it was an amazing opportunity for all of us to talk in advance of the film about who we are at 20, and who we are 40 years later, and for the film to investigate, properly, memory and time and the way it works,” Grandage explained.

The movie flips back and forth between the 1950s England when the trio formed a friendship, specifically at a time when same-sex relationships were illegal there, and the 1990s where we see how these individuals ended up 40 years later. It’s ultimately a love triangle between school teacher Marion, policeman Tom and art curator Patrick. My Policeman, directed by Michael Grandage, is adapted from the novel by Bethan Roberts.

Stronghold 3 review 2015