Reviews & Ratings for
The Iron Lady (2011)

A good central performance surrounded by inept filmmaking. I would've much rather preferred a by the numbers biopic than all the flashbacks, side-plots involving a ghost husband and endless montages of outstretched stock footage.

Different people have different views regarding Margaret Thatcher,the first female Prime Minister of Britain. Some adore her political decisions and her rise to power under the Conservative party while others despise it. The film,however creates a very judgmental approach to Thatcher's life and work by the juxtaposition of her rise from the meek and young student at Oxford, and her fall from prime of power to a harrowing condition of senility. We admire her rise and sympathize with her at her fall. The film shows, in flashbacks,her rise to glory,the strong political involvements and her authority and position as a resident of 10,Downing Street. The opening scenes shows her as a withered old lady-distracted and fragile taking with the ghost of her husband,Denis. The ghost of Denis at once shows her dependence on her husband which would have seemed absurd while she was an independent lady, at the helm of power. In her old age,she is a widowed old woman,not looked at by her children,who seeks for the ghost of her husband to keep her company. The ghost of Denis is sly,witty but compassionate who represents what her family could have been if she would have taken some thoughtful decisions for her family as well. Battling the bouts of senile dementia,Margaret travels through the days of past glory by fidgeting through pictures and conversations with Denis. The film ends in a note where Margaret finally discards her dependence on Denis-whose ghost disappears after fortifying her spirits-and she is seen to indulge in washing teacups-a household chore she despised. Thus the film alternates between what was and what has become of the Iron Lady. Her power and her fall,her fight and her family,her popularity and her loneliness. By strong contrasts we get a full image of Margaret's life! Meryl Streep is almost unearthly in her imoeccable portrayal. The juxtapositions make the focus of the film dubitable-yet the performance hides all flaws in direction