FILM REVIEW
A vibrant Mulligan brings historic struggle to life in ‘Suffragette’
Review by JOCELYN NOVECK
AP National Writer
First the bad news:
“Suffragette” isn’t a Meryl
Streep movie, despite what
you may have seen in the
trailer. She has but a few
moments of screen time.
And now the good news:
It’s a Carey Mulligan movie.
Mulligan, like Streep, is
simply a mesmerizing ac-
tress, one who can make
even pedestrian material
sing with the honesty, so-
phistication and nuance
she brings to every role, on
screen or stage (count your-
self eternally lucky if you
caught her recent Broadway
run in “Skylight.”) In “Suf-
fragette,” which without her
would be a far, far less com-
pelling movie, she doesn’t
merely entertain us with her
skill. She brings to vibrant
life an important part of our
global history that’s easy to
forget — the struggle for a
woman’s right to vote.
The story of the “suffrag-
ettes” in early 20th century
Britain may bring to mind the
joyously daffy Mrs. Banks
singing “Sister Suffragette”
in “Mary Poppins.” But even
though that character spoke
jovially of women chain-
5
$
ing themselves to wheels or
being carried off to prison,
“Suffragette” reminds us that
the ¿ght involved violence,
hunger strikes, bombings,
beatings, even death.
Though the movie, di-
rected by Sarah Gavron,
includes real-life characters
like Emmeline Pankhurst
(Streep) and Emily Wilding
Davison (Natalie Press),
who both have tiny but cru-
cial roles, its main character
is an amalgam. Maud Watts
(Mulligan) is a 24-year-old
mother who spends her days
working in the same fetid
laundry — awful chemicals,
brutal hours, sexual abuse
from the boss — where her
own mother labored.
Almost
accidentally,
Maud falls in with a group
of women activists whose
fight for the vote is gaining
steam — and desperation. A
fellow laundry worker is due
to testify before a govern-
ment committee on the is-
sue, but a beating has left her
unable to appear, and Maud
is drafted. (“Are you a suf-
fragette now?” her husband
asks, suspiciously.) Her sim-
ple, heartfelt answers move
the male lawmakers, but the
measure fails. When that de-
feat is announced publicly,
it leads to a melee in which
women are beaten by police
and dragged to prison, Maud
among them.
Her furious husband (Ben
Whishaw) insists that Maud
never “shame” him like this
again. (Like virtually every
male character here, he is
wholly unenlightened.) But
soon enough, Maud is com-
pelled to go hear a speech
from the movement’s lead-
er, Pankhurst, who speaks
briefly from a balcony be-
fore fleeing the police. Maud
manages a quick word with
Pankhurst as she’s hurrying
off: “Never surrender,” the
elder woman says.
And so Maud doesn’t.
She returns home to discov-
er her husband has kicked
her out, banning her from
seeing their 4-year-old son.
She finds quarters with fel-
low suffragettes and be-
comes more emboldened by
the day. She attacks her abu-
sive boss. Facing the police
inspector (Brendan Gleeson)
who pursues her like Javert
pursues Valjean in “Les Mis-
erables,” she tells him that
the suffragettes are waging
war because it’s “the only
language men listen to.”
Mulligan — whose por-
trayal is really the only tru-
ly nuanced one in the film,
though Helena Bonham
Carter gives fine support as
a fellow warrior — finds a
way to project determina-
tion and zeal but also sad-
ness and hopelessness, all at
once. The scene where she
loses custody of her son is
truly wrenching. As is the
scene where she’s force-fed
in prison to thwart her hun-
ger strike.
The film ends with a rec-
reation of a shocking, sem-
inal moment in the suffrag-
ette movement — one best
not revealed here. And then,
during credits, we’re given
a list of countries across the
globe, along with the year
they granted women the
right to vote. (France: 1944.
Switzerland: 1971. Saudi
Arabia: “Promised.”) If any-
thing, “Suffragette” should
have an impact the next time
any of us are feeling too
busy or tired to vote.
“Suffragette,” a Focus Fea-
tures release, is rated PG-13
by the Motion Picture Asso-
ciation of America for “some
intense violence, thematic
elements, brief strong lan-
guage and partial nudity.”
Running time: 106 minutes.
Three stars out of four.
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Photos by Steffan Hill/Focus Features via AP
In this image released by Focus Features, Carey Mulligan portrays Maud Watts, center, in
a scene from “Suffragette.”
In this image released by Focus Features, Helena Bonham Carter portrays Edith Ellyn,
center, in a scene from “Suffragette.”
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