Suffragette

Ditected by: Sarah Gavron

Genre: Drama

Run time: 106'

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]

Plot:

In 1912, Maud Watts is a 24-year-old laundress. One day while delivering a package, she is caught up in a suffragette protest, where she recognizes one of her colleagues, Violet Miller. Later, Alice Haughton, the wife of an MP, encourages the women from the laundry to give their testimony to parliament in order to secure the right to vote. Violet is the one who offers; however, she is beaten by her abusive husband and subsequently Maud is the one who testifies. Maud is energised 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 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 stigma from her neighbours and work colleagues. She promises her husband Sonny that she will stay away from the suffragettes. However, Maud is invited to a secret rally to hear Pankhurst 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 allows her to leave and offers her an opportunity to inform on the other members of her cell. Maud refuses.

Sonny continues to prevent 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 favour of women's rights. Eventually she learns that, as Sonny has been ostracised by the community, he no longer feels capable of taking care of George. He offers George for adoption. With no family ties, Maud becomes more and more radical and is involved in the bombing of pillar boxes 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.

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. The women decide to attend the Epsom Derby when King George V will be in attendance, in order to step in front of the cameras and unfurl their banners. However, on the day, only Maud and Emily Davison are able to make it. When they are barred from the area where King George V is standing, Emily decides that they must carry on anyway. While the race is underway, Emily steps onto the track and Maud witnesses her being trampled to death. Suffragette Maud later joins in her funeral procession; and, the film ends by revealing that women's rights were recognised in Britain in 1928. Scrolling text lists other countries that followed suit.

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org