Film4
105 min., dir. by Phyllida Lloyd, with Meryl Streep and Jim Broadbent

Elvis Costello recorded perhaps one of the most spiteful tracks in the history of music on his 1989 masterpiece, Spike. The song (“Tramp The Dirt Down”) boils down to Costello asking God to make sure he lives long enough to see Margaret Thatcher die so he can stomp on her grave. Whether you are for or against Thatcherism (or feel as strongly as Mr. Costello does) it’s hard to imagine someone could make a movie about the former British prime minister without coming down on one side of the argument. Surprisingly, The Iron Lady manages to stay substantially ambiguous while still making a point.

Spending a majority of its 105-minute running time with a present day representation of Margaret, The Iron Lady puts a new spin on then flashback biopic. Now battling with her fading memory, the film follows Margaret as she argues with her deceased husband. A now purely working memory of her lover, he acts as her opposing inner dialogue. The film explores a woman who was always thinking about and for herself. Her new inner dialogue in the form of Denis Thatcher beats her up for her mistakes.

While the film uses the truths and facts of Thatcher’s rise to PM and her subsequent 10 years at the position, The Iron Lady is much more a character study of what it takes to hold such a powerful position. You could do right or wrong, but it is how you do it that creates your legacy.

By now, everyone expects only great things from Meryl Streep, and she delivers here; in fact, I’d say that if anyone other than Streep wins any best actress award in the coming season, something has gone terribly wrong. With The Iron Lady, Streep may have given the best performance by a lead female in the history of cinema. From her frail state to the terrifying glares she throws at her MPs during closed meetings, Streep has redefined acting.

The release of The Iron Lady comes at an odd time where everything has become the 99 percent against the 1 percent. Thatcher is a figure the one percent support, and her policies ruined the lower classes in Britain, it’s a fact. But by focusing on a pitiful woman who can’t face her own pains, The Iron Lady manages to ease all viewers into an enjoyable character study without harping on a partisan analysis.

—

Matthew Schuchman is the founder and film critic of Movie Reviews From Gene Shalit’s Moustache and also the contributing film writer for IPaintMyMind.