Meryl Streep, America’s favorite actress™, plays an unhappy, Midwestern wife to Tommy Lee Jones in Hope Springs, opening today. The film is apparently much more somber than it looks, at least if you’ve seen any posters or commercials for the film, which paint Streep as a chirpy empty-nester hell-bent on spicing up her defunct sex life. But we’ve reached a point now at which it’s become almost too easy to peg Streep’s roles to a certain type of character: buoyant and bubbly, glasses on and off in films like It’s Complicated and Mamma Mia! to more stoic, juicily melodramatic fare like Doubt and The Iron Lady. We’ve devised a definitive, comprehensive matrix that plots Streep’s shining moments in cinema, from her yappy, overbearing Jewish mother in Prime to the French lieutenant’s woman in … well, you know.

+ Show Photo Credits Doubt: Courtesy of Miramax Films

The Iron Lady: Courtesy of the Weinstein Company

The French Lieutenant’s Woman: Courtesy of United Artists

Ironweed: Courtesy of Columbia TriStar

Manhattan: Courtesy of United Artists

Kramer vs. Kramer: Courtesy of Columbia Pictures



Sophie’s Choice: Courtesy of Universal Pictures

The Deer Hunter: Courtesy of Universal Pictures

Silkwood: Courtesy of Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation

The Hours: Courtesy of Miramax Films

Angels in America: Courtesy of Home Box Office (HBO)

Julie & Julia: Courtesy of Columbia Pictures

Adaptation: Courtesy of Sony Pictures Entertainment (SPE)

Out of Africa: Courtesy of Universal Pictures

The Bridges of Madison County: Courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures

One True Thing: Courtesy of Universal Pictures

Music of the Heart: Courtesy of Miramax Films



The Devil Wears Prada: Courtesy of Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation

Death Becomes Her: Courtesy of Universal Pictures

She-Devil: Courtesy of Orion Pictures Corporation

The Manchurian Candidate: Courtesy of Paramount Pictures



Heartburn: Courtesy of Paramount Pictures

Postcards from the Edge: Courtesy of Columbia Pictures

Prime: Courtesy of Universal Pictures

The River Wild: Courtesy of Universal Pictures

Defending Your Life: Courtesy of Geffen Pictures

Hope Springs: Courtesy of Columbia Pictures

It’s Complicated: Courtesy of Universal Pictures

Mamma Mia: Courtesy of Universal Pictures Click to view matrix