Phyllida Law’s new biopic opens on an old lady buying milk, unable to believe how much prices have risen. An old lady in a headscarf, not walking particularly well and looking a bit lost. In fact, the film opens on an old lady in a headscarf who really could be just about any old lady in a headscarf. This is strangely in-keeping with the rest of the film, however, as from start to finish you get the impression that this is not a film about Margaret Thatcher. An Iron Lady, maybe, but not The.
True, it does track the life of the first ever female Prime Minster of Great Britain, played magnificently by Meryl Streep, greatly deserving of her Golden Globe, as she rises to power from the life of a humble grocer’s daughter. We see how she first becomes a local MP, then Education Secretary and finally the leader of both her Party and the country she obsessively adores. We see key events in her personal and political life via flashback, as the elderly Baroness Thatcher is jolted back to the moment in question by various items of strategically placed memorabilia.
In this way the film does try, very, painfully hard to be a film about Margaret Thatcher- but it still isn’t. The social reality of her politics is cut short precisely as Lady Thatcher’s housekeeper turns off the television when a news piece about her employer becomes too negative. We learn nothing from this film about the effects of the nationwide strikes, political motives, the bombing of the Tory Party conference, the Irish Republican Army, controversial tax laws or the Falklands War. Well, we do, but it is two dimensional at best, portraying the PM as unquestionably and unwaveringly in the right throughout. Even get classic lines such as the now infamous ‘The Lady’s not for turning’ have been left out.
What we do get as a result of this, though, be it intentional or otherwise, is a touching and surprisingly moving film about the effects of a lifetime of public service. We get a story about one woman’s sense of duty- an ambitious loyalty she refuses to give up for anyone. We also get a brave re-imagining of dementia through Lady Thatcher’s interactions with her late husband, Dennis (Jim Broadbent), and through this we get a film about a couple. Mesmerizing as Streep is in the role of Mrs Thatcther, and she is mesmerizing, this remains a film about the two of them. About Dennis’ valued support, her care for him and her anguish that he is no longer there. In fact, one of the most poignant moments in the film is Lady Thatcher, with characteristic defiance, shouting ‘I will not go mad’ at the imaginary Dennis.
Again, though, Dennis could be the loyal husband of any successful woman, not necessarily The Iron Lady herself. The inability of the film to truly engage with its’ subject matter is also screamingly obvious in its presentation of women. It desperately wanted to be a Feminist revision of Thatcher’s legend, but it could never have achieved this. For one thing, Thatcher herself preferred ‘the company of men’, cooked Dennis’ dinner for him and famously denounced the Feminist Movement.
It does try, though. We have scenes of a younger Margaret setting off for Parliament, leaving behind her crying children, but these are never fully explored. We have the very same younger Margaret claiming she ‘will never die washing out a teacup’, yet the final scene sees… her washing out a teacup. This may be both visually and dramatically poignant, but it is too confusing when put next to any attempt at a Feminist discourse. The same is true of the focus upon clothes. The inclusion of The Iron Lady’s real-life claim that her pearls were ‘non-negotiable’ is intended to show both her love for the family they represent but also her obstinate nature. Its use in the film, though, coupled with the use of shoes from start to finish as a symbol of ‘not fitting in’, perpetuates an atmosphere of ‘silly women and their accessories’. This does nothing for the film or the woman herself. And again, this is a film about Margaret Thatcher which does not want to be about Margaret Thatcher.
All in all, though, The Iron Lady is worth seeing. It does lack focus and can be two dimensional in places, but its’ decision to focus on the relationship between Lady Thatcher and her husband was a wise one. It is a good film as far as it is the story of one woman’s sheer determination to succeed, and the man who loved her for it. A good film about her politics, and her place in political history, and what really went on, it probably isn’t.
***
3 stars- one for Meryl Streep, one for Jim Broadbent and one for my involuntary tears in Dennis’ final scene.
- Jen
No comments:
Post a Comment