Suffragette premiers this week at The London Film Festival. Here team ELLE tell you why this is the most important films of the year, possibly ever…
Lotte Jeffs, Deputy Editor
‘Watching this film made me think, god, how lucky I am being a woman in the UK today, but what was so powerful was at the end, the shocking statistics about rights for women around the world – the disparity in experience is profound. I don't want to spoil the impact by giving examples, but suffice to say each new revelation felt like a punch in the stomach. I left the cinema feeling that every woman everywhere deserves equality and the feminist movement needs to start looking outwards and thinking how can we help the cause globally. There's still so much to fight for.’
Grace Campbell, Video Editor
‘Watching the film and knowing that these women did everything they did for the generations to come made me extremely grateful. They were brave and forward thinking in a time when I can imagine women’s thoughts were rarely acknowledged. Performances from Carey Mulligan, Anne-Marie Duff, and Helena Bonham Carter were amazing. All of these women; the real Suffragettes and those who played them, reminded me massively of why I am a feminist, and why I want to make films.’
Hannah Swerling, Senior Commissioning Editor
'The term 'period drama' makes you think of genteel ladies taking tea but this film depicts a defining moment in British history where women had to defy this stereotype to make change happen. Important, inspiring and captivating cinema.'
Michelle Bobb-Parris, ELLE Sounds Editor
‘The Suffragette film is a brilliant, visceral piece of factual storytelling. Given the comfort of our modern-day hindsight, I found it quite jarring at times to see the brutal reality of life without women's (or workers') rights. The film succeeds in painting the women as very much human while managing to find superhuman strength to fight for change. I suppose that's why it's all the more disappointed that the film slips on a couple of banana peels right at the end. When landmarks in women's rights scroll past showing that the US enfranchised women in 1920, there is no subsequent mention that African-American women weren't granted the same rights until decades later with the Voting Rights Act 1965. Another reason why intersectionality is essential to the ever-evolving story of feminism.’
Lena de Casparis, Culture Director
‘Call me an ignorant fool but I’m not one for historical dramas. Downton, for instance, is not my thing. And so I worried I’d hate Suffragette - that it would be all stuffy and dowdy, with no modern relevance. How VERY wrong I was. This film is probably one of the most important strories I've ever seen on the big screen. Certainly the most empowering. From the example of female solidarity, to the strength to not give up - I was completely inspired. At the end of the film, just before the credits roll, there’s a long stream of the dates women were given the vote around the world. Some countries were shockingly recent, and some were not even there. Proving there's a lot more left to fight for. The time is now!'
