Harry Styles referred to the main topic of his new movie My Policeman as “wasted time” during the Toronto Film Festival during the film’s world premiere.
In the Michael Grandage-directed movie, which is based on Bethan Roberts’ novel, 1950s English policeman Tom (played by Styles) finds himself in a love triangle with his wife Marion, a schoolteacher, and Patrick, a museum curator (Emma Corrin).
In the 1990s, the three (played by Linus Roache, Rupert Everett, and Gina McKee, respectively) tries to mend the harm that has been done to their relationships over the previous 40 years.
Last night, Styles attended the Toronto International Film Festival’s My Policeman premiere (September 11). There, the former pop star-turned-actor offered one of his key insights about the movie: Its core theme is that people don’t live their lives to the fullest.
At a press conference before the movie’s screening, Styles remarked “The reason why the story is so devastating is that, ultimately, the whole story is about wasted time, and I think wasted time is the most devastating thing,”
“It’s the one thing we cannot control. It’s the one thing you can’t have back. And I think the one thing that I think matters – whatever kind of life you’ve lived – at the end when you think back on time with people you love.” H e said.
The film’s “love and freedom” themes, he noted, were “very ageless.”
“I think the most beautiful thing about the story is that all of the characters have some really nice qualities, and they also have some flaws that we might hope not to have but, as humans, we all have them. And I think, at different points in the story, you’re able to see bits of yourself and sometimes maybe not your favorite parts of yourself in different characters. And I think that’s why it kind of resonated with me so much.”
Grandage, a gay man who was born during the time period in which My Policeman takes place, noted that he believed the progress gained by the LGBTQ+ community since the 1950s has now once again become precarious.
