Dir: Phyllida Lloyd
Meryl Streep, Jim Broadbent
Running time: 105 minutes
THE IRON LADY has split the opinion of the critics right down the middle - and many will suggest, not unfairly, that it is quite an appropriate verdict on a figure as divisive as Margaret Thatcher.
But, while I think little for Thatcherism and feel some disdain at the extent to which it sadly pervades British politics today, at the same time I found this biopic rather engaging and also strangely moving.
The film benefits from a simple background plot in which an ageing Mrs Thatcher (Meryl Streep) is being helped by her daughter Carol (Olivia Colman) to clear out the clothes of Mrs Thatcher's late husband, Denis (Jim Broadbent).
We find that Denis is never far away from Mrs Thatcher's thoughts. In fact, she still sees him all of time and his sharp sense of humour ensures that he gets many of the best lines.
In the same way as Denis is close to Mrs Thatcher's thoughts, so are the former premier's political memories, and these are presented in a series of flashbacks.
This device may seem a little contrived for some critics but it logically allows the film to shift time from present to past with a smooth chronology.
We get to see how Mrs Thatcher rose through her party from an unpromising position to win power in the 1979 general election; how she then overcame her early problems in government with decisive victories in the Falklands abroad and at home against the miners.
And, finally, how she ultimately fell from grace with her party split over Europe and her popularity diminished by her introduction of the regressive poll tax.
There are, of course, scenes throughout the film of Mrs Thatcher debating in the House of Commons and heading her Cabinet meetings. However, none of the issues mentioned above is presented in the context of a political discourse.
For, that is not what this film set out to do - these are, more simply, the sepia-tinged memories of Mrs Thatcher and her thoughts upon them now.
Still, nothing of what I have written yet explains why someone like me - far removed from the Thatcher political philosophy - found the film "rather engaging and strangely moving".
Well, while I am not about to start paying subscription fees to her fan club, even this Thatcher detractor must concede that the drive and ambition which the young Mrs Thatcher showed in rising to the top was remarkable.
In this regard, Streep does fantastically well to convey the conviction and steely determination of the green-grocer's daughter, written off by many even from inside her own party.
Nowhere in the film is this better shown than in the scenes in the Commons where, at the height of her power, Mrs Thatcher's screechy oration was able to control the attention of a rowdy chamber full of men.
However, for me, Streep really excels with her portrayal of the much older Mrs Thatcher as a dementia sufferer in the present.
Dementia is an illness which is no respecter of authority and Streep's accurate representation of how it affects one of the previously most powerful persons in the world is highly commendable.
As you may have guessed, dementia is something which is rather close to home for me. Two of my deceased grandparents suffered from it, and my remaining 80-year-old nanna is also having her final years blighted by it.
I do not think I will ever understand how the brain will allow a person to remember vividly a moment from 30 years ago or more, and yet that same person cannot say what month it is, or what they had for breakfast.
Oddly, the illness is still largely treated as a bit of a taboo subject when it comes to film and television, and so members of the Alzheimer's Society forums have been heartened to see it highlighted on the big screen.
I can only add my support to this and, consequently, I am happy to concede that Meryl Streep's Iron Lady has found an unlikely ally.
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