Any worries about whether the British moviegoing public would accept an American actress, Meryl Streep, playing former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher were laid to rest today (Tuesday) as the first U.K. comments about The Iron Lady appeared in the London press. The London Daily Mirror had already commented that Street plays Thatcher "to perfection." Xan Brooks, the film critic for The Guardian chimed in today (Tuesday) that Streep's "performance is astonishing and all but flawless; a masterpiece of mimicry which re-imagines Thatcher in all her half-forgotten glory. Streep has the basilisk stare; the tilted, faintly predatory posture. Her delivery, too, is eerily good -- a show of demure solicitude, invariably overtaken by steely, wild-eyed stridency." And David Gritten adds in The Telegraph "Streep is splendid, giving a detailed, authoritative performance that goes way beyond accurate impersonation to evoke Thatcher's spirit. One can think of a few talented British actresses who might have acquitted themselves well in the role, but it's hard to imagine them doing it better than Streep."

15/11/2011