Meryl Streep proves Thatcher mantra that 'One's life must matter' in 'Iron Lady'
-
Meryl Streep is sure to get a 17th Oscar nomination as Margaret Thatcher in Phyllida Lloyd's "The Iron Lady."
Share with others:
At times, "The Iron Lady" seems like "The Madness of Maggie Thatcher."
That is especially true when the retired prime minister, now in her mid-80s, turns on the television, cranks up some music and flicks on noisy kitchen appliances to drown out the voice of her husband, Denis, who died eight years earlier in 2003.
"If I can't hear you, I can't see you ... I will not go mad. I will not," Margaret Thatcher (Meryl Streep) insists with the same determination as when she ordered, "The Falkland Islands belong to Britain and I want them back!"
"The Iron Lady," featuring yet another magnificent turn by Ms. Streep, takes a huge risk with its unconventional storytelling. It allows Margaret to have conversations with Denis (Jim Broadbent), who appears next to her in bed or across the breakfast table slathering butter on his toast, as she reminisces about her personal and professional lives.
- Starring: Meryl Streep (right), Jim Broadbent.
- Rating: PG-13 for some violent images and brief nudity.
Directed by Phyllida Lloyd ("Mamma Mia!") and written by Abi Morgan, it is as unconventionally told as "J. Edgar" was traditionally structured, although both allow their subjects to put their own spin on events.
In a 2008 memoir, Margaret's daughter, Carol, confirmed her mother was suffering from dementia but here she's presented as a dotty, strong-willed woman who can lecture the physician inquiring about her mental health or slip out of the house to buy milk at a corner grocery where she is just another slow-moving old lady in raincoat, head scarf, gloves and sensible heels.
The woman born Margaret Roberts was very much her father's daughter. He was an alderman and mayor of Grantham and ran a grocery, where Margaret worked until she was accepted at Oxford University to study chemistry.
In memories that ebb and flow, she recalls losing her first bid for Parliament in 1950 but happily accepting Denis' subsequent proposal of marriage, once he understands her philosophy of "One's life must matter." She envisions more than cooking, cleaning and children, adding, "I cannot die washing up a teacup," although the movie circles back to that notion.
Toggling between past and present, "The Iron Lady" tracks tweaking of her public persona -- higher hair, lower voice, no hats but always double-stranded pearls and tasteful jacket pin -- and the stiffening of her resolve, much to the fury of her detractors and enemies. They countered with fiery speeches or eventual legal challenges, hunger strikes, bloody street protests and deadly bombs.
Since "The Iron Lady" is far from a documentary (although flashes of news footage add authenticity) or even a film told in chronological fashion, it can pick and choose what to dramatize. It ends up giving historic bullet points and a flavor of her time in office and demonstrating how isolating it was to be a woman from the lower middle class standing for election and then governing.
Although Ms. Streep is the one who will surely earn her 17th Oscar nomination for "Iron Lady," credit also is due to look-alike Alexandra Roach, who plays the young Margaret Thatcher. Likewise, Harry Lloyd from "Game of Thrones" portrays the youthful Denis.
The hair and, especially, makeup for Ms. Streep are superb, complementing her stoop of the shoulders, slight wheeze and stiff joints as she climbs into bed, her nightgown buttoned to the top, as old Margaret. In the end, she's a woman who has clung to her late husband's suits, shirts, shoes and mementos because she cannot bear to let him go.
Although this is the story of now-Lady Thatcher, only a single reference is made to Denis' business, and Carol is shown as trying to be attentive. At one point, she sets her mother straight: "Mark [Carol's twin] lives in Africa, and you're not prime minister anymore, and Dad is, Dad is dead."
Writer Morgan mainly has theater and TV credits, while her big-screen work includes co-writing "Shame" starring Michael Fassbender and adapting the 2003 novel "Brick Lane" about a Bangladeshi teen forced into an arranged marriage to an older man and transplanted to London's East End.
Here, she rolls the dice with an unorthodox approach but comes up with a winner thanks to the leading lady with the golden touch.
First Published January 13, 2012 12:00 am
