This lady’s not for turning

The Iron Lady

Director: Phyllida Lloyd Screenwriter: Abi Morgan Cast: Meryl Streep, Jim Broadbent

Phyllida Lloyd is a special director. But I mean this as no compliment. With her skills behind the camera, she has managed the almost impossible. She made a Meryl Streep movie almost unwatchable. Opening with a hallucinatory Margaret Thatcher (Streep), in which she believes her dead husband Dennis (Jim Broadbent) is still alive, the film is already starting to show that it has its focus in all the wrong places. It is heart-breaking for the audience to learn that she has lost someone dear to her heart, and the devastating consequences this has had on her life, but it’s certainly not something we want to come back to too frequently. Perhaps trying to squeeze as many tears out of us as possible, Lloyd is strangely eager to show the current Thatcher, instead of closely examining the rise of a great leader, her politics, and her eventual decline.

Sure, we have the flashbacks. We even see a younger version of Margaret played by the perky Alexandra Roach. It’s unclear why Lloyd even bothered with this segment, for this part serves no purpose to the later parts of the film. It moves too quickly, and barely glances over her family. Her distant mother and her politically driven father are scarcely shown, and appear to have had very little influence on her. Then we hear the happy news that she got accepted into Oxford. Margaret soon runs for a seat in the Parliament. So what happened in Oxford? Apparently, not much. Through her first election, she meets Dennis, a charming young businessman who wants to marry her. They bond over The King and I. As he proposes, she declares that she won’t “die washing teacups.” This kind of ambition is why he wants to be her husband.

Fine then, this chooses to focus more on the romance between Margaret and Dennis, given the way the dead Dennis keeps popping up to trouble the frail Margaret. Not quite; because when politics kicks in, Dennis is forgotten in an instant and is shown in rare shots where he’s surrounded by fellow conservatives, applauding as Margaret delivers a winning speech. The bond between these two is never explored any further than their mutual love for The King and I, and it becomes increasingly frustrating as we know so very little about the couple. Her children also make an appearance – and although the daughter (the excellent Olivia Colman) shows up to add more nostalgia, the son’s name is barely even called.

So has Lloyd suddenly decided, half way through the film no less, that she does in fact want to explore the politics? Again, not quite. Showing all of the leader’s accomplishments in tacky scenes containing far too much past real-life footage, whereas Streep is required to do no more than a) wave at her supporters or b) look scared in her car as angry demonstrators try to climb her vehicle, there is hardly any sense of triumph for the remarkable political climb this woman managed. The closing of the coalmines, resolution of the Cold War, the IRA prisoners’ hunger strike, the Falklands War etc., are covered poorly, if at all.

But one thing is for certain: Streep is, as usual, utterly brilliant. This isn’t just about her accent or the voice. Perfect as those two qualities are, Streep goes a step further in showing us the more private and ailing Thatcher as well as the characteristics of a stern Prime Minister. She is ruthless and stubborn as she addresses her cabinet, often alienating even those close to her, and yet her vulnerable sides show through, mostly when it becomes apparent that not having her husband around in later life is unbearable even to the Iron Lady. Opposite her, Broadbent is also spot-on, providing a subdued air of warmth, exactly the kind of support Streep needs to truly shine.

Lloyd’s direction however, is irritatingly disjointed, uneven and manages to suck all the excitement and drama from this extraordinary woman’s life. One wonders what would have happened to this project if Streep had declined the role. As she happens to be the best and only reason to even consider watching this, it would be reasonable to assume that without her The Iron Lady would have flopped.