The lens of dementia

The movie The Iron Lady--about Margaret Thatcher, prime
minister of Britain from 1979 to 1990--is worth
watching for a number of reasons. One is the opportunity to refresh our
minds about a major figure of recent history and her influence upon
those times. Another is to watch Meryl Streep’s performance in the role. She
loses herself behind a helmet of hair, false teeth, and piles of makeup
to become--brilliantly--Mrs. Thatcher.

Yet another reason — and for me the most compelling one, though it is
quite controversial — is the decision to tell the story from the
perspective of Mrs. Thatcher’s current dementia.

The
movie opens with a frail, old woman tottering away from a grocery
store. In the next scenes, we see Mrs. Thatcher breakfasting with her
husband Denis, then telling him what he’ll wear for the day. Soon we
realize that Denis Thatcher, in fact, is dead, and that his frequent
“presence” is a function of his wife’s current confusion.