Friday, April 27, 2012

The Iron Lady (2011) (2nd time)

An elderly Margaret Thatcher talks to the imagined presence of her recently deceased husband as she struggles to come to terms with his death while scenes from her past life, from girlhood to British prime minister, intervene. [imdb]


Nominated for 2 Oscars:


Best Actress: Meryl Streep (WINNER)
Best Makeup (WINNER)


After the Oscars, many have said: oh, this won more Academy Awards than Tree of Life, Moneyball, Midnight in Paris, Tinker Tailor combined. And that is true, but can you really argue with any of these 2 wins: Viola Davis is superb and has plenty of fans, but Meryl (!) - oh, finally a 3rd (because before this win, she had only won once every 8 nominations... not even Glenn Close can beat such a negative track). And the makeup, easily the best I've seen since La vie en rose and such a key part of the film and the story and the performance.

What I can admit is that this is not a good movie as a whole: the screenplay might be the problem, or Phyllida Lloyd's rushed style of directing. There's nothing terribly bad about it, but it doesn't feel deep at any particular point (other than what Meryl is trying to do with it). A more focused screenplay might've helped, also some smarter choices (Jim Broadbent with  a turban, oh my).

My rating for the film: 5.5/10. Felt even less interesting the second time, but I think the haters are exaggerating. More on Meryl on the other blog, she really does give an acting class here.

2 comments:

  1. Definitely a very confused film that was lucky enough for Meryl, and , boy, does she deliver.

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  2. Meryl Streep. I rest my case. :)

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