This is what the Margaret Thatcher family was in such an uproar about? You'd think that given The Iron Lady's revisionist take on the former hard line conservative Prime Minister, those who adore her would be singing it's praises. Certainly, the script by Shame writer Abi Morgan isn't one that has any intention of taking a critical look at anything Thatcher actually did, which were often controversial and extremely divisive maneuvers based solely on ideology. That said, Thatcher is a great woman, deserving of respect and a proper biopic that presents her as the tough leader she was. Instead, the story we're given is a weak, silly, disjointed soft pedal that does the woman no justice at all.
Biopics are notoriously difficult, especially when the subject has led a life as full as Thatcher's. Combine that with the fact she's very much still alive, and the problem only deepens. Directed by Phyllida Lloyd, who is familiar with Meryl Streep after 2008's Mama Mia, she seems totally overwhelmed by how to approach the story. Rather than focusing on a singular period of time, which would allow us an opportunity to see Thatcher(Meryl Streep) at her steel spined best, she decides to try and present her entire career in flashback, interspersed with moments of Thatcher as a mentally incapacitated old woman trading barbs with her dead husband(Jim Broadbent). The real life Thatcher is indeed suffering from Alzheimer's, but what is the benefit of making it such a centerpiece to this story? To make us feel bad for a woman who, to be fair, was a bit prickly when in her prime?
It's an odd approach, and one that ultimately doesn't work out in the least. For one, if the point is to show how far the mighty have fallen, a woman of remarkable intelligence and grit reduced to being a shell of her former self, then it becomes a necessity to show Thatcher making the tough decisions that confounded many of her political enemies. Unfortunately, Morgan's script isn't concerned with any of that, preferring to skate over some of the most damning moments of her career, the choices that have inspired many to write songs in protest of her, and in part led to her political demise.This is a film about the first woman Prime Minister, and yet there's no desire to really explore that or the impact it had on British society. We're meant to believe she's a driven force of nature, but we never see her fighting for anything. By refusing to show who Thatcher really was, they do her a complete disservice. Morgan and Lloyd seem to think having her occasionally spout some rousing right wing talking points at a room full of stiff suits is enough, but we never truly get to see who the woman was. The Falklands War probably gets the most attention, and even it registers barely a blip. The film's pace quickens when it becomes necessary to address Thatcher's rapidly falling popularity with the public.
Meryl Streep appeared to introduce one of the attended screenings for the film, and it looked like she was almost apologizing for the film, and she skipped out almost immediately. She does her part to make it work, but the script hamstrings her in such a way that not even Streep can overcome. It's a solid performance at best, but hardly her best and not at all memorable. While certainly looking the part, occasionally she slips into a Julia Child cadence that gets a little irritating. Let's face it, she's Meryl Streep playing a significant historical figure. She's going to get an Oscar nomination. Period. Whether she deserves it or not. Credit should also go to Alexandra Roach, who had the unenviable task of preceding Streep as a younger version of Thatcher, the one who started as a simple grocer's daughter and worked her way up to Parliament. While Roach is good, the lack of detail and insight into that period of her life is extremely disappointing. Jim Broadbent is the film's sole source of humor, but as good as he is, those moments where she is speaking to him simply don't work.
It's been a tough last few months for biopics. My Week With Marilyn, J. Edgar, and now The Iron Lady have taken larger than life figures and made movies that feel small and unimportant.
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