Suffragette

Critics Consensus

Suffragette dramatizes an important -- and still painfully relevant -- fact-based story with more than enough craft and sincerity to overcome its flaws.

73%

TOMATOMETER

Total Count: 210

68%

Audience Score

User Ratings: 16,970
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Movie Info

Academy Award nominees Carey Mulligan and Helena Bonham Carter, and three-time Academy Award winner Meryl Streep, lead the cast of a powerful drama about the women who were willing to lose everything in their fight for equality in early-20th-century Britain. The stirring story centers on Maud (played by Carey Mulligan), a working wife and mother whose life is forever changed when she is secretly recruited to join the U.K.'s growing suffragette movement. Galvanized by the outlaw fugitive Emmeline Pankhurst (Meryl Streep), Maud becomes an activist for the cause alongside women from all walks of life. When increasingly aggressive police action forces Maud and her dedicated fellow suffragettes underground, they engage in a dangerous game of cat-and-mouse with the authorities, who are shocked as the women's civil disobedience escalates and sparks debate across the nation. Inspired by true events, SUFFRAGETTE is a moving drama exploring the passion and heartbreak of those who risked all they had for women's right to vote - their jobs, their homes, their children, and even their lives. The film also stars Ben Whishaw, Anne-Marie Duff, Brendan Gleeson, Romola Garai, and Natalie Press. SUFFRAGETTE is directed by BAFTA Award winner Sarah Gavron from an original screenplay by Emmy Award winner Abi Morgan. (C) Focus Features

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Cast

Carey Mulligan
as Maud
Helena Bonham Carter
as Edith New
Meryl Streep
as Emmeline Pankhurst
Brendan Gleeson
as Steed
Anne-Marie Duff
as Violet Cambridge
Natalie Press
as Emily Wilding Davison
Ben Whishaw
as Sonny
Romola Garai
as Alice
Grace Stottor
as Maggie Miller
Geoff Bell
as Norman Taylor
Amanda Lawrence
as Miss Withers
Shelley Longworth
as Miss Samson
Adam Michael Dodd
as George Watts
Sarah Finigan
as Mrs. Garston
Drew Edwards
as Male Laundry Worker
Lorraine Stanley
as Mrs. Coleman
Adam Nagaitis
as Mr. Cummings
Finbar Lynch
as Hugh Ellyn
Samuel West
as Benedict Haughton
Nick Hendrix
as Government Minister
Clive Wood
as Superintendant James Burrill
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Critic Reviews for Suffragette

All Critics (210) | Top Critics (47)

  • It's a graceful, serious-minded period piece that never quite comes to life, although it tells its story clearly and is at pains to place a sympathetic figure at its centre.

    Dec 22, 2015 | Rating: 3/5 | Full Review…

    Philippa Hawker

    The Age (Australia)
    Top Critic

  • "Suffragette" is a meaningful history lesson, but as a movie, it plays like a slog through history class.

    Nov 13, 2015 | Rating: C | Full Review…

    Adam Graham

    Detroit News
    Top Critic

  • The weight of the entrenched injustices these characters stagger under is enough to keep you on the verge of tears throughout.

    Nov 9, 2015 | Full Review…

    Alison Willmore

    BuzzFeed News
    Top Critic

  • An intriguing premise dampened by thin characters and a formulaic story.

    Nov 6, 2015 | Rating: 2/4 | Full Review…

    Rafer Guzman

    Newsday
    Top Critic

  • Mulligan, in particular, delivers, bringing believability to a role that's quite a stretch, given the transformation her character has to go through from workaday mum to first-wave feminist superhero.

    Nov 5, 2015 | Rating: 3/4 | Full Review…

    Kristin Tillotson

    Minneapolis Star Tribune
    Top Critic

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

    Nov 5, 2015 | Rating: 3.5/4 | Full Review…

    Sarah Bryan Miller

    St. Louis Post-Dispatch
    Top Critic
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Audience Reviews for Suffragette

  • Aug 27, 2017
    Important subject given a dull but worthy treatment. Carey is a highlight, but it just doesn't raise to the levels it could have. Still made me flipping angry though and reminded me why I'm a feminist. I couldn't believe the credits at the end and how long it's taken certain countries to get women the vote. Really timely with the situation in USA today and that Trump thing stripping women of their rights. How did it happen then and how is it still happening now.
    Nicki M Super Reviewer
  • Apr 17, 2016
    A mediocre period film, Suffragette is a historical drama that looks at the English Suffrage movement. After she's asked to testify before a political committee a laundry worker is drawn into the movement to give women the right to vote, but the more involved she gets the closer she comes to losing everything. Starring Carey Mulligan, Helena Bonham Carter, and Brendan Gleeson, the cast is pretty strong. However, the writing is rather weak as the plot seems to meander and doesn't have a clear focus. And, the characters are a little underdeveloped. Still, the production values are really good and help to draw the audience into the film. The poor storytelling holds Suffragette back, but it still has a powerful message about the struggles that past generations have faced to gain the freedoms that we enjoy today.
    Dann M Super Reviewer
  • Mar 04, 2016
    I really wanted to like this film for the importance of what it wants to say, but while it isn't bad, it is too conventional and marred by some clichés and silly plot devices to create suspense - like someone conveniently finding a newspaper with an information that he needs.
    Carlos M Super Reviewer
  • Jan 13, 2016
    A worthwhile history lesson, though it could have incorporated more of the wider suffrage movement instead of focusing only on a few characters. It does show Emily Davison (Natalie Press), whose important and drastic action is not often mentioned. People think that western women have had rights for a long time - this film shows how fragile and hard-won those rights are. The acting by Mulligan and the support cast is very good. Pankhurst is depicted as rather arch, and a touch strange - was she? The screenplay at least was inadequate - the woman was a ground breaking political strategist. Casting Streep was a distraction from the main characters. In this era of the fresh drive to put women down, this is an important film because it reminds those of us who value democracy that political freedom and equality can't be taken for granted, that what we have was won at great cost, and that preserving it demands vigilance.
    . . Super Reviewer
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