Meryl Streep’s emotional speech on empathy

She had a farm in Africa, at the foot of the Ngong Hills, and given how happy and relaxed she has been seen in recent days in Asturias, Spain, no one would be surprised if she now decided to retire to one next to the Picos de Europa. Meryl Streep she collected the Princess of Asturias Award for the Arts on Friday 20 October in Oviedo, in the presence of the royal family, where since her arrival on Wednesday she has been busy with her fans and the cultural agenda that accompanies the awards ceremony.

Winner of three Oscars and eight Golden Globes, the actress is an acceptance speech artist and she didn’t disappoint this time either. Arrived at the Campoamor Theater shortly after six in the morning an elegant black pleated dress with a V-neckline (on which she wore the insignia of the Princess of Asturias Award that the royal family had presented to her in the morning), Meryl Streep began to talk about Spanish culture, Lorca’s theater, and Picasso’s painting, and then concentrated on the craft of actress, claiming the value of the art of getting under the skin of other people, some of whom have very different lives from hers, to encourage empathy between human beings and mutual listening. Here’s what he said:

«In my work I have been criticized for straying too far from my “lived experience,” for straying too far from my truth and identity. All these roles, right? But is it a fraud? Want to embrace the world? Wanting to wander, wonder, or try to see through many different colored eyes and experiences? Who am I, a beautiful middle-class girl from New Jersey, to dare step into the shoes of the first female Prime Minister of the United Kingdom? Or a Polish Holocaust survivor? Or the arbiter of good taste in the world of fashion?” she said, referring to some of her most memorable performances, from Margaret Thatcher to Priscilla Priestley Devil wears Prada.

«Well, I persevere despite the criticism… Because I believe that an actor’s job is to invade, to embody lives that are not like yours. Because the most important part of our work is to make every life accessible to the public sitting in a small theater in Malaga or in streaming anywhere in the world,” continued the actress.

«The uncanny ability to sit together, strangers, in a dark theater or cinemaand experiencing the feelings of people who don’t look or sound like us, is a skill we should all carry within us when we return to the light of day. Empathy can be a radical form of rapprochement and diplomacy, equally useful in other spheres of activity. In this increasingly hostile and volatile world of ours, I hope we can make our own another rule that is taught to all actors: the important thing is to listen.”

Princess Eleanor, born when Meryl Streep had already made around fifty films, underlined in her speech the actress’s ability to “strive of herself to make room for her characters and her works”. And then, she added Felipe VI in his speech: «In comedy and drama she has brought to life passionate female characters who live intense stories, and to characters who face sacrifices and renunciations. She has always done it with love and light, with an absolute dedication that is reflected in every gesture of hers, in every movement of hers, in every intonation of hers”, words that moved Meryl Streep.

Meryl Streep was the undisputed star of this year’s Princess of Asturias Awards. Upon arrival, Wednesday, he attended with Antonio Banderas to a talk about his career where he reviewed films like The devil wears Prada And The Madison Bridges. «I feel like Taylor Swift», was her reaction to the thunder of applause and cheering with which she was welcomed in the auditorium of the Palacio de Exposiciones y Congresos in Oviedo.