Suffragette (film)

Suffragette
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Sarah Gavron
Produced by	Alison Owen Faye Ward
Written by	Abi Morgan
Starring	Carey Mulligan Helena Bonham Carter Brendan Gleeson Anne-Marie Duff Ben Whishaw Meryl Streep
Music by	Alexandre Desplat
Cinematography	Edu Grau
Edited by	Barney Pilling
Production companies	Film4 BFI Ingenious Media Canal+ Ciné+ Ruby Films
Distributed by	Pathé
Release dates	4 September 2015 (2015-09-04) (Telluride) 12 October 2015 (2015-10-12)
Running time	106 minutes[1]
Country	United Kingdom
Language	English
Budget	$14 million[2]
Box office	$32 million[3]

Suffragette is a 2015 British historical period drama film about women's suffrage in the United Kingdom, directed by Sarah Gavron and written by Abi Morgan. The film stars Carey Mulligan, Helena Bonham Carter, Brendan Gleeson, Anne-Marie Duff, Ben Whishaw, and Meryl Streep.^[4]

Filming began on 24 February 2014. It is the first film in history to be shot in the Houses of Parliament, done with the permission of MPs. The film was released in the United Kingdom on 12 October 2015 by Pathé and had a limited release in the United States on 23 October 2015 by Focus Features.

Plot

In 1912, Maud Watts (Carey Mulligan) is a 24-year-old laundress. While delivering a package one day, she is caught up in a suffragette riot involving smashing windows, where she recognizes one of her co-workers, Violet Miller (Anne-Marie Duff). Later, Alice Haughton (Romola Garai), the wife of an MP, encourages the women from the laundry to speak out to parliament and give testimony in order to secure the right to vote. Violet is the one who offers to testify; however, she is beaten by her abusive husband and subsequently Maud is the one who testifies. Maud is energized by her testimony and goes with Violet and other women to see if women have been given the right to vote. The women gathered together learn that they have not, and subsequently the police officers turn on the women and begin beating them. Maud is caught up in the crowd, arrested, and jailed for a week. While in jail, she meets Emily Davison, a confidant of Emmeline Pankhurst.

Returning home, Maud faces social stigma from her neighbors and co-workers. She promises her husband Sonny to stay away from the suffragettes. However, Maud is invited to a secret rally to hear Pankhurst (Meryl Streep) speak. While there, she has a brief exchange with Pankhurst, after which she is detained by the police again who drop her off in front of her home. This time, her husband throws her out on the street. Maud struggles to see her son despite her husband's objections and continues to work until her picture is printed in the newspaper as a known suffragette. Maud is then fired and, reaching a breaking point, takes an iron and burns the hand of her male supervisor (who has been sexually abusing girls in the laundry for years). The police are called and Inspector Steed (Brendan Gleeson) allows her to leave and offers her an opportunity to inform on the other members of her cell. Maud refuses.

Sonny continues to bar Maud from seeing George, and points out that by law, he can do so. This prompts Maud into more radicalism to get laws changed in favor of women's rights. Eventually she learns that, as Sonny has been ostracized by the community, he no longer feels capable of taking care of George. He puts George up for adoption. With no family ties, Maud becomes more and more radical and is involved in the bombing of mailboxes and the cutting of telegraph wires. Then she and her comrades are imprisoned again after they blow up an empty Parliamentary residence. In prison, Maud goes on hunger strike and is subjected to brutal force-feeding that horrifies even Steed.

However, the police begin to pressure the newspapers to drop the story and the suffragettes feel that they must do more drastic activities in order to gain attention for their cause. The women decide to attend the Epsom Derby, where King George V will be in attendance in order to step in front of the cameras and unfurl their pro-suffrage banners. However, on the day of the event, only Maud and Emily Davison are able to make the event. When they are blocked off from the area where King George V is standing, Emily decides that they must carry on anyway. While the race is in flight, Emily steps onto the track and Maud witnesses as she is trampled to death. Suffragette Maud later joins in her funeral procession; and, the film ends by revealing women's rights were recognized in Britain in 1928. Scrolling text reveal other countries who followed suit to the present day.

Cast

• Carey Mulligan as Maud Watts^[5]
• Helena Bonham Carter as Edith Ellyn. While Ellyn was not a real person, she was somewhat inspired by Edith Garrud as well as Edith New; Bonham Carter is the great-granddaughter of H. H. Asquith, who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom in 1908–16, the prime years of the suffrage movement, which he opposed.^[6][7][8]
• Meryl Streep as Emmeline Pankhurst^[4]
• Natalie Press as Emily Davison
• Anne-Marie Duff as Violet Miller^[9]
• Romola Garai as Alice Haughton^[9]
• Ben Whishaw as Sonny Watts^[9]
• Brendan Gleeson as Steed^[9]
• Samuel West as Benedict^[9]
• Adrian Schiller as David Lloyd George, H.H. Asquith's successor

All characters aside from Pankhurst, Davison, Lloyd George and King George V are fictitious.

Production

Development

In April 2011, it was announced that Film4 Productions, Focus Features and Ruby Films were developing a history drama film about the British women's suffrage movement of the late 19th and early 20th century.^[10] Abi Morgan was set to write the script while Sarah Gavron was attached to direct the film.^[10] On 24 October 2013, it was revealed that Pathé has replaced Focus, while the BFI Film Fund was to fund the film and that Ryan Kavanaugh was attached to produce the British film ^[5]

In October 2014, Relativity Media acquired only the North American rights and Pathé the international rights to distribute Suffragette theatrically. However, in March 17, 2015, Focus Features took over the North American distribution rights for the film, right after the success of The Theory of Everything. the main reason they did that was that Relativity had filed for bankruptcy, so Focus took over the distribution rights in the USA and Ryan dropped out of producing the film due to the bankruptcy of Relativity.^[11]

Casting

Carey Mulligan was cast to play the lead role on 24 February 2013;^[5] Helena Bonham Carter joined on 20 December 2013;^[6] Meryl Streep was cast as British suffragette leader Emmeline Pankhurst on 19 February 2014;^[4] Ben Whishaw and Brendan Gleeson joined the cast on 20 February 2014.^[9]

Filming

Principal photography of the film began on 24 February 2014 in London.^[9] The production also visited The Historic Dockyard Chatham where they filmed the factory and prison scenes.^[12]

Release

The film was released in the United Kingdom and Ireland on 12 October 2015 by Pathé.^[13]

On 27 March 2015, Relativity Media was originally going to distribute the film in the U.S. only, but because Relativity filed for bankruptcy, producers had put the British still on the market, a new distributior is currently unknown. Later Focus Features acquired the North American rights to the film taking the U.S. distribution rights from Relativity to Pathé on 17 March 2015 and making a turnaround from Relativity to Focus, Focus set the film for a 23 October 2015 limited release in the United States. After taking over the film rights from Relativity.^[14]

In June 2015, it was announced that Suffragette would receive its European Premiere on 7 October 2015 as the opening film of the BFI London Film Festival. The LFF Director Clare Stewart said Sarah Gavron's feature was an “urgent and compelling film, made by British women, about British women who changed the course of history.”^[15] The film premiered at the Telluride Film Festival on 4 September 2015.

The group Sisters Uncut demonstrated at the London premiere against cuts to domestic violence services,^[16] which Helena Bonham-Carter described as "perfect. If you feel strongly enough about something and there's an injustice there you can speak out and try to get something changed". Carey Mulligan said that the protest was "awesome" and that she was sad she had missed it.^[17]

Reception

Box office

As of March 7, 2016, Suffragette has grossed $4.7 million in North America and $25.3 million in other territories for a worldwide total of $30 million, against a budget of $14 million.^[18]

Critical reception

Suffragette has received positive reviews. On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has a rating of 73%, based on 179 reviews, with an average rating of 6.6/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "Suffragette dramatizes an important – and still painfully relevant – fact-based story with more than enough craft and sincerity to overcome its flaws."^[19] On Metacritic, the film holds a score of 67 out of 100, based on 37 critics, indicating "generally favourable reviews".^[20]

Particular praise has been directed at the cast, most notably Carey Mulligan and Helena Bonham Carter. Whilst Meryl Streep's brief appearance has been praised, there has been some criticism that her significant position within the marketing was misleading.

Awards

• British Independent Film Awards, Best Supporting Actor, Brendan Gleeson^[21]
• Hamptons International Film Festival, Tangerine Entertainment Juice Award, Sarah Gavron^[22]
• Hollywood Film Awards, Actress of the Year, Carey Mulligan^[22]
• Mill Valley Film Festival, Audience Award, Mind the Gap, Sarah Gavron^[22]

See also

• Shoulder to Shoulder
• Iron Jawed Angels
• Feminism in the United Kingdom

References

External links

• Suffragette at the Internet Movie Database
• Suffragette at Box Office Mojo
• Suffragette at Rotten Tomatoes
• Suffragette at Metacritic