THE IRON LADY (Phyllida Lloyd, 2012)
Biopics are risky. People are always looking for authenticity, veracity, or fearlessness in storytelling- especially if the subject is a controversial figure. There's a good way of doing it (GANDHI, THE SOCIAL NETWORK) and then there's a bad way of doing it (AMELIA, CLEOPATRA). In the end, it's what you have to say for your subject that makes all the difference. Take THE IRON LADY for example. The subject is former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher-controversial indeed. The actress playing the character is Meryl Streep- more than capable. But what does the film want to say about Thatcher? The focus of screenwriter Abi Morgan's script is on how Thatcher remembers her rise to glory and eventual downfall, and director Phyllida Lloyd, who reteams with Streep since MAMMA MIA mounts the scenes and pieces them together like a memory: non-linear, jagged, and selective, which is not to say that there isn't any amount of truth in the telling. We see Thatcher as sh...