Suffragette

The fight for women’s right to vote – or “suffrage” – took different forms all over the world, but in the United Kingdom in the years before World War One, a lengthy struggle with little progress led to a growing radicalisation of the movement – which is a tricky thing to dramatise. Suffragette does it by focusing on one fictional character – laundress Maud Watts (Carey Mulligan) – who joins the movement and gradually comes to feel the weight of society’s disapproval even as she becomes convinced of the importance of the fight. Dramatically, her story is little more than an excuse to wander through history, and though Mulligan is excellent, it’s a largely thankless role.
 
The history itself is gripping, and individual scenes are often thrilling or horrifying; police crackdowns mirror the anti-terrorist approach of today, while husbands turn out to be even more effective methods of social control. Some of the real-life characters deserve films of their own: Meryl Streep’s one-scene cameo as Emmeline Pankhurst is stirring, while fellow suffragette Emily Davidson (Natalie Press) grows in importance as the story progresses. It has its flaws and it’s hardly an all-encompassing look at feminism. It’s as a history lesson – and even at times as a drama – that this film works best.
Reviewed by Anthony Morris