I was startled to find that the movie focused on the much older, dementia ridden (and retired), Margaret Thatcher. We first see her buying milk in a convenience store. She is surprised by the rise in milk prices and informs her husband, played by Jim Broadbent, over breakfast. The two share a moment before they are interrupted by one of Margaret’s assistants. The camera pans back to the couple at the table, but now there is only Margaret, her husband has been dead for several years.
The camera follows the ancient Thatcher as she waddles around her home having flashbacks of her political career. Her memory starts back to when she was a young woman and the daughter of a grocer, getting accepted in to Oxford. The movie continues on like this, going back and forth between past and present until the credits start rolling.
The movie was filmed nicely, but a few scenes might leave the watcher slightly puzzled. At one point in the movie, Old Lady Thatcher begins to watch an old home movie on her high definition flat screen television that would be (inevitably) shot with an 8 millimeter camera. The image that she watches on the screen is pristinely clear; nothing like what the image would actually appear to be, even after a conversion from film to DVD. Then, in other parts of the film, old pieces of footage are added, some in which you can clearly see the real Margaret Thatcher, but don’t worry, it’s only the back of her head.
The movie might have flowed better if the story had not been so far removed by time. The writer of the story would have been better to start with a young Thatcher and to carry on from there, possibly ending with a very old Thatcher mourning the loss of her supportive husband and her political career. The movie might have even been better titled The Lady in Blue since that was the only color that she seemed to wear throughout the entire movie.
The acting, however, was superb. I wouldn’t expect anything less from Meryl Streep, who brings a little piece of herself into every character she plays along with an impeccable acting style that brings credibility to any character that she is portraying. Broadbent, who plays Thatcher’s husband, also brings a certain ‘light-heartedness’ to the film with his ghostly antics and fun-loving goofiness.
The writer of the screenplay, Abi Morgan, uses several different types of symbolism in her film. When the young Margaret, played by Alexandra Roach, is proposed to by Dennis, played by Harry Lloyd, she is overwhelmed with happiness, but informs him that she will never be “that woman” who is silent on the arm of her husband, her life must mean something – she didn’t plan on dying washing a tea cup in the sink. He simply answers, “That’s why I want to marry you, my dear,” – The very last scene of the movie is of Thatcher, old and slow moving, washing a tea cup in the sink listening to the birds outside, but obvious happiness on her face, she has no regrets, the symbolism very obvious.
Overall, the movie was informative and somewhat entertaining, but lacked the greatness that I had initially expected. It evoked several emotions from me, like any well written piece of art will do, but the movie felt long and the flipping between times left me slightly confused. Streep is what keeps this movie afloat with her impersonation of the Iron Lady and her unmatchable ability to play practically any part in any movie, but the constant flashes between scenes were tiring and sometimes hard to follow. I would recommend this movie to anyone who is a history buff or a diehard Streep fan.
| Meryl Streep as Margaret Thatcher |
| The real Margaret Thatcher |
Impressive comparison, isn't it??
No comments:
Post a Comment