IN The Devil Wears Prada, Hollywood heroine Meryl Streep cut an imposing figure as the impeccably coiffed and clothed ice-queen Miranda Priestly, a fictionalised fashion magazine editor inspired by US Vogue's dictatorial boss, Anna Wintour.
In Julie & Julia, she wowed with her uncanny portrayal of the woman credited as having taught Americans how to cook, Julia Child, right down to that distinctively shrill voice.
Many years earlier, she mastered a range of accents in a career that has undergone something of a recent renaissance, finding a whole new generation of fans.
Now, in The Iron Lady, Streep draws on yet another meticulously detailed character depiction as the iron-fisted former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher.
Director Phyllida Lloyd, who worked with Streep on Mamma Mia!, has created a biopic based on a script that glosses over the conservative Thatcher's beginnings as the daughter of a shop owner.
More of a character back-story could have gone towards understanding her seemingly ruthless domestic and foreign policies.
What we do get, however, is a story of a woman who rose to the top at a time when females were expected to play the role of housekeeper, not parliament housekeeper.
Notably, Thatcher isn't glorified, with her private life falling apart, haunted by personal and political decisions.
The Iron Lady isn't without its flaws - the disjointed narrative can be irksome - but Streep's masterclass performance proves transcendent.
Whether the actor with the record for Oscar nominations (16) can win that elusive third statuette some three decades after her last one (Sophie's Choice in 1982) is anyone's guess, but surely, yet another astonishing performance is worth the majority vote.
THE Iron Lady (M)
Directed by: Phyllida Lloyd
Starring: Meryl Streep, Jim Broadbent
Rating: Four stars
Screening: Now
Reviewed by: Emilia Vranjes