The Iron Lady

Meryl Streep’s tremendous performance is the primary reason to see this biopic of Margaret Thatcher. Unfortunately, apart from that, The Iron Lady is something of a damp squib with, as Mark Kermode put it, “all the political clout you would expect from the director of Mamma Mia” (Phyllida Lloyd).

Regarding the controversial flashback structure, wherein a present day Thatcher suffering from dementia reminisces with an imaginary Denis about the past, it makes the film rather episodic. Furthermore, as David Cameron recently pointed out, it also makes it more a film about mental illness and not the heavyweight political drama I would have preferred. As to the criticism this film has received for portraying Thatcher in her present state, I have to say I think the critics have a point. It might have been better – and more respectful regardless of one’s political affiliation – to have waited until after she died, as she is hardly in a position to defend herself. But my issues with the film are less to do with that and more to do with the major missed opportunity for a classic rise and fall tale.

Bits and pieces of Thatcher’s legacy are covered in Abi Morgan’s rambling screenplay, and at times the kinds of scenes I would have liked to see are present; Thatcher personally writing letters to families bereaved in the Falklands conflict, her fierce chastisement of cabinet colleagues, her stubborn defence of the poll tax, and so forth. But these are too disjointed to form a compelling narrative. Outside of Streep, the rest of the cast do well, especially Jim Broadbent’s Denis, Anthony Head’s Geoffrey Howe, Olivia Colman’s Carol Thatcher, and let’s not forget Alexandra Roach as the younger Margaret. But in the end this feels far too bland for such a heavyweight political figure. There needed to be more dizzying highs and terrifying lows. I would have liked to have seen more of her undoubted achievements and failures in a much more coherent dramatic context.

If I had been making this film, I would have concentrated on her political career, including the major landmarks – the three election wins, the stand-off against trade unions, riots, the Falklands, getting the EU rebate, the battle against the IRA, the Brighton bombing, the miners strike, her role in ending the Cold War, privatisation, pit closures, the poll tax and so on. All of this would lead to her ousting from office, culminating in her tearful “it’s a funny old world” exit from number ten (which, incidentally, would have been the ONLY point in the film where she cried). The End.

In other words, the facts are more than dramatic enough to make an absolutely first-rate warts and all drama without resorting to sentimentality and problematic present day framing devices. Sadly, despite Meryl Streep’s Oscar bait performance, this is not that film.

Simon Dillon, January 2012.