There's no doubt about it: Meryl Streep will be nominated for her 17th Academy Award for her portrayal of Britain's most controversial Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher, in this otherwise underwhelming biopic. Streep is mesmerizing as usual, but the mode of storytelling employed by screenwriter Abi Morgan and director Phyllida Lloyd – sporadic flashbacks among elongated stretches of following the elderly and mentally fragile Maggie – is a huge misfire. The scenes which recount her path from young adulthood through to local politics and then to her 11 years of turbulent leadership are intriguing, however they are too far and few between to really grip. Sure, it checks off the list as far as famous moments go, but a more in depth insight into how she ran the country would've been nice.
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Troy_Campbell27 December 2011
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planktonrules11 April 2012When the film begins, it's a little confusing. Since Margaret Thatcher has been suffering in real life from dementia is recent years, her muddled thoughts are mirrored in the film. For example, some of the scenes with her husband take place AFTER his death--as she didn't always realize he was not there. It's all quite sad and is probably NOT the way many want to remember this great lady. However, there is nothing evil about aging and memory problems--and I applaud the film for its unflinching view of a severely debilitated woman--but why spend so much of the film on this? It was THE theme of the movie--more so than her political life. It also made the film VERY confusing and difficult to follow--and the sequence is quite jarring. In hindsight, I would have preferred a more traditional narrative and I assume most others would agree--especially since too much of the film is about her jumbled mind today and not her many achievements. It also might have been best that such a pathetic sort of persona had come out well after Thatcher's death--it seemed rather sad to do a film like this now. I would have simply ended the film after she stepped down as Prime Minister.
Despite this well deserved criticism, it's still a film I recommend. Although the writing could have been better, the acting and makeup couldn't. Meryl Streep rightfully earned the Oscar for Best Actress for this one--perhaps her best performance to date. To put it succinctly, she WAS Margaret Thatcher! And, to make this illusion even more real, the makeup was perfect--aging her in a manner that made you truly believe what you were seeing. -
the_rattlesnake252 February 2012It is not a rare occurrence to see a biopic centred on a political figure emerge during any given calendar year, nor is it uncommon to see a biopic appear when the subject is still alive. But, it is unusual to see a film materialize when the said political figure is controversial in nature and divides opinion across the board.
Director Phyllida Lloyd proves why it is so unusual in her biopic of Margaret Thatcher entitled 'The Iron Lady' – the nickname attributed to Thatcher by the Soviet press after her scathing attack on the Communist model – which gently saunters between the important political moments in her life, whilst also trying to convey an appearance of regret, sadness and guilt by creating a humanized portrayal of a woman once dubbed "the most hated woman in British Politics."
But instead of creating an engaging piece which examines the life of one of the most enigmatic Prime Ministers of the twentieth century, the audience instead is left with a dull, uninspired mess which simply evades some of the most important social, economic and political events of her life to instead attempt to create some semblance of regret and humanity from the inner depths of this aging former Head of State.
Told through the flashbacks of an ailing former Head of State, Margaret (Meryl Streep) constantly engages in conversation with her deceased husband Denis (Jim Broadbent) and her daughter Carol (Olivia Colman), as she remembers past events – the good, the bad and the downright terrible – during her time as a young woman attempting to achieve some form of acceptance in the male-centric world of British politics, and finally as the first female head of a Western government.
From the tender opening moments to the solemn conclusion of this biopic, Phyllida Lloyd sets out to portray Maggie as a human being through her declining on-screen health which also mirrors the current state of the former Prime Minister. At eighty-six years old, Thatcher is understandably frail with her mental health constantly on the decline; it is an unfortunate prerequisite of aging, but it is not only common to those who have lived polarised lives in the eyes of the British public.
While Lloyd shows Thatcher constantly remembering past events, she never imposes any judgement, opinion or verdict upon anything that is visualized, instead treating it as a nostalgic and deeply sentimental walk-down-memory lane. Maggie remembers her successes and failings, but falls short of actually stating some form verdict on her past choices. Instead of watching a frail Margaret Thatcher dissect the events of her life, the audience is simply left to, uninterestingly, watch as they're recreated.
Aside from the portrayal of the frailty of Thatcher, her career itself is constantly over-shadowed by the more tender moments that Lloyd wishes to portray. The audience is essentially treated to a simple-minded examination of her early political career which extends as far as saying that Margaret Thatcher went into politics because she had ambition, found trouble in the form of institutionalized sexism and eventually established herself due to her husband Denis's influence as a middle-class businessman.
Other major events in Thatcher's career, including her challenge and rise to the leadership of the Conservative Party and the various controversial policies introduced during her reign as Prime Minister (privatisation, unemployment and the closure of twenty-five coal mines in 1985 among others) are simply portrayed as minor events.
Very little of the one hour and forty-five minute running time concerns itself with these events, aside from the occasional use of archive footage depicting public anarchy in the United Kingdom during the testing times of economic hardship during the 1980's, the audience is left to understand little in the way of why Thatcher chose to commit to certain policies except for the fact that she was a stern and incredibly stubborn woman when it came to deciding what and where she would impose upon the British public.
However, despite the major flaws in the form of Lloyd's film wishing to be somewhat of a cinematic memorial to Thatcher rather than a straight-edged biopic examining her tumultuous life, the saving grace comes in the form of Meryl Streep's wonderful performance as the famous leading lady. She is strong, commanding and visceral as Baroness Thatcher, constantly dominating the screen and drawing the audience's attention toward her prestigious manner.
Jim Broadbent as her late husband Denis, Richard E. Grant and Anthony Head among others, are depicted somewhat as 'Spitting Image-esque' caricatures of men who were nothing more than emasculated doormats in both a personal and a political cabinet, who didn't have the guts and gall to stand up to their overbearing leader. While Olivia Colman provides the only true emotional response in the form of Maggie's daughter Carol Thatcher, but these performances cannot save Lloyd's film from its own severe narrative flaws.
Since its inception, Phyllida Lloyd's Margaret Thatcher biopic has courted controversy among the family and various political circles of the former Prime Minister, and it is this controversy which has no doubt had a profound effect on the production of the film. Rather than becoming an intricate and interesting examination of a woman who was, and still is, worshipped and loathed by many members of the general public in Great Britain and Ireland, it instead became a slow inoffensive look at a woman who at eighty-six years old is shown to regret some aspects of her life.
'The Iron Lady' has an enormous amount of untouched potential that another director, producer or artist should be looking to exploit in the immediate future. And whoever should tackle this biopic, should once again call upon the talents of Meryl Streep and Olivia Colman as their performances save this film from being more boring and dreary than the most recent Conservative Party Conference. -
Kirpianuscus30 December 2015not good or bad. only strange because the courage to present the lead character more than a puzzle, to create more than a sketch of an admirable maker of history is absent. and only good point of The Iron Lady remains the presence of Meryl Streep in the lead role. the error is temptation to present the career of Prime Minister as flashes of memory. the last years of life are only a dark room far by the flashes of media. her sense of life remains the fight for the wise administration of the United Kingdom's interests. not the illness. not the fall. a part, far to be significant, becomes more important than entire life. Margaret Thacher's memory deserves more than an essay . or a sketch.because the film remains touching and seductive in a special form but not convincing.
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Sleepin_Dragon29 November 2023An ageing Margaret Thatcher struggles to deal with the passing of her husband Dennis, and looks back at her rise to Britain's top job.
I looked at the relatively low score, and wondered how much of it was to do with the film, and how much was to do with the level of dislike that still exists for the former Prime Minister.
There's something missing, and I think it's the direction and the actual storytelling, it's so clunky, if someone were to re-edit this film, I think they could do something with it.
It's a fascinating story, Britain's first woman Prime Minister, a story that deserved to be told. For me, the good outweighs the bad, but the elements were here for this to have been a superb film, sadly it just isn't.
I liked the way the original news footage is mixed in, it's well fused. If only they'd have shown her Spitting Image character.
Meryl Streep delivers an outstanding performance, she is sensational, the voice, the poise, the body language, she is fantastic. Jim Broadbent is wonderful as Dennis, the pair combined so well.
6/10. -
mycannonball24 November 2021This is largely a negative picture of Thatcher, which may be fair, but I would have preferred a picture of her that showed both sides - why people despised her and why those who loved her did. It spends a lot of time focusing on her mental decline in her later years, which was kind of slow and boring. I thought this missed a chance to be a deeper character exploration.
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Say what you like about England or the United Kingdom, for a small island they had the greatest empire the world has ever seen surpassing all others (Roman, Persian, Ottoman, Mongol...).
... and on this small island Margaret Thatcher was one of the greatest Prime Ministers the United Kingdom ever had. Love her or loath her, the facts speak for themselves and this film captures the difficulties, and frailties she faced and overcame.
Meryl Streep is well suited for the role and does justice to The Iron Lady.
This is a brilliant film covering the difficult decisions she had to make and showing the strength of the lady.
Recommended -
blanche-22 June 2013Meryl Streep is "The Iron Lady," Margaret Thatcher, in her Oscar-winning performance from 2011.
I'm a little bit at a loss here. I'm not British, so as far as what Mrs. Thatcher did and did not do during her tenure, there's no way I can comment on the way it was portrayed. It does seem from reading other reviews that dramatic license was used.
I really can only write about the film and the acting. Directed by Phyllida Lloyd, "The Iron Lady" uses flashbacks of an elderly, widowed, demented Mrs. Thatcher to tell her story. It's on the choppy side. That Thatcher was a strong, determined, ambitious woman, there is no doubt, but there were smoother ways to tell her story.
As far as Meryl Streep, as someone who was an actress myself and as someone who has been watching Meryl Streep since she was in the film "Julia," I can say that initially, there was criticism of her because you could, as actors say, "see her working." When she made a "choice" as an actress, it was transparently just that, a choice, not part of the character. I heard someone speak of her once, and she said, "I watch her and I think oh, what an interesting choice." Well, as the years have gone by, a lot of that is less evident, and many of her performances have been nothing short of magnificent. I must say that I am very, very sensitive to "acting," where someone puts on a character like they would a coat. In a biopic, this becomes an impersonation.
I won't say there were no moments of "impersonation" here, maybe there were a few, but Streep did an absolutely fabulous job inhabiting Margaret Thatcher. I can't imagine how many hours of footage she watched, and when she was elderly, Streep was elderly in her walk and in every other way possible. Having had a mother with dementia, the look in Streep's eyes when Thatcher zoned out was perfection, right on.
One reviewer said "impersonation" is easy to do. Maybe, but this wasn't impersonation. I felt it was organic, and I lost awareness that I was watching Meryl Streep.
The real star of the film was her performance, not the script. I can't comment on the strong resemblance actors had to other politicians. If they did, there's nothing wrong with that.
All in all, worth seeing for Streep's performance. -
Biopics are always a problem. That's why the long form, HBO style is infinitely more suitable and altogether more satisfying. Okay, now, once that aside, let me talk about Meryl Streep. A miracle! She does the impossible, not only manages to inhabit Thatcher, she also reveals her under a slightly different light. The human light. No matter how much at odds I've been with her politics, I saw that human side through Meryl Streep's eyes and realized that I had forgotten to remember, Thatcher was a human being, a woman breaking ground. She loved her husband but put her career first, as most men in her position do. Her drive is a mystery as much a mystery as Meryl Streep's art. After seeing the film, me, a life long anti-Thatcher, I have to say that it's a fair portrait of the woman. The ones who never heard of Margaret Thatcher, and there are, two of them were sitting next to me in theater, I think they thought "The Iron Lady" was the female version of "Iron Man" but even them surrendered to the character trough the glories of this other giant of our generation, Meryl Streep.
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punch8729 September 2020While Meryl's physical impression of the British PM in her blue-bloused prime is bang on the money, it is the way in which she captures Thatcher's unshakeable inner certainty that really pays off in the film's favour.
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danhegelund30 March 2012Meryl Streep did great, off course, but the manuscript was the worst imaginable. I came to see a movie about Margaret Thatcher's life. Instead they produced a movie about an old lady's dealing with the loss of her husband. Shame on the producers. Shame, shame, shame.
The beginning of the movie starts with Margaret Thatcher at old age. Fine, I thought. Soon they will cut to a flash back and tell the story of her life. Nope. No such luck. The middle and the end was also about Margaret Thatcher's old age. Admittedly with glimpses of flash back. But the producers were evidently much more interested in telling the story of her last days, than the story of her life. A better title would have been, "The Death of Margaret Thatcher".
I look forward to someone else making a movie about Margaret Thatcher's LIFE. And by all means choose Meryl Streep again, cause she IS a great actress. -
Loving_Silence30 November 2011Before viewing, "The Iron Lady", I didn't really know much about Margaret Thatcher. Other than she was the prime minister of England for 11 years, she was a very controversial figure and still is to this day. So I was really interested to see the film and I decided to visit the WGA screening.
Now let me begin by saying, Meryl Streep embodies Margaret Thatcher. She doesn't just look like her, but she talks like her, her facial expressions are spot on. Meryl Streep becomes Margaret Thatcher. I would be shocked if she doesn't win an Oscar for this performance. The supporting cast is good too, Jim Broadbent gives an excellent performance, everyone is just great.
However aside from the top notch acting, the movie had a few flaws. The story was uninteresting at times, the flashback scenes were a bit muddled and a little confusing. The movie felt a little too safe, it tried too hard, not to be controversial. Although I don't entirely blame the film itself for that. Margaret Thatcher was such a decisive person, that whichever side the film picked, it would be criticized by a lot of people. I guess the film ultimately achieved the goal.
I also liked the movie didn't dwell too much on the politics, but on the character of Margaret Thatcher. We see the human side of The Iron Lady herself, beyond all the partisan politics and rumors, we get to see a very personal and sad side of her. The subplot focusing on Thacther's grief over her husband's death, as the older version battles with hallucinations and an unwillingness to let go of her dear Denis are heartbreaking.
Overall the movie was really well done, but just shy of greatness. Meryl Streep's performance and the supporting cast, truly elevates the film into a great biopic. Although I wished a little more time was spent on focusing on her political life, the movie successfully showed a deep and moving side of the prime minister. Which a lot of biopics fail to do. Whatever your opinions might be on Margaret Thatcher, don't fault the movie because of the opinion. And I highly respect Phyllida LLoyd, Meryl Streep, Abi Morgan and others for trying to portray such a decisive and highly controversial figure. -
THE IRON LADY boasts a wonderful central performance by Meryl Streep as Baroness Thatcher; she is wholly convincing at capturing the politician's peculiar vocal inflections. The most interesting aspect of Phyllida Lloyd's film is the way it portrays Mrs. Thatcher as driven by hubris - despite her humble origins, she remained convinced of the rightness of her cause, even when she was manifestly wrong. This was especially the case in 1990, when she was forced to resign as leader of the Conservative Party over her support for the Poll Tax. The film shows how she rode roughshod over any objections raised by her Cabinet, even when they were probably right to object. With this knowledge in mind, we do not feel much sympathy for her when she is shown as a lonely elderly lady, without the support of her husband Denis (Jim Broadbent), and trying and failing to fend for herself. The supporting performances in this film are colorless, sometimes veering towards the grotesque (Richard E. Grant's Michael Heseltine is particularly guilty in this respect). But the film belongs to Streep and her towering central characterization.
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barnabyrudge12 January 2012In purely cynical terms, one has to wonder if the makers of The Iron Lady wanted to release a film about old age and senility but were warned that such a sombre topic would never perform well at the box office. You can almost imagine some studio executive saying "no, no, no, we can't possibly promote that sort of movie. Unless you make it about someone famous that would make people go and see it." Although advertised as an account of the life and political career of Margaret Thatcher, the film doesn't come close to doing justice to such a vast topic. Instead we get a whistle-stop tour of key events – five minutes of the miners' strike, five minutes of the Brighton bombing, three minutes about Poll Tax, and so on. The nearest the film gets to real depth, politically-speaking, is when it devotes fifteen whole minutes of precious screen time to the Falklands War.
No, this is not a true political biopic in the usual sense. What we have here is a thin and rather dull story about an old lady's deteriorating health, punctuated along the way with flashbacks to the events that shaped her career. The fact that the old lady in question is Margaret Thatcher comes across almost as a gimmick. They could have made the film about any elderly lady, fictional or real - it would scarcely have mattered. All the important aspects of Thatcher's policies and the legacy her government left behind are dealt with in far too shallow a manner, while any insight into Thatcher as a person gets lost amidst an onrush of excessive newsreel footage. Indeed, it seems as if 25% of the film comprises of these old archival bits and pieces, which really is a case of overkill.
Since the narrative amounts to nothing more than a series of jerky flashbacks, all superficial and absurdly brief, one wonders if there is any reason to watch the film at all. Fortunately, there is one aspect of The Iron Lady that shines like a glowing beacon through the gloom – and that is the marvellous performance of Meryl Streep. Streep's portrayal of the former Prime Minister is a masterclass in screen acting. The voice, the mannerisms, the physical appearance, the haughty attitude she nails it all. There are some notable names alongside her in the cast too, but generally they are in sub-par form. In some cases they're undone by poor writing, like Jim Broadbent's cartoonish "ghost of Dennis Thatcher", while others simply have too little screen time to get their teeth into the part (Richard E. Grant for example who, as Michael Heseltine, is so under-used that he simply fails to register).
Some might say the film has been made a generation too soon, since the scars of Thatcherite politics still run deep in many parts of the UK. Nonetheless, a controversial but powerful biopic could and should have resulted here if anyone associated with it had shown the courage to take a standpoint. Timidly, the film neither celebrates nor condemns Thatcher. It wimps out by presenting its entire story through the eyes of her as a mentally fragile old lady, thereby avoiding the need to "take a side". All in all, The Iron Lady is a missed opportunity. Streep's performance drags it up to the level of a watchable curiosity item but that's about the best it can offer. -
pixeltweek6 February 2012I watched this movie out curiosity about Margaret Thatcher. Heard the name, never knew the story. Unfortunately, this movie doesn't appear to be interested in the whole story.
If one believes this movie, her time as Prime Minister was just a non-stop series of rioting in protest of her. Exactly why is not clear. I found out that she was the first (and I'm assuming the only) female British Prime Minister who was also the longest serving of the 20th century. She must have done something right... but not that I saw in this film.
Mostly what I saw was an old, likely senile Margaret Thatcher with scant flashbacks to earlier days that really did little to explain who she was or what she did. While watching this, I became more focused on why this plot wasn't adding up correctly.
Of course, my mistake was assuming this movie was somewhat historical, as opposed to what I could only take as a political hatchet job. After all, how would us Americans react to a movie about Ronald Reagan that detailed his fall to Alzheimer's disease while bouncing back to things he failed at while President?
Guess I'll need to buy her book to find out who she was. -
Foux_du_Fafa7 February 2012"The Iron Lady" suffers from a number of factors, mostly pertaining to a messy plot structure. The life of Margaret Thatcher is indeed interesting subject matter, but condensing it all into a frame narrative conversing with her late husband doesn't really work. The moments that do focus on Thatcher's real life tend to work well, even though they seem a bit few and far between. Meryl Streep is obviously the big draw here, with a believable performance as both an unconventional political leader and an elderly woman, but there are plenty of others who do a great job, in particular Alexandra Roach as the younger, dizzy Thatcher (a role that seems to have been quite looked over by many). Bad plot structure or not, though, "The Iron Lady" is definitely worth a look into.
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Boba_Fett113819 January 2012First of all; no, this absolutely is not a horrible movie but it still is one that makes some very odd choices with its story and approach, making this a very bland and ultimately forgettable movie.
I just really don't understand what the point was of having a seemingly from dementia suffering- and elderly Margaret Thatcher so prominently present in this movie. Seriously, what does it add to its story that the movie is for most part is focusing on this side of Thatcher, rather than on her political and personal life. Because of this the movie is also hardly telling you anything at all about who Margaret Thatcher was and what she was all about and stood for, during her still active life.
Her youth, personal life and political career are sporadicly being told in (some at times very short) flashbacks, or snippets, if you will, that at times aren't even being told in chronological order. This also means that the movie often allows itself to make some very big leaps in time, leaving a lot of blanks in the story. Things happen and are being told, often without a real good buildup to it. Because of this you also really don't learn all that much about Margaret Thatcher, or why she was called the iron lady or even as to why she was loved and yet also hated by so many at the very same time.
It sounds strange but this really is not a political movie. It instead seems to go more for some cheap drama, without hardly ever going deep into anything or anyone at all. It makes this a mostly very bland movie to watch.
Another thing with its story was that it could had been a real inspiration to women all over the world, showing this very common woman rising to the top and eventually becoming one of the most powerful woman in the world, for over 10 years, during a time that this was not considered to be normal at all. However this movie makes it seem like it was all very easy and normal for her to do. There is hardly anyone trying to hold her back or prevent her from getting any power. A real missed opportunity and besides odd, since the movie is actually being directed by a female.
But clearly this is not a horrible movie. There simply isn't enough to hate about it and it's still a pretty maintaining movie for what it is. It's not a movie that ever becomes boring or too sentimental or anything. Like I said, it's a very bland movie and this probably at the same time prevents it from becoming a horrible one in any way.
And it is also true that Meryl Streep is simply fantastic and really becomes her character, also thanks to some very convincing looking makeup. Her performance definitely deserved a better movie. I also really liked Jim Broadbent in his role as Thatcher's husband. Their relationship was perhaps still the most interesting and heartfelt thing about this entire movie.
An ultimately very forgettable movie, that won't teach you anything about who Thatcher was, its time period and all of the historically important events she was involved in.
6/10
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jaxbubba18 June 2012Truly a remarkable performance by Meryl Streep, and definitely worthy of her third academy award. She epitomized the essence that was Margaret Thatcher, and she was once again phenomenal in the role as the first lady Prime Minister of Great Britain.
That said, the movie however, is not as great as the Meryl Streep performance. The film is set eight years after the death of Denis Thatcher (played wonderfully by Jim Broadbent). The key word here is "played". Because in this biopix telling of the life of Maggie Thatcher, she is on the verge of dementia, has hallucinogenic episodes, and has conversations with her dead husband. At points in the film, it seems that she is unaware that he has past, while in other moments of the film she very aware that he is dead; however, opts to speak with him because she is a very lonely woman..
The film is at its best during her flashback moments, as she recollects all the great things that had happened in her lifetime. I wished the filmed had spent more time in her past. A fantastic woman, never afraid to stand up for what she believed, or what she thought was best for England. However, in the end, it was her stubbornness, unflinching style, and unwillingness to accept anything less than perfection, which led to her demise.
Again, a fantastic performance in a not so extraordinary film; however, I film that I can recommend for viewing (especially now that it's out on Netflix and Redbox). An amazing lady to say the least, much more worthy than this re-telling of her life story! SEE MORE OF MY REVIEWS ON FB @ "THE FARIS REEL" -
Meryl Streep in her Oscar-winning turn as Margaret Thatcher (1925-2013), the longest-serving Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, who, after winning the 1979 general election after serving as Secretary of State for Education and Science in former Prime Minister Edward Heath's Cabinet, led the Conservative Party with a iron fist--teacup often in hand. Handsome, commanding film, complete with wistful remembrances from old age and the ghost of Margaret's deceased husband Denis (Jim Broadbent), puts a great deal of responsibility on Streep's shoulders, yet she carries the role off with aplomb. Director Phyllida Lloyd and screenwriter Abi Morgan are not afraid of using humor to tell Thatcher's story--and, conversely, they do not shy away from Thatcher's controversial political decisions, her impatient manner, persnickety stubbornness and unflappable nature while facing her many judges and adversaries. All involved have done a great deal of study here, and Lloyd is effective in making the elderly Thatcher a sympathetic woman full of memories who nevertheless will not go quietly into the night. The balance here--the despised woman and the headstrong lady leader who abhorred weakness--is carefully weighed. While the film isn't intrinsically exciting as an entertainment, it is a sterling showcase for its leading lady. **1/2 from ****
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An old lady, complaining about the price of milk per pint, perfectly normal, especially with the recent inflation of staple goods, that is unless you know, or until you realize that it's Margaret Thatcher. It is a particularly touching scene, a crafty way of subliminally telling us about how she was in-touch with society, in touch with the lives of her constituents, of the people. Back in Chester Square, security is upset that she went out alone, 81 and suffering from Dementia, one shouldn't go out unsupervised, especially the most famous ex-prime minister of the recent century. We see Thatcher conversing with Dennis, who died in '03, and now lives in Margaret as a ghost, we see her cleaning out Dennis's old clothes at Carol's prompting, with flashback, after flashback, giving us a chronological tour of her life, from Greengrocer's Daughter, to a true Iron Lady. It is a beautifully crafted film, however the flashbacks do get repetitive, and could've had more depth, and explored more of her life. It seems as though the film can't really seem to decide what to focus on, and goes for a little bit of everything. It gives us however, a slightly boring at times, but beautifully shot film that embodies, and exudes emotion, and loss, it truly does tell a story of a woman, and what she sacrificed for her country, and for the common, greater good. The star of the film however, is none other, unsurprisingly than one Mary Louise Streep. She kills the film, and elevates it to a whole other level. You see her full of vulnerability with the age, and at points she is so believable, I couldn't believe it was an actress, and not the real Thatcher. But, in her glory day you see her change, from the rise, and the softer higher voice she was so often criticised and heckled for, to the alcohol roughed, and experience voice of the PM, the softer interview, statesman voice, to the home voice, all perfect, and spot on. She isn't just a caricature of Thatcher, for the 2 hours of the film she is Thatcher, pearls, and all. She channels Thatcher's essence, and gives us scenes such as her final stand, where she is in Paris the night of the fateful Conservative Leadership election, which forced her to stand down. As she stands there in Paris, we see a woman who is very much in control, yet also on the verge of sickness, and losing control. We see a scene where she is haunted almost by Dennis's ghost as she says something along the lines of not going mad is breathtaking, that it defines the pinnacle, of acting, and thespian chops. This performance will be regarded as the pinnacle of acting, dethroning Sophie's Choice in 1982, giving us our next Best Actress winner. Who'll be sure to be seen many times more as a nominee, and a winner in the future. Congratulations to the 3 time Oscar Winner Meryl Streep, the 84th Academy Award's Best Actress in a Leading Role. Film itself 8.5/10, Meryl Streep 12/10 Averages out to a 9.
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ferguson-614 January 2012Greetings again from the darkness. So many are up in arms about what this movie isn't, that they have lost sight of what it is. If you are expecting a political drama and biography detailing the finer points of one of the most impactful and controversial world leaders in history, you will undoubtedly be disappointed. If instead, you accept this as a creative way to tell a story and glimpse at a once powerful person struggling with her place in history, while simultaneously fighting the daily battle against Alzheimer's, then you too will be satisfied with more than the towering performance of Mery Streep as Margaret Thatcher.
Lady Thatcher is one of most controversial political figures in modern history. Pundits fall to pro or con in regards to her 3 terms (11 years) as Prime Minister. Writer Abi Morgan (Shame) and director Phyllida Lloyd (Mamma Mia) don't take a side in the argument. Instead they offer us the viewpoint of an elderly Lady Thatcher struggling to avoid "going mad". Her daily battle includes numerous flashbacks to specific moments and events. Through these episodes, we take a quick trip through history ... almost a Cliff's Notes version. Additionally, we see how she regularly "sees" and speaks with her husband Denis (Jim Broadbent). Yes, he died years ago. It seems she realizes this, but enjoys the comfort of having him nearby.
During the flashbacks, we get a feel for her early onset ambition, which evidently came from her dad the grocer (and small town politician). He encouraged her to work hard, be different and think for herself, while never backing down from her beliefs. This seems hard-wired into her personality through the years as she fights the male establishment and climbs the "greasy pole" of British parliament.
The brief segments on the Falkland Islands, Parliamentary debates, and tough Labor Union stance will probably leave you wanting more details on how she negotiated her way through some very unpopular decisions. The best suggestion is probably to read some of the endless stream of documentation in print regarding her time in office. But don't let that distract you from an unusual and interesting film. Plus, you certainly want to catch another world-class performance from, whom I consider, the greatest actress in film history. -
Meryl Streep's performance in this movie was phenomenal. Unfortunately the movie (if you can call it that) was not. If you want to go see a movie about the life and career of Margaret Thatcher do not waste your time. If you want to see an elderly woman struggling with dementia for 2 hours then this is your movie. The movie barely goes over Thatcher's rise to prime minister or her personal life. Instead 80% of the movie focuses on Thatcher's current health state, only showing her confused and disoriented. The movie does a few 5 minute flashes to her past but it probably only amounts to about 25 minutes. Finally I find it despicable that instead of highlighting Thatcher's achievements, Hollywood choose to exploit her dementia a condition she has kept from the public and tried to be extremely private about.
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Nigelees10 February 2012I watched the Iron Lady last night and quite frankly I am amazed at some of the reviews which state that the film is a disappointment despite an outstanding performance from Meryl Streep. Firstly, I really don't think that this film is about politics and naturally all those who viewed it expecting to see a retrospective of Margarets time as PM would be disappointed. But the film is about life. All of us could,in time , suffer in the same way. The film is clearly about the ravages of old age on a person who literally was a giant among men. She had to fight at every turn for her principles and whether you agreed with them or not she had more courage than most. The greatest compliment I can make about this film is that from the first few minutes I was not watching Meryl Streep but Thatcher herself as her performance is truly amazing. It isn't the fact that it is an impression as some have said it is the subtle nuances - movement of the head, a slight cough, a look etc. It isn't surprising that she has been Oscar nominated for this performance and in my view she will win hands down. If you want to see a well constructed study of life in decline go see this film but if you're looking for a biopic of her life in power don't bother.
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It's difficult to know what to make of a film that has proved nearly as divisive as its protagonist, even among those who haven't even seen it. Viewing the life of former PM and now Baroness Margaret Thatcher from the present day via a series of flashbacks, The Iron Lady has stoked ire from both the Right (who decry the decision to show Thatcher's mental faculties in decline) and the Left (who are howling because, well, it's a film about Margaret Thatcher). Such is the level of opprobrium being heaped upon the film from both sides that it requires Herculean efforts to judge its merits as a film.
Setting aside party politics, The Iron Lady is after all, the story of one of the most powerful and prominent women in recent history, a grocer's daughter who rose to the very top at a time (first elected to parliament in 1959) when women were still largely tied to the domestic sphere. In a century where women in politics are still judged based on their membership of one of the two rival harems camps known as Blair's Babes or Cameron's Cuties (pauses to weep quietly for a moment), a biopic about the UK's longest serving PM who was also the first - and to date, the only - woman to occupy the role, is surely worth celebrating?
Sadly, therein lies the rub. Margaret Thatcher is both a legend in her own time, and the proverbial boogie man - it's virtually impossible to separate the woman from the politics. It's equally implausible to attempt to cover eight decades of remarkable private and notorious public events in barely two hours. Like its obstinate protagonist, The Iron Lady is felled by its own ambition. Thatcher's private life and personal relationships are tantalisingly glimpsed, but never explored. Based on their fleeting treatment, her early life in Grantham, relationship with her parents, courtship with Denis Thatcher, and later family life (particularly with her children) would all make for fascinating films in their own right. By the same token, the Falklands conflict, the riots, the strikes and any number of other nationally significant events during Thatcher's premiership would all form the basis of compelling movies.
Instead, Iron Lady is the cinematic equivalent of a scrapbook, a story told in bits and pieces, but never in depth. It's too brief to do more than gloss over every significant event in her life, not least the assassination of Airey Neave, and often requires a more than passing knowledge of contemporary political figures and events in order to understand the narrative. The result is a film that fails to portray with any depth or conviction either the personal or political history of - love her or loathe her - one of the most significant individuals in British history. The film has prompted complaints that it glosses over the upheaval of the miners' strikes, but one could easily argue that Thatcher's liberal stances on homosexuality and abortion are equally absent, if not more so. Jim Broadbent's Denis Thatcher is relegated to a slightly clownish figment of MT's imagination in the present, and virtually written out of her past.
In fact the film's saving grace is, unsurprisingly, Meryl Streep. Despite the confused and ambivalent material, Streep has crafted a riveting performance (amply supported by Alexandra Roach as Maggie the Younger), somehow managing to believably inhabit the shoes of someone whose story is till being written.
Suffice to say a definitive biopic, if such a thing is possible, will almost certainly have to post date the lady herself, and while I rarely argue in favour of overtly biased film-making, will probably require at least two passes by both her detractors and lionisers. For now, The Iron Lady is a tantalisingly prologue, and abridged version of an engrossing life. It's definitely a celebration of a talented, powerful woman occupying the upper echelons of her profession - but that woman is Streep, not Thatcher. -
elektromote8 January 2012Although Meryl Streep's performance was truly brilliant, the film was not.
The switch from now to past events and back again didn't seem to follow any logic and everything seemed to be treated in an over superficial manner. There are a few substantial historical inaccuracies with regard to the Labour Party.
*Spoilers*
Far too many newsreel clips are used from the actual time, superimposed by Mrs Thatcher's car being mobbed by angry protesters. At no point were protesters ever able to get that close to the PM's car and such incidents showing people actually pressing up against the car are entirely fictitious.
The leader of the opposition is incorrectly shown as Michael Foot during the Heath government, when he didn't become leader of the party until after Labour's defeat in 1979. The actual leader was Harold Wilson who isn't even portrayed in the film.
During Margaret Thatcher's time as the Leader of the Opposition, Harold Wilson was Prime Minister, resigning in favour of James Callaghan who actually lost the election to Mrs Thatcher in 1979. Again omitted by the film.