The Iron Lady

“The Iron Lady”

Directed by Philipa Lloyd

Written by Abi Morgan

With Meryl Streep, James Broadbent, Alexandra Roach

Meryl Streep has had 17 Academy Award nominations. Her portrayal of Margaret Thatcher in “The Iron Lady” has just won her a Golden Globe. Is there anything she can’t do?  

“The Iron Lady” is an intimate portrait of Margaret Thatcher, Prime Minister of Britain from 1979 to 1990. She, a grocer’s daughter, came up from modest origins to become the most influential Prime Minister of England since Winston Churchill, and the first female leader of the Western World. She was one tough lady who, among many other things, confronted Gorbechev, took an unwavering stand against unions, dealt with England’s anemic economy, pushed the Brits into the Falklands War and allowed fasting Irish prisoners to die. She also revived a sense of British pride.

But this film really is a portrayal of an aging Thatcher who has dementia. 

As “The Iron Lady” begins, the elderly Mrs. Thatcher (Meryl Streep) fumbles to give the correct change to a clerk in a grocery store. She returns home where her caretaker is upset that she has ventured outside. She sits down to breakfast with her husband, Denis, and has conversation with him, pointing out that he uses too much butter on his toast. She helps him choose a suit to wear to a meeting. She brushes the lint from his jacket. Only Denis has been dead for several years.

Mrs. Thatcher shuffles around her house, reflecting on her life and career. Flashbacks briefly illustrate her childhood and proceed to highlight her many accomplishments, including her feisty and stubborn interactions with Parliament, her meetings with foreign dignitaries, her launching Britain into the Falklands War.  

But “Iron Lady” is not an epic film about Margaret Thatcher’s consequential life. It never really shows what made her exceptional.  Instead it deals with her dementia, her flights of fancy, as when she converses with Denis, her confusion and how she tries to mask it. In this way, the film humanizes her, but it is a bit cruel because Mrs. Thatcher is still alive at age 86.

The reason to see this film is Meryl Streep. Her transformation is absolutely uncanny. Her voice, her accent, her posture, her demeanor are flawless; she is Margaret Thatcher. She captures the idealistic, confident younger Margaret Thatcher who is tone deaf to criticism. She embodies the fading dignity of the older Mrs. Thatcher, now restricted to her home, struggling to maintain her poise.    

We have gotten so used to Meryl Streep’s acting abilities that we almost take her for granted. It seems her expressions, her nuance of character are givens. As “The Iron

Lady” she dazzles. You cannot take your eyes off of her. In a way, her performance overpowers the film. All the more reason to see “The Iron Lady.”