They used to say there were no good roles in Hollywood for women over 40. In 1989, when that moment arrived, they had to make an exception for Meryl Streep.

But times have changed. We’re living through a rare golden age for older actresses thriving, not one of whom is the chameleonic Streep in disguise. In fact, were you to clock the forthcoming attractions at this year’s Venice Film Festival, you might be taken aback by a paucity of roles for women under 40 – so dominant is the star power of these veteran divas.

Already, industry legends have been sauntering off vaporetti and bedazzling the world’s press corps. One such is 49-year-old Angelina Jolie, who plays Maria Callas in the final years of her life for Chilean director Pablo Larraín, in the biopic Maria. Two more are Catherine O’Hara (70) and Winona Ryder (52), reunited as the same temperamentally ill-matched mother and daughter we last saw them play 36 whole years ago in