The Iron Lady (2011) on Netflix
PG-1320111h 45mBiographyDramaHistory
Elderly and living with dementia, Margaret Thatcher keeps the company of her late husband Denis, who appears to her. Flashbacks trace her rise from a Grantham grocer's shop to prime minister.
- Netflix3.5/5
- IMDb6.4/10117,461 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes52%
Trailer
Plot summary
Margaret Thatcher becomes Britain's first woman prime minister. In old age she is visited by Denis, her late husband, while flashbacks trace her path: a girlhood in Grantham working in her father's grocer's shop and listening to his political speeches; a place at Somerville College, Oxford; and the fight for a seat in a Parliament dominated by men. Denis, a wealthy businessman, is taken with her eloquence and proposes marriage. She agrees, but tells him she has no wish to be only a wife and mother at his side. Her years as Education Secretary under Edward Heath and her friendship with Airey Neave follow.
Cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about The Iron Lady (2011)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- Meryl Streep won the Academy Award for Best Actress for playing Margaret Thatcher, her third Oscar, on her 17th nomination, 29 years after her second win. She also took a third Golden Globe for Best Actress - Drama, her eighth Globe win overall, and a second BAFTA.
- NPR commentator Robert Seigel and Thatcher biographer John Campbell accused writer Abi Morgan and Meryl Streep of using their influence to dictate historical inaccuracies, such as showing no other women serving in the House of Commons in Thatcher's time, to make Thatcher more sympathetic to American audiences.
- The film shows Thatcher being held back by security officers moments after saying goodbye to her friend Airey Neave before his assassination by the Irish National Liberation Army; in fact she was not in Westminster and was told of his death while on official duties elsewhere.
- Burnley punk band Notsensibles' song "I'm in Love with Margaret Thatcher" was left off the soundtrack album but appears in the film 75 minutes in, during Falklands War victory celebrations, and was re-released as a single because of the publicity.
- Margaret Thatcher's children, Mark and Carol, criticized the film's depiction of her and reportedly said before it was finished that "it sounds like some left-wing fantasy."
