Post by Kaz ~;~ on Jul 14, 2012 16:59:06 GMT -5
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Directed by Phyllida Lloyd
Produced by Damian Jones
Written by Abi Morgan
Music by Thomas Newman
Cinematography Elliott Davis
Editing by Justin Wright
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Plot Summary::
The film begins circa 2008 (opening against the backdrop of news of the Islamabad Marriott Hotel bombing) with an elderly Lady Thatcher buying milk unrecognized by other customers and walking back from the shop alone. Over the course of three days we see her struggle with dementia and with the lack of power that comes with old age, while looking back on defining moments of her personal and professional life, on which she reminisces with her (now dead) husband, Denis Thatcher. She is shown as having difficulty distinguishing between the past and present. A theme throughout the film is the personal price which Thatcher has paid for power. Denis is portrayed as somewhat ambivalent about his wife's rise to power, her son Mark lives in South Africa and is shown as having little contact with his mother, and it is implied that Thatcher's relationship with her daughter Carol is at times strained.
In flashback we are shown Thatcher's youth, working in the family grocery store in Grantham, listening to the political speeches of her father, whom she idolised - it is also hinted that she had a poor relationship with her mother, a housewife - and announcing that she has won a place at the University of Oxford. She remembers her struggle, as a young lower-middle class woman, to break into a snobbish male-dominated Tory party and find a seat in the House of Commons, along with businessman Denis Thatcher's marriage proposal to her. Her struggles to fit in as a "Lady Member" of the House, and as Education Secretary in Edward Heath's cabinet are also shown, as are her friendship with Airey Neave (later assassinated by the Irish National Liberation Army), her decision to stand for Leader of the Conservative Party, and her voice coaching and image change.
Further flashbacks examine historical events during her time as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom including the rising unemployment related to her monetarist policies and the tight 1981 budget (over the misgivings of "wet" members of her Cabinet – Ian Gilmour, Francis Pym, Michael Heseltine and Jim Prior), the Brixton Riots of 1981, the miners' strike of 1984–5, and the bombing of the Grand Hotel during the 1984 Conservative Party Conference, when she and Denis were almost killed. We also see (slightly out of chronological sequence) her decision to retake the Falkland Islands following the islands' invasion by Argentina in 1982, the sinking of the ARA General Belgrano and Britain's subsequent victory in the Falklands War, her friendship with Ronald Reagan and emergence as a world figure, and the economic boom of the late 1980s.
By 1990 Thatcher is shown as an imperious but ageing figure, ranting aggressively at her Cabinet, refusing to accept that the Community Charge (the "Poll Tax") is regarded as unjust, and fiercely opposed to European Integration. Her deputy Geoffrey Howe resigns after being humiliated by her in a Cabinet meeting, Michael Heseltine challenges her for the party leadership and her loss of support from her Cabinet colleagues leaves her little choice but to resign as Prime Minister, about which she is shown as still angry and bitter twenty years later.
Eventually, Margaret is shown packing up her late husband's belongings, and telling him it's time for him to go. Denis's ghost leaves her – in spite of her cries that she is not yet ready to lose him – fully dressed but without his shoes, and she is left alone washing up a teacup.
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(cast)
Meryl Streep as Margaret Thatcher
Jim Broadbent as Denis Thatcher[7]
Alexandra Roach as young Margaret Thatcher[8]
Harry Lloyd as young Denis Thatcher
Iain Glen as Alfred Roberts
Olivia Colman as Carol Thatcher
Anthony Head as Geoffrey Howe
Nicholas Farrell as Airey Neave
Richard E. Grant as Michael Heseltine
Martin Wimbush as Mark Carlisle
Paul Bentley as Douglas Hurd
Robin Kermode as John Major
John Sessions as Edward Heath
Roger Allam as Gordon Reece
Michael Pennington as Michael Foot
Angus Wright as John Nott
Julian Wadham as Francis Pym
Ronald Reagan as himself (archive footage)
Reginald Green as Ronald Reagan
Directed by Phyllida Lloyd
Produced by Damian Jones
Written by Abi Morgan
Music by Thomas Newman
Cinematography Elliott Davis
Editing by Justin Wright
==============================
Plot Summary::
The film begins circa 2008 (opening against the backdrop of news of the Islamabad Marriott Hotel bombing) with an elderly Lady Thatcher buying milk unrecognized by other customers and walking back from the shop alone. Over the course of three days we see her struggle with dementia and with the lack of power that comes with old age, while looking back on defining moments of her personal and professional life, on which she reminisces with her (now dead) husband, Denis Thatcher. She is shown as having difficulty distinguishing between the past and present. A theme throughout the film is the personal price which Thatcher has paid for power. Denis is portrayed as somewhat ambivalent about his wife's rise to power, her son Mark lives in South Africa and is shown as having little contact with his mother, and it is implied that Thatcher's relationship with her daughter Carol is at times strained.
In flashback we are shown Thatcher's youth, working in the family grocery store in Grantham, listening to the political speeches of her father, whom she idolised - it is also hinted that she had a poor relationship with her mother, a housewife - and announcing that she has won a place at the University of Oxford. She remembers her struggle, as a young lower-middle class woman, to break into a snobbish male-dominated Tory party and find a seat in the House of Commons, along with businessman Denis Thatcher's marriage proposal to her. Her struggles to fit in as a "Lady Member" of the House, and as Education Secretary in Edward Heath's cabinet are also shown, as are her friendship with Airey Neave (later assassinated by the Irish National Liberation Army), her decision to stand for Leader of the Conservative Party, and her voice coaching and image change.
Further flashbacks examine historical events during her time as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom including the rising unemployment related to her monetarist policies and the tight 1981 budget (over the misgivings of "wet" members of her Cabinet – Ian Gilmour, Francis Pym, Michael Heseltine and Jim Prior), the Brixton Riots of 1981, the miners' strike of 1984–5, and the bombing of the Grand Hotel during the 1984 Conservative Party Conference, when she and Denis were almost killed. We also see (slightly out of chronological sequence) her decision to retake the Falkland Islands following the islands' invasion by Argentina in 1982, the sinking of the ARA General Belgrano and Britain's subsequent victory in the Falklands War, her friendship with Ronald Reagan and emergence as a world figure, and the economic boom of the late 1980s.
By 1990 Thatcher is shown as an imperious but ageing figure, ranting aggressively at her Cabinet, refusing to accept that the Community Charge (the "Poll Tax") is regarded as unjust, and fiercely opposed to European Integration. Her deputy Geoffrey Howe resigns after being humiliated by her in a Cabinet meeting, Michael Heseltine challenges her for the party leadership and her loss of support from her Cabinet colleagues leaves her little choice but to resign as Prime Minister, about which she is shown as still angry and bitter twenty years later.
Eventually, Margaret is shown packing up her late husband's belongings, and telling him it's time for him to go. Denis's ghost leaves her – in spite of her cries that she is not yet ready to lose him – fully dressed but without his shoes, and she is left alone washing up a teacup.
===============================
(cast)
Meryl Streep as Margaret Thatcher
Jim Broadbent as Denis Thatcher[7]
Alexandra Roach as young Margaret Thatcher[8]
Harry Lloyd as young Denis Thatcher
Iain Glen as Alfred Roberts
Olivia Colman as Carol Thatcher
Anthony Head as Geoffrey Howe
Nicholas Farrell as Airey Neave
Richard E. Grant as Michael Heseltine
Martin Wimbush as Mark Carlisle
Paul Bentley as Douglas Hurd
Robin Kermode as John Major
John Sessions as Edward Heath
Roger Allam as Gordon Reece
Michael Pennington as Michael Foot
Angus Wright as John Nott
Julian Wadham as Francis Pym
Ronald Reagan as himself (archive footage)
Reginald Green as Ronald Reagan
