The Iron Lady

What a missed opportunity! One of the most loved (but also reviled) politicians in British history is given the Abi Morgan treatment (which means that this should have been great story was always destined to be dull dull dull!). Just look at Abi Morgan's other (poor) writing efforts when given the job of translating a story for the screen. She massacred Sebastian Faulks's 'Birdsong' (giant yawn) and then proceeded to chuck a bucket of cold water all over Steve McQueen's 'Shame' (I never managed to stay awake until it was finished). And so now this kiss-of-death writer is currently been very well paid to crucify 'The Invisible Woman'! OK, so who cares about that one..... but still, oh how I wish this turgid writer would disappear from our screens altogether and let someone else show her how to tell a good story in an interesting and insightful way. Had someone (anyone!) been given the job of retelling the monumental story of Margaret Thatcher, then surely it couldn't have been worse than this tripe. Take a tip from me, if you ever see Abi Morgan in the writing credits of something you're interested in watching then avoid it like the plague. First she'll kill the story that she's been paid handsomely paid to write, then she'll kill you with boredom as you wonder why you wasted your precious time watching it.

Meryl Streep did great, off course, but the manuscript was the worst imaginable. I came to see a movie about Margaret Thatcher's life. Instead they produced a movie about an old lady's dealing with the loss of her husband. Shame on the producers. Shame, shame, shame. The beginning of the movie starts with Margaret Thatcher at old age. Fine, I thought. Soon they will cut to a flash back and tell the story of her life. Nope. No such luck. The middle and the end was also about Margaret Thatcher's old age. Admittedly with glimpses of flash back. But the producers were evidently much more interested in telling the story of her last days, than the story of her life. A better title would have been, "The Death of Margaret Thatcher". I look forward to someone else making a movie about Margaret Thatcher's LIFE. And by all means choose Meryl Streep again, cause she IS a great actress.

Once again Hollywood would have us view political leaders and icons not of their ideology through their distorted version of the facts. Worse still; the youthful viewers, not having lived through this period, may come away with a emphatically maligned perception of a great historical figure. Let's face it though. Honesty often doesn't sell as well as tales. Enjoy this piece of fiction for what it is but be true to yourself and read more of the woman as rendered from the facts. I'm hopeful that, as with many films covering a particular topic or subject, others producers may follow rendering a more trustworthy portrait of the Iron Lady. Recounting more to the likes of a Ken Burns film may do her justice.

Saw this very early preview screening in London. This was a most beautifully made film, funny and very poignant. There is absolutely no question in my mind that Meryl Streep has sealed her umpteenth term in the greatest actress office. She is absolutely spellbinding. Like Thatcher, with her male cabinet, Meryl Streep grabs her co stars by the balls and roars "gentleman, I WILL get another Oscar". She will and she deserves it, there is no actress I can think of in the last 2 centuries that can match her versatility and greatness. I could watch this again a couple more times just to absorb Streep's beautiful, immaculate and nuanced performance. OK I must stop my love letter to Streep. Admirably, this film really doesn't paint any biased view of Thatcher whatsoever. It neither glorifies or humiliate her, it just tells a very human story about a woman that happened to changed the face of Britain. It covers both her flaws and virtues. We see her drive, tenacity, perseverance, intelligence , and her love and dependence for Dennis countered by her insecurities, bullying, and self pity. No one can deny that Thatcher was always a lady of fierce conviction (hence the obvious nickname and title of the film). It was her asset and her downfall and that is what this is mainly about. All the political events occur in the background, the focus is always on the mind of Thatcher. It also covers a great deal of her twilight years which is both funny and sad as she deals with dementia. The film is structured in flashbacks which I admit is rather old hat but is very well done. The supporting cast are great, particularly the ever reliable Jim Broadbent as Dennis Thatcher and Anthony Head as Geoffrey Howard (her loyal aide) but they are all so tiny compared to...OK, I said I wont mention Streep again...but you know...she is the greatest. Ever. A must see. Even Thatcher haters can enjoy many moments of Thatcher suffering in the film. And for those of you who aren't too familiar with Margaret Thatcher, either because you are too young or live across the pond, enjoy this for Meryl Streep's stunning craftsmanship.

I was looking forward to seeing this, but was disappointed to find that it is a painfully bad piece of work. Filmmaking at its worst – poorly structured, disproportionate, over-long and over-acted. Nauseatingly too much of the archetypal batty old woman locked away in the attic schmaltz and not nearly enough life documentation (such as her career before politics, which was extensive and scientific). Streep, like anyone else, can dollop on any amount of prosthetic coverage and embody anyone at all - her voice is quite good, although no better than any street impersonator's of the same character, for anyone unfortunate enough to have lived in the UK during the Thatcher years. I've seen no worse drag queen impersonations, and similar efforts rife in '80s British comedy sketch shows and even shopping centre promotions – the 'Thatcher-gram' springs immediately to mind. Frankly, this was no classier than that other over-acted impersonation movie that killed Dunaway's career at its peak - Mommie Dearest. Streep, of course, can afford, at this late stage, to let this happen to her resume. As much as I personally disliked the real Thatcher and her politics, and thereby have no reason to feel insulted by any treatment of her, this movie was an undignified, gratuitous, inhumane hack at a living woman, presently in a nursing home with dementia, who will almost certainly get to watch it. If Helen Mirren's The Queen had been so awful it would have been publicly slammed – this is not being because it portrays a hated character without the power to speak back. This movie is cowardly, below the belt, cheap political schadenfreude about a now frail, obscure old lady. Maudlin in parts, nasty in others, but all round crass, corny, confused and dull dull dull. Shame on Merryl for doing it.

An old lady, complaining about the price of milk per pint, perfectly normal, especially with the recent inflation of staple goods, that is unless you know, or until you realize that it's Margaret Thatcher. It is a particularly touching scene, a crafty way of subliminally telling us about how she was in-touch with society, in touch with the lives of her constituents, of the people. Back in Chester Square, security is upset that she went out alone, 81 and suffering from Dementia, one shouldn't go out unsupervised, especially the most famous ex-prime minister of the recent century. We see Thatcher conversing with Dennis, who died in '03, and now lives in Margaret as a ghost, we see her cleaning out Dennis's old clothes at Carol's prompting, with flashback, after flashback, giving us a chronological tour of her life, from Greengrocer's Daughter, to a true Iron Lady. It is a beautifully crafted film, however the flashbacks do get repetitive, and could've had more depth, and explored more of her life. It seems as though the film can't really seem to decide what to focus on, and goes for a little bit of everything. It gives us however, a slightly boring at times, but beautifully shot film that embodies, and exudes emotion, and loss, it truly does tell a story of a woman, and what she sacrificed for her country, and for the common, greater good. The star of the film however, is none other, unsurprisingly than one Mary Louise Streep. She kills the film, and elevates it to a whole other level. You see her full of vulnerability with the age, and at points she is so believable, I couldn't believe it was an actress, and not the real Thatcher. But, in her glory day you see her change, from the rise, and the softer higher voice she was so often criticised and heckled for, to the alcohol roughed, and experience voice of the PM, the softer interview, statesman voice, to the home voice, all perfect, and spot on. She isn't just a caricature of Thatcher, for the 2 hours of the film she is Thatcher, pearls, and all. She channels Thatcher's essence, and gives us scenes such as her final stand, where she is in Paris the night of the fateful Conservative Leadership election, which forced her to stand down. As she stands there in Paris, we see a woman who is very much in control, yet also on the verge of sickness, and losing control. We see a scene where she is haunted almost by Dennis's ghost as she says something along the lines of not going mad is breathtaking, that it defines the pinnacle, of acting, and thespian chops. This performance will be regarded as the pinnacle of acting, dethroning Sophie's Choice in 1982, giving us our next Best Actress winner. Who'll be sure to be seen many times more as a nominee, and a winner in the future. Congratulations to the 3 time Oscar Winner Meryl Streep, the 84th Academy Award's Best Actress in a Leading Role. Film itself 8.5/10, Meryl Streep 12/10 Averages out to a 9.

Although Meryl Streep's performance was truly brilliant, the film was not. The switch from now to past events and back again didn't seem to follow any logic and everything seemed to be treated in an over superficial manner. There are a few substantial historical inaccuracies with regard to the Labour Party. *Spoilers* Far too many newsreel clips are used from the actual time, superimposed by Mrs Thatcher's car being mobbed by angry protesters. At no point were protesters ever able to get that close to the PM's car and such incidents showing people actually pressing up against the car are entirely fictitious. The leader of the opposition is incorrectly shown as Michael Foot during the Heath government, when he didn't become leader of the party until after Labour's defeat in 1979. The actual leader was Harold Wilson who isn't even portrayed in the film. During Margaret Thatcher's time as the Leader of the Opposition, Harold Wilson was Prime Minister, resigning in favour of James Callaghan who actually lost the election to Mrs Thatcher in 1979. Again omitted by the film.

First of all let me say before I saw the movie I was neither a fan of Meryl Streep as an actor or Margaret Thatcher as a politician. After seeing the movie I'm amazed at Streeps brilliant performance and can't see anybody beating her for the Oscar. Also for what its worth I'm a firm fan of her now and am looking forward to seeing her next work. With Margaret Thatcher while still seeing her as flawed with regard to her battles with the unions and the Argentinians,IRA etc, I can now see where she was coming from even though her Tory views are not mine. She held high principles and the lady was definitely not for turning. In the end it lead to her down fall. Jim Broadbent as Denis Thatcher always tried to bring his wife back to reality and reminded me of why kings kept court jesters. Nicholas Farrell as her Conservative adviser gave a strong performance. The movie is virtually a one woman show seen from her viewpoint, so we should not expect it to be historically perfect in all the details. For those that like to see quality acting I can highly recommend The Iron Lady and will be adding it to my collection of favorite movies when it comes out in DVD.

I am so disappointed in the film and in the widely talked up performance of Meryl Streep. This movie was politically shallow, and to think of all the material they had to work with. Sigh...... What a unique, substantive pioneering individual MT was - yet this movie managed to provide no political substance nor enlightenment into the personal struggles and achievements this woman managed to deliver and experienced throughout her journey as the first female leader of a country which at the time was one of the most patriarchal, class based, yet economic leaders of the western world. It amounts to nothing more than a sexist, try hard attempt at personal biography. Delivering little more than a document on the ravages and sadness that accompanies this vile disease of Alzheimer's. Where is Stone or Spielberg? This ground breaking woman deserved so much more..........

*Contains Spoilers* Just been to see The Iron Lady and was sorely disappointed with the film from start to finish. The main reasons for me were because..... The majority of the film is centred around Margaret Thatcher in her later years and how she is coping with life without her husband, Denis, and with onsetting memory loss and ill health. I was looking forward to getting more insight into her time in politics as Prime Minister. Unfortunately the focus is simply not there and felt in short supply in terms of screen time for when these were broached. The little time that there is reference in the film to some of the major events (riots, Falklands, IRA, Brighton bombing etc) these are always associated with real footage, and these simply did not work for me. The juxtaposition between shots of Margaret & her entourage versus the real footage is so jarring as to feel almost amateurish in my opinion. I'm not going to make any comment on the actual politics of Margaret Thatcher (everyone will have their own feelings on 'MT' as a person & as a politician), but interestingly there seemed to be a real reluctance in the film to do this either. There was no full exploration of the good v the bad in terms of Margaret's behaviour or decision-making / the real political successes v the real political failures etc. I suspect there was a lot of 'smoothing over' of some of the events when the hard-hitting facts would have made for a far more interesting watch. Sadly, I only have to compare The Iron Lady to The Ides of March to see how much of a disappointment The Iron Lady is and what a wasted opportunity to make an exceptional film about a well-known Brit. Whether Meryl Streep's performance will land her an Oscar, we'll wait and see, but to me there seems something a bit incongruous with someone winning a best actor/actress award off the back of such a poor film overall. Sorry Meryl - loved you in It's Complicated!