Suffragette

Morgan’s writing is occasionally pedestrian, but the sweep of the story, the performances and Gavron’s vision make up for it.

Some of the developments feel a bit predictable — shot in the dull hues of gray that match Maud’s life, Suffragette occasionally turns hard truths into platitudes — but the story is inspiring, buoyed by a fine cast, a pointed, important examination of the price paid for a shot at equality.

Suffragette is an absorbing, ultimately moving portrait of thwarted ideals that rings all too true today.

Suffragette’s strength lies in the fact that, even though some of the characters and events depicted seem archetypal, and they’re certainly composites, they turn out to be more than that.

Suffragette is slick and efficient, but also diffuse and formless; it’ll pass the time but it fails to engage.

Earnest but costumey drama.

Perhaps the most startling aspect of Suffragette, which for better or worse is a standard-issue historical drama, well constructed but not especially capacious or original, is its depiction of how far female activists were willing to go in order to prove that they could stand alongside men.

I loved the movie but I was not impressed with the list of countries showing when women got the vote. It left out Canada! Shame. It isn't like the British don't know who we are and when we got the vote.

Suffragette is a movie with quality and that says a lot about in my opinion, honestly worth seeing, especially women should see it, especially seeing how their right to vote was denied a little more than 100 years ago and how now one of the most powerful women in the world today is the prime minister of a world power like Germany. Beyond its mistakes in the script with its manipulations, the film rises by its story and message in addition to the convincing performances of its cast.

Above all, SUFFRAGETTE means to finally give strength to women looking to earn their rights to vote. They become heroes. The leaders of this charge in early-20th century Britain are Carey Mulligan, Helena Bonham Carter and Meryl Streep. Each is exquisite and brilliant in their own way. Unfortunately, somewhere between the direction, Abi Morgan’s script and an abrupt ending, it falls flat.

It's always puzzling to me that when there are so many wonderful real stories why a writer chooses to fictionalize history and create a character who is an amalgamation of stereotypes. So much for missing the opportunities out there to tell a real story. It is sad that the screenwriter chose to concentrate on a fictional character when the rich story of Mrs. Pendergast stared him right in the face. So much for the 8 minutes of film that was Meryl Streep. Can you imagine what she could have done with this part. Carey Mulligan was good, not great. Perhaps she was confused by the fictional character who appears a bit of this and a bit of that with an unclear path and purpose, the woman willing to give up her whole life to gain the vote? The richness of true stories a missed opportunity, the film is still worth seeing.

In case you forgot one of the most common, headline-grabbing issues of the modern era, sexism, here's a hammer to pound your brain to mush. Every man you see in Suffragette, is a complete scoundrel-jackass. If this is your introduction to the history of women's rights, please don't leave the theater and immediately kill all men.