Meryl Streep in her impersonation of characters, "subsuming herself into them, rather than personifying them". In her early roles such as "Manhattan" and "Kramer vs. Kramer", she was compared to both Diane Keaton and Jill Clayburgh, in that her characters were unsympathetic, which Streep has attributed to the tendency to be drawn to playing women who are difficult to like and lack empathy. Streep has stated that many consider her to be a technical actor, but she professed that it comes down to her love of reading the initial script, adding, "I come ready and I don't want to screw around and
Meryl Streep on screen and stage "Sophie's Choice" (1982). She was awarded the Best Actress Oscar for the latter. Streep portrayed the real-life character of Karen Silkwood in Mike Nichols' drama "Silkwood" (1983), before starring in her most financially successful release of the decade, the romantic drama "Out of Africa" (1985), in which she played the Danish writer Karen Blixen. Despite intermittent successes, Streep's career went through a period of decline post-1985, with several commentators criticizing her for her inclination towards melodramatic roles. The criticism continued despite her attempts to actively star in commercial comedies, films that parodied women's beauty and aging, "She-Devil" (1989) and "Death