So, while I can't say that I bought into Suffragette's dramatisation of the burgeoning feminist movement in the U.K., there was certainly enough in its survey of the movement's actions to warrant the attention of men eager to dispute its most basic assertion, namely that women were treated as lesser creatures. The fact that something so blatantly obvious can be called into question by these men proves they possess levels of self-delusion unfathomable by you or me.
Abi Morgan's carefully ciphered screenplay blends fact and fiction to educational effect, focussing predominantly on the "radicalisation" of a young (fictional) laundry worker, Maud Watts (Carey Mulligan). Maud is roped into providing testimony to a the British Parliament to support an amendment to the tabled suffrage bill. Her efforts don't get the promised result, and in the fracas that follows the announcement Maud is arrested; her time in prison leaves her world in tatters.
Support is supplied by the the Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU), predominantly by militant (fictional) suffragette pharmacist, Edith Ellyn (Helena Bonham Carter) and (real) martyrdom-primed suffragette Emily Wilding Davison (Natalie Press), both close associates of the movement's (real) firebrand leader, Emmeline Pankhurst (Meryl Streep in cameo format).
What Suffragette does extremely well is locate Maud's struggle for both legitimacy as a member of society and the continuation of her family life within the all encompassing patriarchy. Morgan provides more than a glancing overview of the issues and manages to work in the very real impact of the women's actions. What is lacking though is dramatic tension. It appears in moments, some extremely effective, but not in the ebb and flow of the film as a whole. It is all a little lifeless.
A solid primer but not the rabble rousing polemic that I am sure many would have been hoping for.
★★★
Trailer:
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