GFF 2011: Streep's Ahead

It’s difficult to pinpoint one outstanding attribute of Meryl Streep that has distinguished her within a generation of actors, apart from that of sheer range. Her diversity within genre and her authoritative use of language and dialect, she is a performer who can run the gamut inside a single scene without once bordering on hammy. Within the GFF’s overall retrospective, we look back at her glorious formative years, which define her as one of the best character actors of her generation.

In 1977, after witnessing her in the play The Cherry Orchard, Robert De Niro recommended Streep to Michael Cimino for what was to become her breakthrough performance in the post-Vietnam relevance of The Deer Hunter. She proved naturally adept as the playful yet wounded Linda, who was abused by her father and torn between two men, gaining her first of sixteen Oscar nominations.

Her next prominent role in Kramer Vs Kramer with Dustin Hoffman was courageously provocative in its 1979 context, sparking discussion regarding the perceived vilification of women who end their marriages. However political it came to be, her performance was lauded for its brave honesty; as always it was method in nature and reportedly drew from Streep’s own personal loss of her then partner, actor John Cazale, the previous year.

In 1981, alongside Jeremy Irons, Streep starred in The French Lieutenant's Woman, ‘a film within a film’, as an actress playing the eponymous Sarah, a Victorian anti-heroine. Obliquely feminist in tone, the film told a melancholy love story that parallelled the lives of the actors playing it. Again, Streep chose a role that challenged attitudes towards women in society, highlighting aspects of contemporary culture that seemed none-too-far removed from cruel archaic values, while blurring lines regarding female passive aggression.

Streep won a Best Actress Oscar for Sophie’s Choice the following year, for her portrayal of a woman and her legacy of guilt after being forced to make a terrible choice between her children during the Holocaust. Unravelling gradually, Streep’s terror is palpable in the most horrific way. Her soundless wail as her screaming daughter is carried away is visceral in its soul-wrenching realism, and is arguably her finest performance.

In contrast, the last twenty five years have seen Streep appear in more light-hearted roles, which although leaner, have held her affectionately in the public eye; we're looking at you, Mamma Mia!. Unsurprisingly, those who prefer her serious side are eagerly anticipating her next role in The Iron Lady. Meryl Streep as Margaret Thatcher is so perfectly cast - the part requiring such a stridency and particular vocal prowess - that in retrospect it almost seems impossible anyone else could be considered for it. As a woman at the forefront of a man’s world, Streep is a master at displaying pertinence in her dramatic roles, succinctly expressed by the actor herself who once said, "I want to feel my life while I’m in it", feelings generously shared with any who have witnessed her great contribution to cinema in its golden age.