The Iron Lady
Director: Phyllida Lloyd
Writer: Abi Morgan
Cast: Meryl Streep, Jim Broadbent, Alexandra Roach, Harry Lloyd, Iain Glen, Anthony Stewart Head, Olivia Colman, Richard E. Grant

Plot:
After a long political career, Margaret Thatcher (Meryl Streep) who is slowly losing her grip on her mind and reality, reminisces about her life, career and family, a hallucination of her deceased husband Denis (Jim Broadbent) her constant companion. Born as Margaret Roberts (Alexandra Roach), daughter of a grocer (Iain Glen), she fought her way up, always with the support of Denis (Harry Lloyd).

I did enjoy The Iron Lady. Meryl Streep is amazing and I did like the structure of the script. But I would have wished for a little more of her politics and a little less of her private life.

I’m sure it comes to no-one’s surprise that Meryl Streep rocked this role. No matter in which phase or at what age she portrays Thatcher, she’s equally great and convincing. But let’s not forget the rest of the cast: Alexandra Roach is good as the young Thatcher, Jim Broadbent and Harry Lloyd make great and charming Denises and I always love seeing Anthony Stewart Head again.

But for a woman who was that focused on her politics herself and who is also famous for her politics, the movie focuses surprisingly much on her as a private person. And it’s of course nice to get the woman behind the politician as well, but I would have loved to get more politics.

Especially since the glimpses we get of her life as a politician are pretty tantalizing. And the most powerful scene of the entire film is when Thatcher completely destroys her ally and supporter Howe (Anthony Stewart Head) – it would have been cool to get more of that.

But generally speaking, I did like the structure of telling it from the perspective of the ageing, alzheimery Thatcher in leaps and bounds. That worked really well, though I think that they could have been a little less chronological. Though that didn’t bother me too much.

Summarising: very nice, especially due to the cast.