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Female Focus


Page 37


Also Widely Read By Men THE IRON LADY


Covered head-to-toe in old age makeup - playing Mrs. Thatcher in her later years - Meryl Streep approaches a deli counter and with a simple, “how much is the milk?” transforms. Daughter of a grocer and mayor, young Margaret Roberts was all but born into the up-from-your-bootstraps way. After earning a degree at Oxford, she quickly challenged the male-dominated British Parliament and became the only set of heels in an ocean of wingtips.


The film doesn’t hit you on the head with a feminist message, but it does contain a series of beautifully


executed moments. When she accepts the proposal from her soon-to-be husband Denis she is quick to caution that she won’t be “silent in the kitchen” and she will not “die washing a teacup”.


An astounding amount of information is packed into the lean 105 minute running time thanks to the smart, economical script by Abi Morgan. In a masterful stroke, the film is framed via a series of flashbacks as the elderly Thatcher attempts to clean out the closets of her late, beloved husband, Denis. During the process, she is literally racked by visions of him (played by Jim Broadbent).


She inherits a country in economic upheaval. Her hard line stance is wildly unpopular. She stands by as bloody riots fill the streets and hunger strikes claim lives. She holds firm against the Unions and seems determined to ignore the pleas of her advisors. The Falklands War is, perhaps simplistically, seen as reversing Thatcher’s ill-favour, and Thatcher’s determination to personally write letters to each fallen man’s family brings her compassion to the fore.


Director Phyllida Lloyd masterfully handles the breadth of the film, as well as the time-skipping nature of the material. She errs only with a reliance on unnecessary swelling strings. Still, it seems odd to be choked up as Thatcher is shown becoming the PM that we know from history - in a bravura sequence involving a hair salon and voice lessons. But then, it’s hard to know if you’re being moved by the film, the performance, or the memory of a vital and divisive PM. Regardless, not many recent movies have provoked that much sentiment.


Cast: Meryl Streep, Harry Lloyd, Jim Broadbent, Anthony Head, Olivia Colman Director: Phyllida Lloyd Certificate: 12 Rating: 5/5 Running Time: 105 min.


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