The Iron Lady

I recently saw The Iron Lady for the third or fourth time, I don't remember. I had actually forgotten how much I liked that movie. Margaret Thatcher had always intrigued me a lot. She was way before my time but you can still feel her presence, when, for example, people mention something she's done. Sometimes positively, but mostly negatively. When the sentence "it's all the fault of..." pops up, kind of thing. I'd rather not give my opinion about the Iron Lady, because she brings such controversy. But, besides politics, besides  being pro or contra Thatcher, you can't neglect the fact hat she's opened the path for lots of women. I don't believe she was as heartless as the "contra-Thatchers" state. She might have been the Iron Lady, her heart wasn't made from iron. She had been through difficult times, personally and professionally. I think, to get to the position she had, as prime minister, she had to be as hard and seemingly emotionless, but that doesn't make her emotionless. I had once read an article how many times Margaret had been the Iron Lady in public, but afterwards cried and sobbed like a little girl. Anyway, the Iron Lady shows the human side of the woman we portrayed as a monster. 

     

About the movie:

What an intimate look at the woman we all thought we had known so well! Not only a movie about power and politics, but just as well (and even more) a movie about love and loss, accepting and letting go, death and life. It was a very touching story, at some point it brought me to tears, or made my breathing stop for several seconds. For example, when Margaret's personality began to change the more she got power, and became, let's face it, unbearable. Not only Maggie's story, but also Denis'. How it must have felt for him, he was an import figure in Margaret's life but was always pushed to the background. They could have gotten it wrong, perhaps Thatcher wasn't at all like they portrayed her in the movie, it still is their fantasy about how it could have been. Simply a wonderful movie. 

         

About the performances:

Wow. I mean wow. What words are good enough to describe what these actors have brought to life? None. Or maybe one: indescribable. 

Meryl Streep transformed herself in some unbelievable cosmic way into Margaret Thatcher: the voice, the manners, the accent, the personality. I have never, ever seen someone portray a living person as well as Streep did in the Iron Lady. I had seen the Queen (incredible performance by Helen Mirren by the way) in which 

Margaret Thatcher appeared for two minutes and it made me laugh: they definitely should have asked Meryl Streep to do it. Academy award ? Deserved. 

                               

Jim Broadbent? How to play a dead, hilarious and ironic husband? How to play the one nobody knew about ? The man next to Margaret Thatcher people had only seen from far away? The man feeling neglected by his wife? 

Can I say I deeply admire what this actor has done? There was so little information about Denis Thatcher, yet he portrayed him so vividly and real. 

The young Maggie and Denis were played by Alexandra Roach and Harry Lloyd, two British actors. Their scenes were very enjoyable and I loved looking at them. They made a huge contribution to the film and made the movie also entertaining for the younger generations, at least in my eyes. 

Margaret had once said she didn't want to die washing up a tea cup. The last scene of the movie ? A dement, old lady washing up a tea cup. It slips through her fingers and shatters in a hundred pieces when it touches the ground. 

The leading ladies from The Iron Lady : 

Phyllida Lloyd (director) , Meryl Streep and Abi Morgan (screenwriter)