The (Golden) Iron Lady

 A couple of weeks ago, something incredible happened to me.
The reason why I have waited so long to write about it is that, immediately after, I went away for my job and I didn't have much time to dedicate to the blog. Nevertheless, this event couldn't get out of my mind, and I actually think it will stay there for ever: I had a glass of champagne with Meryl Streep! 
Yes, I know, it sounds unreal, but I swear: it is the truth.
On January 6, Ms. Streep was in Paris for the French avant-première of The Iron Lady, the film about former UK Prime-Minister Margaret Thatcher, together with the director of the movie, Phyllida Lloyd. I had an invitation for the event through my friends at Pathé (Véronique, je t'aime!), and so I had the chance to see the movie and the Master Class following the screening, where the actress and the director talked about their experience.

I have to confess I was quite disappointed by the film: I didn't like the structure of it, there was something fake about the whole construction of the scenes and I thought this was a burden to the fruition of the story. One can only admire the persistence of Ms. Thatcher, who clearly struggled every day as a woman in a world of men, but her reasons, the things she has done, the decisions she has made, what kind of person she was, well, that's another whole story, and I didn't clearly understand which was the movie's point of view. This was particularly sad for me because I greatly admire the work of Abi Morgan, the screenplayer, who previously wrote the BBC tv series The Hour and, together with Steve McQueen, the movie Shame. Anyway, there was one thing I absolutely admired and adored in the movie, and that was Meryl Streep's performance. I mean, she doesn't play Margaret Thatcher, SHE IS Margaret Thatcher, and there are no adjectives to describe her work on this. I guess the audience in the cinema agreed with me, because when Meryl Streep appeared after the movie, there was a spontaneous and very long standing ovation. Catherine Deneuve, Isabelle Huppert and Louis Garrel were part of our team (I saw them!).

For a series of circumstances too complicated and a bit private to explain, few minutes after all this was over, I found myself seated at the same table with Meryl Streep and Isabelle Huppert at the bar of a very fancy parisian hotel, drinking champagne. Well, my boss was with me, and this is actually the only reason why I was there and I had this incredible chance (Grazie, Capo!). As it happens often to me in this kind of situations, I completely loose any sense of reality (something I am lacking of even in my every day life)  and I keep looking around, asking myself: Is this real? Is this really happening? It is also one of those few, very few circumstances, where I become shy and I am not able to speak a single word. I gaze upon people in disbelief, as if they were still on a screen instead of being seated close to me. And last, but not least, I have the bad habit to think about all the questions I am dying to ask and I know I can't, because it is just not possible in a situation like that, where people talk about everything but cinema. As a result, I didn't hear about a single word they were saying, I simply stared at Ms. Streep thinking about how gorgeous, gentle, intelligent, nice, curious, talented, and perfect, she looked. 
Then I heard my boss saying something about me and my passion for cinema. Ms. Streep looked at me and said: Oh, really? This is great. At that point, I confessed I was a cinema blogger. When she heard about it, Ms. Streep gently put her hand on my knees and said, with the sweetest voice: Then, when you write about actors in your blog, please, try to be not too severe with us! 
I was totally amazed by this. Don't you think it is the most incredible thing to hear from the mouth of the best actress in the world? 
On the screen she is an Iron Lady, but in real life, believe me, she is a Golden one.