Remarkably it’s still less than 100 years since women over 21 universally got the vote here in the UK. It was in 1928 following a partial victory 10 years previously when the vote was afforded to women over 30 who met minimum property qualifications. Yet we still need reminding that women got far less pay and had little or no rights over their bodies, families and jobs. Without a husband or private financial means there was very little status and women frequently lost their lives to poverty and ill health.
The film Suffragette picks the bones of society in the early 20th century, tracking the story of the early feminist movement as they fought for the right to vote. Forced underground, women from across the social strata pursued a dangerous and often violent campaign against an increasingly brutal State. Coming to the conclusion that peaceful protest achieved nothing some turned to anarchy to force change, and lost everything in their fight for equality, including their lives.
Even though in Western society our rights have been transformed as a result of the early Suffrage movement there are times in the film where I strongly identified with the hopelessness portrayed by the lead character Maud Watts, played by Cary Mulligan, in her attempts to engage her contemporaries. She couldn’t rely on her fellow workers and neighbours to support her actions and, as with a lot of pioneers, she was rejected for standing up for what she believed in.
As a woman you still have to be courageous to step up in the face of invisible discrimination – faced with abuse from her boss, husband and the police Maud is the very personification of the Women’s Suffrage motto ‘deeds not words’. A composite character based on several real women whose experiences were recorded at the time, she runs the full gamut of imprisonment, hunger strikes, force feeding, terrorism and abandonment.
All this was achieved with unflinching realism and the story wasn’t glamorised or sensationalised. Stunning cinematography and a gut gripping musical score underpinned a roster of gritty performances, notably Cary Mulligan and Ann Marie Duff, as the two lead protaganists. As ever Helena Bonham Carter delivers impeccably and even gets a rye laugh out of what is a poignant portrayal of a very black period in female history. This is nicely polished off with a cameo appearance by Meryl Streep as Emmeline Pankhurst, thankfully as far removed from her ironclad performance as Margaret Thatcher as it could get.
Behind the scenes this film is as much a celebration of female talent as it is on the screen. It is directed by Sarah Gavron, who reprised her partnership with The Iron Lady screenwriter Abi Morgan, who she worked with on Brick Lane, and the producers are Faye Ward and Alison Owen.
Suffragette opens in cinemas nationwide on 12th October 2015
