Skip to main content

The Iron Lady (2012)

Doing a film about one of the most controversial prime ministers ever was always going to be a film that was going to cause issues. I went to see this film not really knowing what to expect. Meryl Streep’s performance has been heavily praised and the its one of the rare things where the voice and the look of Thatcher is pretty much spot on. When you watch Nixon with Anthony Hopkins the voice might not be there but there is something about his performance which makes you think Nixon. In The Iron Lady what we have are three stages of the former Prime Minister but the most notable is the first one we meet Thatcher she has managed to give her security the slip to buy milk. All the scenes where she is talking to the hallucination of her late husband was very sad and I felt at times uncomfortable watching it.

The story involves a large amount of flashbacks, starting when she is working at her fathers shop moving onto the point where she is elected to parliament and some of the events which occurred during her premiership that caused to her to be the figure that she became to be. I think that when I went into the screening I was thinking that events like the Falklands and the Poll Tax Riots would be given more of a important part of the story that it ultimately did. The one part of the film that I did find problematic was when that throughout the film she is meant to be suffering from dementia (which she really has although its not mentioned by name) and yet all she does is decide to get rid of Dennis’ stuff and she is better. I thought that wasn’t believable and was a bit of a duff way to end the film. Streep’s performance is brilliant and I wouldn’t be surprised if she receives significant award recognition. Jim Broadbent does well as Dennis and he does add some slight comedy relief. I say slight because after the initial laugh I remember that he is an hallucination but its still a good performance. Olivia Colman looks odd as Carol Thatcher but her performance is still very dignified and subtle.

The Iron Lady is an odd film but the performances are good enough to enjoy and whether you agree that they portray Thatcher as a good person or bad what’s important is this film a brave attempt to tell a story about one of the most powerful people in the country and how fragile they have become.

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Jurassic World Dominion (2022)

I really enjoyed the first Jurassic World film, yes some of the things were a bit silly and it was a bit of fan service but I still enjoyed it and thought it worked quite well. The second one took a bit of a dip in quality and the whole idea that there is a secret lab underneath a massive house did seem a bit silly. It did end with a cliffhanger and the potential for this final could have been about how we were dealing with the dinosaurs. This final part of the trilogy (whether it's the final Jurassic film is doubtful) was delayed because of the pandemic although how much of that is why this film was a huge disappointment is probably going to remain a mystery. The main problem with the film is that it feels like three movies in one. You have the Claire/Owen storyline then there is the original trio’s storyline with the return of Dodgson and then the meshing of the two. This means that it feels like they are throwing a lot at the wall to see what sticks. Dodgson is portrayed as some...
Post a Comment
Read more

Elio (2025)

Elio is a film that seemed like it could be a lot of fun based off the trailer which is a mistake as a trailer has more often than not made a film to look better than it is. The trailer didn’t suggest that Elio had lost his parents (deceased parents is such a typical Disney move) and he now lives with his aunt who works on an air force base. He gets interested in space and then wants to be abducted by aliens and gets his wish and ends up in the communiverse with a variety of different aliens. This includes a warmongering Lord Grigon. Elio is mistakenly thought of as the leader of Earth and soon finds himself trying to broker a peace with Grigon. In the middle of all this He makes friends with Glordon who is the son of Lord Grigon. Elio plans to use Glordon as a bargaining chip and when he comes to pick up fortis then things go wrong and that is when the plot really kicks in. The animation is your typical Pixar sort and it’s nice and can work in any type of story. It’s weird to think th...
Post a Comment
Read more

Hallow Road (2025)

Hallow Road stars Rosamund Pike and Matthew Rhys who are Maddie and Frank who are woken up in the middle of the night by their daughter Alice (Megan McDonnell) who has been in an accident and the movie is basically Maddie and Frank driving to the location talking to their daughter and it all takes place in the car.  The film is basically led by Pike and Rhys. Maddie wants to call the police and use a sympathetic police officer to help their daughter and yet Frank wants to take the blame and this leads to conflict between the two. One of the reasons why the film works in the way that it does is that these two work well together despite their characters being polar opposite. The fact that the film takes place inside the car apart from the opening couple of minutes and the final few minutes and still manages to be entertaining and gripping shows how good the performances were and also the writing. Credit has to go to director Batak Anvari for keeping things ticking along and never le...
Post a Comment
Read more