MovieChat Forums > The Iron Lady (2012) Discussion > Question for British people about Meryl'...

Question for British people about Meryl's accent

posted 9 years ago by tilvio
7 replies | jump to latest

I've watched this movie uncountable times: I know Meryl Streep is the queen of accents, etc etc. But what I really want to know is if her accent along this film was actually capable of fooling a Brit.
Was she really THAT perfect?

[–] PurpleProseOfCairo 8 years ago

I would have to say yes. This is one of my hobby horses and I think I have a fine ear for Americans doing Brit and vice versa. I thought Streep was incredible in this - she didn't quite capture Thatcher's (for want of a better word) "patronising" tone. That's not a criticism of Thatcher - as the movie shows, she had elocution lessons, and, I'm sure, other training so that she could fit in with the higher echelons of society. As a result there was a certain fakeness about her when she was trying to sound concerned, which Streep didn't manage. I think Meryl did a great job.

[–] Spielburger 8 years ago

I thought Streep was incredible in this - she didn't quite capture Thatcher's (for want of a better word) "patronising" tone. That's not a criticism of Thatcher - as the movie shows, she had elocution lessons, and, I'm sure, other training so that she could fit in with the higher echelons of society. As a result there was a certain fakeness about her when she was trying to sound concerned, which Streep didn't manage.

It's perhaps worth noting that Margaret Thatcher was rather unusual in that her voice and manner were remodelled by elocution lessons twice.

As was quite common at the time for a grammar school pupil with ambitions of going to Oxford or Cambridge, she had elocution lessons as a child.
Then, after she became leader of the Conservative party, she had elocution lessons again as part of the reworking of her public image.

Interesting article here:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/margaret-thatcher/8999746/How-Maggie-Thatcher-was-remade.html
"Elocution lessons rendered the exaggerated, upper-class accent she had acquired as a young woman into more ordinary speech, though opponents regarded her new voice as both nannying and condescending. As well as hiring a voice coach from the National Theatre to teach her to breathe correctly and speak more slowly, Reece sent her off to see Laurence Olivier, who taught her the importance of projecting her own personality in a speech rather than parroting someone else’s script."

--
"So I've got bullets, but no gun. That's quite Zen."

[–] Mercader79 8 years ago

It's perhaps worth noting that Margaret Thatcher was rather unusual in that her voice and manner were remodelled by elocution lessons twice.

Very true. She certainly didn't sound like a typical Briton. I've never met anyone who speaks quite like her (I am British). Streep did well.

[–] 8 years ago

[deleted]

[–] slimone (7996) 4 years ago

I agree! Her accent sounded perfect to me.

[–] Adcro 7 years ago

She was perfect, not just in accent but as Thatcher her voice was perfect.

[–] fanaticita 7 years ago

I agree! She was magnificent.