First the bad news: “Suffragette” isn’t a Meryl Streep movie, despite what you may have seen in the trailer. She has but a few moments of screen time.
And now the good news: It’s a Carey Mulligan movie.
Mulligan, like Streep, is simply a mesmerizing actress, one who can make even pedestrian material sing with the honesty, sophistication and nuance she brings to every role, on screen or stage (count yourself eternally lucky if you caught her recent Broadway run in “Skylight.”) In “Suffragette,” which without her would be a far, far less compelling movie, she doesn’t merely entertain us with her skill. She brings to vibrant life an important part of our global history that’s easy to forget—the struggle for a woman’s right to vote.
In this image released by Focus Features, Carey Mulligan portrays Maud Watts, left, and Anne-Marie Duff portrays Violet Miller in a scene from "Suffragette." Steffan Hill/Focus Features via AP
