With Meryl in town, crowds lining Leicester Square and, at least momentarily, clear skies above, nothing was going to stop **Suffragette **from kicking off the 59th BFI London Film Festival in glamorous style last night. But anti-domestic violence group Sisters Uncut had other ideas and, just in case their ongoing chants got lost amid the screaming fans, a dozen activists scrambled over the barriers and lay across the red carpet until their message was heard loud and clear. Well, you can't say it isn't thematically appropriate.
According to protesters, the struggle at the heart of this year’s opening film is far from over – and that’s a view echoed by star Carey Mulligan. “It’s a film about today”, she said. “It’s set in London a hundred years ago but it’s not just a documentary about the time. It’s telling us what women went through to get the vote, but also reflecting where we are now and how much further we need to go.”
A second collaboration for screenwriter Abi Morgan and director Sarah Gavron, who previously worked together on Brick Lane, the film follows factory worker Maud (Mulligan) who’s radicalised into joining the suffrage movement in the early 20th century, risking her life in pursuit of equal rights for women.
And this group is not a Mary Poppins-style movement of prim parades and colourful sashes: these ladies planted bombs, burned buildings and were force-fed in prison in their fight for the vote. It’s this unflinchingly grubby portrayal of history that attracted Mulligan, although an extraordinary line-up of co-stars didn’t hurt. “I dropped my phone in the bath when I found out Meryl Streep had signed on," she remembered. “That was very exciting! I’m still blown away by the cast."
Streep, who plays suffragette leader Emmeline Pankhurst, was joined at the gala by cast mates Helena Bonham Carter, Ben Whishaw, Brendan Gleeson and Anne-Marie Duff as well as Pankhurst’s great-granddaughters. The red carpet was clear of protestors by the time the stars strolled in, but with fiery words both in and outside the cinema, it looks like this year’s festival, which runs until October 18, will be a lively one.
**Suffragette **hits UK cinemas on October 12.
*Reporting by Alastair Livesley, with thanks to Go Think Big and O2. For amazing work opportunities go to Go Think Big.co.uk. *