Wasn’t Meryl superb as Margaret Thatcher? And whatever you think of the politics and of the rights and wrongs of basing a movie around someone’s life while that person is still with us, there is something be said for a work that provides such insight into the process of aging – particularly of the extent to which individuals are aware of their failing mental faculties. How difficult it must be to disregard hallucinations in the evening when what you see with your own eyes is so utterly believable. For Mrs Thatcher as she is depicted in The Iron Lady, her late husband, Denis, is a benign presence – a companion and comforter visible only to herself. Not everyone suffering from what the Americans sometimes call “Sundowners” (a phenomenon where the elderly suffering from early stages of dementia can have hallucinations in the evening) is so lucky. Sometimes these hallucinations are frightening adding to the agitation that can accompany dementia in the elderly. Anyone who has had to care for a relative or friend experiencing such symptoms knows only too well how exhausting and frustrating it can be. It is not a comfortable subject and we don’t see it too often at the movies. Iris was another example (and an excellent movie with Judi Dench playing the writer, Iris Murdoch). Whatever you think of The Iron Lady, there is a lesson in it for those of us who are not yet at that stage in our lives and that must surely be to be kinder. For raising awareness, Meryl Streep and Phyllida Lloyd deserve some credit.
