MERYL Streep’s turn in The Iron Lady is likely to do for Thatcherism what her
Abba flick Mamma Mia! did for Swedish pop — make it fashionable again.
The star has teamed up with the musical’s director Phyllida Lloyd again for a
Margaret Thatcher biopic — and The Sun has had a sneak preview.
It comes 21 years after Mrs T was forced out, but makes the former PM suddenly
seem to be Britain’s most important living politician.
And much of that is down to a remarkable performance from two-time
Oscar-winner Meryl.
The 62-year-old is totally believable as the single-minded Tory legend.
But more than that, Meryl’s Maggie in her prime is a towering, ultra-confident
woman who makes men shrink.
Even the current crop of male politicians will shrink by comparison.
A 17th Oscar nomination is a dead cert for this great actress.
But a Best Supporting Actress Award should go to the movie’s make-up
department.
For much of the film we see Meryl as the present day 86-year-old Margaret. The
prosthetics are incredibly realistic. What is less real are the imagined
conversations between a befuddled Lady Thatcher and her dead husband Denis.
Some of the Iron Lady’s fans may not like to see her so rusty.
But the grumpy exchanges with Jim Broadbent as Denis up the film’s guffaw
percentages.
Denis is an affectionate figure of fun, doing a Chaplinesque walk and donning
a pink turban.
Margaret’s clearing out of his old clothes provides the launch pad for
flashbacks to her past.
Here we get more humour as Margaret tells her style advisors that the hat can
go but the twin pearls are “non-negotiable”.
The film concentrates on her struggle in the male world of politics, her love
for Denis and the sacrifices the mother-of-two made in her personal life.Her
policies appear fleetingly in archive footage.
The bullying of Deputy PM Geoffrey Howe and a forceful command to “sink it”
when discussing the Argentinian warship Belgrano are the only glimpses of a
darker side.
It reminds me of the George W. Bush biopic W, which was so scared to be
labelled partisan that it sat on the fence.
There is also a major drama deficit — missing out on all the plotting, revenge
and intrigue.
At one point Maggie comments about ambition: “It used to be about doing
something, now it is about being someone.”
Director Lloyd has followed that trend, going for the “someone” rather than
the “something”.
Still, wonderful acting abounds — especially from Peep Show’s Olivia Colman as
Maggie’s daughter Carol and Nicholas Farrell as trusted advisor Airey Neave.
And Richard E. Grant coiffs up for a turn as Michael Heseltine.
It seems this lady could be for turning… back into a heroine.
The Iron Lady opens on January 6.