SUFFRAGETTE

UK, 2015, 106 minutes,Colour.
Carey Mulligan, Helena Bonham Carter, Anne-Marie? Duff, Brendan Gleeson, Ben Wishaw, Geoff Bell, Natalie Press, Samuel West, Finbar Lynch, Meryl Streep.
Directed by Sarah Gavron.

One of the surprises of Suffragette is the listing before the final credits of the dates when and where women received the vote, significantly New Zealand in 1893, Australia in 1902, with Mrs Pankhurst and her suffragette movement in the second decade of the 20th century – and then information about Britain in 1928, France in 1944 and, very surprisingly, Switzerland and the vote for women as late as 1971.

This film is very much a women’s film, a female director, Sarah Gavron (Brick Lane), writer Abi Morgan (The Iron Lady) and a strong female cast led by Carey Mulligan, Helena Bonham Carter and Anne-Marie? Duff, with a strong cameo by Meryl Streep as Mrs Emmeline Pankhurst. There are some interesting performances by men as well, Brendan Gleeson as the chief of police, suspicious of the women, upholding the law, with Ben Whishaw as Carey Mulligan’s husband proving to be chauvinist in his attitudes towards his wife, and Geoff Bell as the unscrupulous manager of the Bethnal Green laundry.

The film focuses on a small group of women, symbolising the whole suffragette movement. At its centre is Maud Watts, Carey Mulligan, a young woman who has worked in the laundry since she was a child, seeing her mother die at work, now married, her husband also working in the laundry, and with a young son, living in a working class street in East London. She encounters a member of the movement, Violet, Anne-Marie? Duff, strong but frail, whom Maud helps, especially gaining a job for her daughter who is sexually harassed by the manager of the laundry. When her son is ill, she goes to the local pharmacist, Edith, Helena Bonham Carter, whose father prevented her from becoming a doctor but who are still skilled at helping people. Both women are heavily involved in the suffragette movement, Edith having gone to prison several times (but supported strongly by her husband).

Through unforeseen circumstances, Maud finds herself delivering a speech in the House of Commons, members of parliament led by Lloyd George listening to the experiences of women. The audience listens attentively, as do the parliamentarians, when Maude outlines the hard life that she has led, the hard work, the family struggle, the lower pay…

As Maude becomes more involved with the suffragettes, she is present at a rousing speech given by Mrs Pankhurst, is impressed, becomes committed, cannot agree with her husband and finds that she is ousted from her own home, having to live in an old church. One of the most moving and emotional scenes concerns Sonny deciding that they should give up their son for adoption.

The suffragette movement was quite vigorous, not just with protests (with police exercising brutality to put the women down, arresting them, imprisoning them) but with acts of sabotage, ranging from throwing stones in shop windows in Regent Street to a demonstration that leads to a fatality at the race track in the presence of King George V.

With such commitment and energy, audiences may be expecting the film to show that the suffragettes won their voting rights and other rights immediately – but this is not the case, many years before success.

The film is rousing, focuses on a small group who represent the whole movement. And, of course, it reminds us of courses and protests in the present – and our wondering how they will be represented in 100 years time.

1. The history of the suffragette movement: information, New Zealand 1893, Australia 1902, Britain 1928, France 1944, Switzerland 1971?

2. The focus on British activities, changes over 100 years?

3. The British perspective, scenes in London, the workers’ area in Bethnal Green, the laundries, houses, streets? Work, pay, sexual harassment and abuse? The feminist movement, suffragettes, action, protest, sabotage, the police, police brutality, prison, speeches in Parliament?

4. The re-creation of the period, dark, east London, the interior of the laundry, the interiors of the homes, the pharmacy shop? The contrast with Westminster, the Houses of Parliament? The country estate? The musical score?

5. The focus on a small group, a cross-section of women, Mrs Pankhurst?

6. Maude, the focus of the story, Carey Mulligan’s presence, her age, marriage, relationship with Sonny, her son, work in the laundry from an early age, her mother and her death, her becoming a specialist at the laundry? The attentions of Norman Taylor?

7. The laundry, Taylor, the hard and constant work, ironing and folding, deliveries, the range of women working, the men including Sonny, the young girls, exploitation, Taylor spurning the women’s movement?

8. The women, having to be tough, Violet, her marriage, her children, frailty? The tough work, Violet’s involvement in the movement? Maude helping her, helping her daughter?

9. Maude and the delivery, taking the bus, at the riot in central London, the smashing the windows at the shop, going home, shaken, Sonny delivering the package, taking her son to school?

10. Her son, illness, going to the pharmacy, Edith taking his temperature, Edith and her pictures and certificates, the support of her husband?

11. Sonny, his attitude towards the women’s movement, looking down on it, forbidding Maud to be involved, his male demands for her to be his wife, her arrest, arriving home late, his ousting her, her quietly seeing her son, his birthday and the present? The issue of the adoption, the couple, Sonny not able to look after the boy, the grief for Maude to lose her son? The family promising that he would have a good life?

12. The influence of Violet, of the other women, the older woman and her protests, throwing the stones? The well-to-do woman and her Parliamentary husband? The group, the range of members of different classes?

13. The police, violent protests, bashing? The parliamentarian consulting the police chief? His upholding the law? Hard attitudes? Going to the Parliament to watch? Visiting the prison, interrogating Maud, his offer for her to be an informant, her refusal? His watching the progress of the movement – and a possible change of attitude after seeing the women and the tragedy at the racecourse?

14. Maud going to the hearings, Violet to make a speech, Lloyd George and the parliamentarians listening, Violet’s injuries, her text, asking Maud to give the speech, Lloyd George asking the questions, Maude providing the answers, her declarations about her life, family, work, pay?

15. Meryl Streep as Mrs Pankhurst? Her policies, influence, in hiding, her speech to the crowds, her exhortations, the police attack, the disguise and her escape, the encounter with Maud, impressing Maud?

16. The women taken to prison, Edith going many times, Maud arrested, the treatment of the women, the bail for the life of the parliamentarian, the others staying?

17. Maud, ousted by Sonny, Violet’s help, staying in the church? Her confronting Taylor, burning his hand with the iron? Taking Violet’s daughter, going to the mansion, asking the woman to take the daughter in to give her a job?

18. Edith, staunch with the suffragettes, the support of her husband?

19. The demonstration at the races, wanting to do something significant, the presence of the King, losing the opportunity with the horses? The woman going onto the track, disrupting the race, the jockey flung from his horse, the horse falling, the woman and her death? The significance of her death, desperate protest?

20. The gathering to hear Lloyd George, and no concessions to the women?

21. An interesting picture of the movement, of the women, the long fight – and ultimate achievement? A significant moment in British history?