Film buff Stephanie Gallimore teamed up with GoThinkBig to cover all the biggest films from the BFI London Film Festival. From speaking to Cate Blanchett at the premiere of Carol to rubbing shoulders with Tom Hiddleston – Steph was in the thick of the action.
Here, she gives heat her take on Suffragette.
“Sarah Gavron’s new film* Suffragette* presents just a small overview of the oppression that suffocated women in the early 1900s. However with a powerful storyline and an impressive range of characters, her take on the Suffragette movement is very well done.
This period thriller is full of emotional punch, driving the audience to sympathise with the suffragettes who were once hated and alienated while fighting for their cause. Interestingly, this film is not centered on the well-known suffragette leader Emmeline Pankhurst, but instead it focuses on a small group of rebels, namely Maud Watts, played by Carey Mulligan. With Maud at the film’s core, we also get to explore not just the lack of voting rights but the devastating reality that in those times, women – like some now – did not have rights over their children.
Mulligan impresses with her eloquent and dramatic performance as Maud, swept into the suffragette scene from her workhouse. Helen Bonham Carter, Romola Garai, Anne-Marie Duff and Natalie Press all work seamlessly together and make the audience feel as though they too are at the centre of this incredible force.
Meryl Streep’s cameo as Pankhurst is used thoughtfully and you see rallying her suffragettes to arms.
Alongside the women, Ben Whishaw and Brendan Gleeson work brilliantly in this film and both fully embody their characters – strengthening the empathy towards the suffragettes.
The final scene on screen might be the most disturbing and the one that will stay with you. It ends with a list of countries and the year that women received voting rights. Saudi Arabia is the last; with 2015 being the year women have been ‘promised’ the vote.
Once you’ve seen Suffragette, you will never, ever forget it.”
Stephanie was reporting on the red carpet for* GoThinkBig* in association with heat Magazine.
If you LOVE film, just like Stephanie, and would like to find out more about opportunities like this – head over to GoThinkBig.
