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Friday, January 20, 2012

The Iron Lady

Meryl Streep is the greatest film actress of my lifetime. From first seeing her in The Deer Hunter and Sophies Choice on down through the decades to Julie and Julia, she simply has been the best. In her latest role, as British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, she once again has come up with an amazing performance. Unfortunately, the disjointed script, the lack of a central premise or plot to this biopic wasted much of that performance.
You won’t learn much of anything interesting about Margaret Thatcher, a remarkable woman indeed in terms of her personality and motivation. The circumstances of her controversial stances on labor unions, foreign affairs, terrorism etc. are vague at best. Presenting them without the heart and soul of the times makes for a poor film. Even wonderful acting couldn’t save it.
The part of the film, I found most compelling and yet many friends and colleagues of Thatcher felt was inappropriate, were the scenes of her as an elderly reclues suffering from dementia. Sad to say the film The Iron Lady might more realistically have been titled, It’s Tough To Grow Old.

8 comments:

Montanagirl said...

I have not seen this film yet. She is for sure a terrific actress.

Grayquill said...

Good to know...
Thanks for the review.

PC said...

The other reviews I've read have been much like yours - a great performance in a lousy movie.

Catherine said...

I am looking forward to seeing this movie. Meryl Streep is indeed fantastic isn't she?

Wishing you a wonderful Saturday friend!
xo Catherine

Sally Wessely said...

I respect your views, so I will keep your review in mind when and if we see the film. I do love Meryl Streep. It is unfortunate that the writers didn't give her a better script.

Rae said...

Meryl is my all time favorite female actress. She can play any role and make it believable. I can't wait to see this new movie of hers.

Janie said...

I agree, Meryl is a remarkable actress. I may not want to see this film, though. I already know it's tough to grow old!

Veronica Wald said...

I too love Meryl Streep, and have blogged about her performances more than once myself.
Thanks for the head's up on Iron Lady. It's in our Neflix queue for sure, but now I'll adjust my expectations from "a historical docudrama that I can learn something from" to "another amazing Streep performance" to better enjoy it when the time comes.