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Men In Black 3

It’s not a sequel that needed to be made, but thanks to the charm of its leads and a tone that harks back to the wit and humour of the original, it’s a pretty enjoyable trip.

Bel Ami

The excellent female support cast saves this patchy effort, which is let down by its leading man and a flat screenplay.

The Dictator

A disappointing, often repulsive and mean-spirited mess of a film with seemingly only one real criterion on its agenda: to shock and offend.

The Woman In Black

Packed with atmosphere, this old-fashioned but deftly told ghost story delivers ample chills and thrills.

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The Iron Lady (Film)

by Colin Fraser | December 19, 2011 17:35 | Edited December 19, 2011 17:36

A magnificent performance by Meryl Streep drives this riveting, thoughtful and often surprisingly tender biopic, which gets to the heart of this polarising leader.

You'd be forgiven for doubting the director of lightweight fluff like Mamma Mia! could do justice to a biopic about Britain's most famous dictator-in-waiting, Margaret Thatcher. Yet reteamed with Meryl Streep, that's exactly what she has achieved in this riveting, often surprising account of the UK's longest serving, and the West's first female, leader. It's riveting because of Streep's performance, and surprising because The Iron Lady is no hatchet job.

 

The Iron Lady is a probing character study tacked to a whirlwind round-up of career achievements, and this brevity may disappoint some. However, it serves as the film's key strength in a story that explores courage through a now elderly Thatcher's battle with increasing dementia. She's also haunted by the ghost of her late husband, Dennis (Jim Broadbent), who gives Lloyd the perfect vehicle to dip into flashback; from young Margaret's political awakening at the knee of her grocer father, through eleven event-filled years as a belligerent Prime Minister who broke a crippling miner's strike, was bombed in Brighton, went to war with Argentina, and managed to pull a nation off its knees amid tax riots.

 

But these events serve as background, for this is foremost the story of a little old lady who finds the courage to discard her late husband's clothes. Streep is, not surprisingly, magnetic as Thatcher, and consumes the frame with a powerful, all-consuming presence. She travels beyond impersonation to evoke this force of nature's severe intensity, and as a fragile, elderly woman is simply stunning. Together with Broadbent's playfulness, their scenes command an unexpected tenderness, while revealing the single minded determination that made Thatcher one of modern Europe's most revered and despised leaders, as well as a beloved wife. It's this fascinating juxtaposition that makes The Iron Lady such a mesmerising film.