The film Suffragettes

  The film Suffragettes is a film directed by Sarah Gavron, released on November 18, 2015. It recounts the struggle of women in London in 1912 to obtain the right to vote and the same rights as men, on labour and also on children . He tells the story of Maud, a young woman from a modest background who works in a laundry factory. She found herself involved in the feminist movement of Suffragettes. She realizes that the demonstrations conducted by feminists to obtain the right to vote do not serve much, she decides to rebel herself to lead this fight in order to achieve her ends, even if it means losing her home, her «reputation», her husband or even her sons.

 Then ,this film shows us different aspects of the life of Maud, the main character. Indeed, before the film begins, we see that she is married with a child, that she lives in a house and that she is under the orders of her husband and her boss MR Taylor to whom she submit. We see later that she will eventually be kicked out of her home by her husband, that her son will be adopted, that she will be homeless and that she will sleep in a youth hostel with her friends who are in the same fight, that she will no longer obey anyone, be it her husband or others, and that she will become above all a great suffragette.

 Then let’s talk more deeply about her . First, as we said earlier, at the beginning of the film, she seemed indifferent to this fight for women’s right to vote. Indeed, she obeyed the norms of society, that is, those of the woman who works hard not to be paid the same wage as men, that of a woman who is under the tutelage of her husband, that of a woman must take care of the secondary tasks left by their men such as household, kitchen, children etc.

Then one moment she decides not to stick to it, not to obey it and then decides to follow the movement of the suffragettes. During his struggle, Maud was accumulating back and forth in prison, where the woman was even less respected. She would go on and on outside, humiliating herself until the day her friend decides to kill herkself by being mowed down by a racehorse at full speed during a horse race watched by thousands of spectators and in the presence of the king, It is this action which, fortunately, unfortunately, has completely upset and granted women the right to vote and which has at the same time put an end to this heavy struggle

Afterwards we will focus on the etymology that allow us to understand my interest and the purpose of this film. Indeed, the term Suffragettes comes from the etymology «Suffrage» which means the vote, only it actually designates the action of women who wish the right to vote for women. These women really want to be considered at the same stage as men, have the same rights and simply have equality between men and women.

This film is all the more relevant since it mixes reality and fiction. Indeed, it shows the reality since it highlights the activists of the suffragette group and the fight of these women led by Emmeline Pankhurst, a character that really existed. Then, he also mixes fiction because we follow the story through a young worker who will join the group Women’s Social and Political Union (WSPU), an activist group that also really existed.

After talking about all this I allow myself to give my opinion on this film. First of all, I really liked this film because I think it makes it possible to talk about this subject which is unfortunately still topical since there are still many countries where the right to vote for women does not exist. In other words this film comes to play the role here as a reminder to remember that these women who fought in 1912 and even in 2023 their fight remains current.

In addition, the goal of this film is to join us and show the correctness of it by showing a woman who is at the beginning outside the movement and who will climb the stages of this struggle, which will increasingly impact her life and make us feel the injustice and necessity of this movement. Moreover, there is also an activist message about the class struggle.

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