Review: The Iron Lady (15)
4:20pm Friday 6th January 2012 in Reviews
TRIUMPH Meryl Streep as Maggie and Jim Broadbent as Denis
In 1975, grocer’s daughter Margaret Thatcher became the first woman to lead a major UK political party.
Four years later, she became our first female prime minister, holding office for three consecutive terms.
She united and divided the country, smashing through gender and class barriers to be heard above the patriarchal hubbub in Westminster.
The Iron Lady paints a sketchy portrait of Thatcher as she looks back over her life.
It would be impossible to shoehorn a lifetime of political tug-of-war into 104 minutes of screen time.
Instead, scriptwriter Abi Morgan conceives a poignant tribute that revisits key moments in flashback, seen through the eyes of an increasingly frail eighty-something woman fighting against the rising tide of fractured memories.
The Iron Lady is dominated by Streep’s tour-de-force portrayal of Thatcher, which should earn her the Oscar by a landslide.
She electrifies every frame of Phyllida Lloyd’s film, disappearing completely beneath the ageing make-up, tailored suits and false teeth to embody a naive interloper who blossomed into a compelling orator.
Broadbent offers sterling support and Colman is equally impressive, including a heartbreaking scene in which Carol tearfully attempts to re-tether her mother’s mind to reality.
As a full, unexpurgated history lesson, The Iron Lady is found wanting.
However, as a portrait of a lady in her twilight years, Lloyd’s film moves, providing us with fleeting insights to a figure who still divides opinion as much today as she did during her reign at 10 Downing Street.
