Mary, have not seen this film and am not sure that I want to.
Margaret Thatcher seems to bring out a huge range of feelings/opinions in the UK; I'm sure far more than any comparable male politician.
I am generalising here, but the impression I get is that Meryl Streep's performance is by far the best thing about the movie while the 'events' of MT's political 'rule' are shown as a fleeting series of 'overviews'.
Many people consider that taking a still-living person's 'story' and using their on-going deterioration from dementia as the starting point, with no permission or cooperation from their family, as just not cricket.

I found this article in Saturday's Daily Telegraph. It is written by Max Pemberton, a young doctor who usually has a column on medical matters and comes from a background totally opposed to anything MT stood for.

Here is a link that might be useful: Uneasy Voyeurs

Have not seen it yet ... but am planning to. I'm not always an admirer of Streep's acting -- eg: her rendition of Julia Child was like watching someone "tipsy" (slightly drunk) doing a goofy imitation. There have been a few clips of her "doing" MT on TV lately -- her performance in these looks pretty good.

Veer - Thanks for the link. "Social death", yes, that's a good way of putting it, when someone is still alive, but is treated as if their former self is now a wooden image -- not longer a human. Maybe I won't see this movie, after all. ...

Vee-thanks for the link. I really enjoyed the review and even the comments from posters.
I haven't seen the movie and don't care to, I don't care how good a performance.

Pat

Vee,

Thanks for the link to that excellent article which threw a new slant on that film for me. And thanks for such a balanced, dispassionate post. I wouldn't have gone to see the film anyway because of my strong feelings about Thatcher.

Dido

I still recommend the film, although I take the point of the article Vee posted. It reminded me of similar discussion about the film "Iris", some years ago,re: the gifted poet who developed Alzheimers. However, if I recall correctly, Iris was already deceased when this movie was made and permission was granted from her husband to tell her story.

True, Dame Iris was dead, and the movie was heavily based on a book published by her husband, Elegy for Iris.

Regardless, I don't have any interest in seeing the film, but I can see why it could be interesting.

OT from the OT (LOL!)

Was there some anger over "The Queen"? I don't think I read anything about how Britain received that movie -- certainly Princess Di was gone, but everybody else was still alive, and there was still a contingent devoted to the Royals, no? There were quite a number of barbs in that movie, IIRC -- just as much of what wasn't said as what was.

pammyfay, I think 'The Queen' film went down fairly well over here. The country had closely followed the tragic death of Diana P of Wales and the aftermath, wildly stirred up by the tabloid press . . .why wasn't the Queen in London? Why wasn't the Union Flag flying on Buckingham Palace? I don't remember any particular 'barbs' implicit or otherwise , but then it is some time since I saw it.
As to devotion to the Royals. There will always be a hard-core of anties republicans, naysayers and so on but I think there is a genuine feeling of affection towards the Queen herself. This year is the celebration of her Diamond Jubilee and it seems she is expected to do even more walkabouts/open things/show an interest/smile/pin on medals etc.
The vast majority of UK citizens and many people from the Commonwealth still prefer a monarchy to the dreadful prospect of having a political figure as Head of State . . . we rate politicians as pretty low, along with journalists and 'estate agents' (people who sell houses) ;-)
While hunting around on google looking for newspaper reports on the Thatcher film I noticed many 'comments' added by readers to one of the on-line Guardian film write-ups. Several were of such a vituperative nature they had been removed and many others carried a wide range of four-letter words. It seems a pity that whatever someones political feelings they cannot express themselves without using foul language.

Vee, were the "vituperative remarks" you found damning the film? Just wondering....

Mary, no all the extremely crude remarks were aimed at Mrs Thatcher, calling her a ***** *****, how they hated her and how she had ruined their lives, those of their families and, more or less, the population of the entire country. She was being blamed for every ill that has ever befallen the UK. All the comments were so unpleasantly personal. I just get the feeling that there is some sort of anti-strong-female thing at work and that such language wouldn't be used about a male politician.

Yours is a 'reds under the bed' straw man veer, Thatcher definitely used her femininity to manipulate the men she encountered but she did a lot of real damage to the working class Briton and this is the real reason why she is disliked with vituperation. I dislike the woman viscerally, as for the movie I have yet to have the chance to see it.

My English friends, husband and wife, both university professors, always referred to her as "that woman" and would never mention her name. She did much damage to the universities. I don't want to see the film, though, Alzheimers is no joke. How would Americans receive a film about President Reagan who also became demented?

I can't imagine such a film being made about a living person, depicting their condition while they are actually suffering from it. And I can't imagine such a film being made about Reagan while he was alive. I think the potential lawsuits would have tied up the making or distribution of such film for many years.

About 40 years ago, YIKES, there was the most delightful Christmas story in either Woman's Day or Family Circle. The kids loved it and we read it every year. Somewhere along the line it was lost.

Story goes, a man looking suspiciosly like Santa saves a live Charlie Brown tree which he plants in the grass strip in front of his brownstone, where he feeds the birds. He cares for it tenderly and it thrives. One Christmas Eve as he looks out the window every brach tip has a beautiful bird, cardinal, blue jays, etc. on it.

I would love to find this magazine for my grandchildren.

Have tried all kinds of archives without luck.

Wow! Was that happy gardener's creative way to bring this conversation back to the top? Or was she/he really wanting help finding a story? I don't get it.

Anyway, regarding the possibility of a Reagan movie: there is a large segment of this country that considers him practically a saint. Today's Republican presidential candidates fall all over themselves to somehow tie themselves to Reagan and his ideology. I wasn't familiar with how the British public feel about Thatcher, but I don't think Reagan has the kind of haters that Vee mentions. I could be wrong.

Saw The Iron Lady last weekend, and upon consideration, I did not like the movie. Framing the entire movie with Thatcher's Alzheimer's diminished Thatcher and made for a boring film. How many minutes of screen time depicting her reluctance, for years, to get rid of her dead husbands clothes did we need?

Forget her politics. She came to power as a conservative during a tough time for women. They spent more time on packing up her husbands clothes than that potentially fascinating aspect of her life. She and said husband survived a hotel bombing directed specifically at her. Again, we spent more time with her reluctance to pack up hubby's clothes.

I admit, I'll buy a point of view if it's developed subtly. Beat me over my head with it and I'll have nothing but contempt for it.

Agenda driven movie. Boring. Spectacular performances, makeup, and costumes, however. I wore those same spectator pumps through the 70s and 80s and I had earrings practically identical to the ones Streep wore. Wouldn't have been caught dead in those blouses with the big bows at the neck, though, too girly for me.

sarah canary

While I appreciate that you thought I was being creative, I actually posted to the Iron Lady in error. Best mistake I've made in a long time!!

Got a reply from frances md with info I've been searching for for 40 years. Book now on its way from Amazon.