Meryl Streep 'should win third Oscar' for Thatcher role

US actress Meryl Streep should win an Oscar for playing Margaret Thatcher in The Iron Lady, her co-star and director said at the film's European premiere.

"I'd love to see her win," said Jim Broadbent, who plays Denis Thatcher in the film. "I'm sure she will."

Director Phyllida Lloyd joked that there would be "questions in the house" if Streep was not recognised.

The 62-year-old has been widely praised for her portrayal of the former British prime minister.

Yet the film itself has seen mixed reviews in the run-up to its UK release on Friday.

Streep - who previously won Academy Awards for her roles in Kramer vs Kramer and Sophie's Choice - was buffeted by wind as she arrived at Wednesday's premiere at the BFI Southbank in London.

Olivia Colman, Richard E Grant and Anthony Head were among the other cast members who attended the event.

Streep said her latest role had been "special because there are such vehement opinions" about the former politician.

"People seemed to look at her as an icon or a monster and I just wanted to locate the human being inside."

The actress has been saluted for a performance that spans Thatcher's life from her first appearances in Parliament to her current dotage.

Yet reservations have been expressed about the film, described in Thursday's Daily Mail as "naive" and "jaw-droppingly misconceived".

The movie, critic Chris Tookey claims, "sacrifices complexity and depth in order to pretend that Thatcher was something she never set out to be - a feminist icon".

His sentiments were echoed by Kate Muir in the Times, who said "Streep's five-star performance is trapped in an unsatisfying three-star film."

"The divisive politics of her reign are soft-coated with a hymn to her femininity and a dirge for her dementia," the reviewer continues.

According to Lloyd, who previously directed Streep in Mamma Mia, the Thatcher family had turned down an invitation to watch the film.

"We invited them to see the film when we'd just completed it and they didn't come to see it at that time, which I quite understand," she said.