The Three Phases of Meryl Streep

She may do less ambitious roles now — but she’s earned the right

Meryl Streep in “The Devil Wears Prada” / Fox 2002

Back in the 1980s, you often heard Meryl Streep called “the world’s greatest living actress.” What happened to that view? The critic Erick Neher divides Streep’s career into three phases that may explain why it’s less common now:

• The somber dramas of the 1980s (Silkwood and…