Suffragette

Suffragette means well and tries to rise above the fall movie crowd. But it's kept down to Earth by some questionable decisions. The details of which shall be explained below.

In the early 1910s, Maud Watts (Carey Mulligan) was a laundress literally kept down by the Man. Her boss is a chauvinist pig, her husband is a dullard and her son is a polite young boy. Meanwhile, the Women's Suffrage movement is taking shape, and some of its members take up property damage for their cause. When the Man decides to consider a voting rights bill for women, Maud reluctantly ends up testifying. The Man says No to Suffrage and Maud gets arrested by the brutish police.

Maud ends up joining the Women's Suffrage Movement for real. Her closest friends are Dr. Edith Ellyn (Helena Bonham-Carter) and Emily Davison (Natalie Press). The revered head of the Suffrage Movement, Emmeline Pankhurst, advocates militant action for Women's Rights. But a few members, including Maud, have some doubts. There's also a Police Inspector, Steed (Brendan Gleeson), who's out to stop them.

The screenplay by Abi Morgan was realized by director Sarah Gavron. It focuses around the story of several fictional characters, with Davison and Pankhurst being the most major exceptions. These characters are stereotypes, but they're played admirably by the cast. It was satisfying to see Maud go from mousy reluctant heroine to more assertive heroine, the one who smashed her employer's hand with a still hot iron!

The story has the hints of cliche as well. One character has a weak heart and may die if she goes to one last protest. Does this affect her? No; her sympathetic husband locks her in the bathroom. Why bring up the plot point at all?

I find it amusing that Pankhurst, the revered head of the Suffrage Movement, is played by the equally-revered Meryl Streep. Her part is a one-scene cameo where she addresses her supporters. The real Pankhurst died in 1928, the year British Women gained Suffrage; that would be a good end point for a prospective movie.

Sadly, most of my problems with the film come from the crew. Barney Pilling's cinematography captures old dusty London well, but when scenes get intense, it shakes a lot. To make matters worse, the editing snaps by fast. We can't really keep track of what's going on when it does that. Alexandre Desplat's score is fine, but it sounds too typical of his style (The Grand Budapest Hotel being atypical). The Production and Costume design evoke the period admirably, so they get some points.

Suffragette's biggest flaw was using the wrong approach to tell its story. It ends in 1913 and it has text on when Women gained suffrage around the world. What happened to show don't tell? This story needed to be told, but hopefully it will be done better next time.