There’s a Female-Written, Female-Directed Film About the Women’s Suffrage Movement In the Works

Historical drama Suffragette, originally titled The Fury (oh, mythology references!), has been circling around for a while, but the first time I heard about it was when I saw on Variety that Helena Bonham Carter is in talks to co-star. And I’m going to tell you about it. Because it sounds amazing.

According to Variety, the film:

“revolves around the foot soldiers of the early feminist movement: women who were forced underground in a dangerous game of cat and mouse with an increasingly brutal State.”

If Bonham Carter signs on she’ll join Carey Mulligan, whose involvement was confirmed back in October. We don’t know who they’ll be playing, or even if their characters are actual historical figures or fictional constructions invented for the sake of the narrative. Either way, I’m guessing we’ll see some kick-butt ladies on the screen.

And there are some behind the screen as well. The film’s director is Sarah Gavron, who helmed the well-received British indie Brick Lane back in 2007. On writing duties is Abi Morgan, who’s made her way onto our site a time or two before. You might know her name because she pulled off a major upset at this year’s Emmys, winning the award for Outstanding Writing for a Miniseries, Movie or a Dramatic Special even though her show, The Hour, was cancelled by the BBC earlier this year. (Moment of silence for an excellent show taken from us too soon.) Or you might be more familiar with Shame or The Iron Lady, which she also wrote. Incidentally, Suffragette‘s two producers and one of its two executive producers are also women.

The extent to which the production side of the film world is dominated by one gender (guess which one) is appalling in general, so to see a film centered on women’s history, about women’s rights, actually being made by women is pretty darn cool. Not that the film would necessarily be bad if a man were directing it. And not that it’s guaranteed to be good because a woman is! This is about an issue larger than the quality of individual films. It’s about everyone having equal opportunities in the film industry regardless of their gender.

So. Suffragette. Bring. It. On.

(Side note: Everyone should watch Hysteria, a female-directed ,Victorian era-set feminist rom-com about the invention of the vibrator. Trust me. Or don’t. You know from that description whether you might want to watch it.)

(via: Variety)

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