From the perspective of 2026, it seems tough to believe that women got the right to vote in the US barely a century ago, as the 19th Amendment didn’t take effect until August 1920. Matters didn’t seem much better in the UK, where women received the right to vote – on a limited basis – in 1918, and those efforts become the focus of 2015’s Suffragette.

Set in London circa 1912, Maud Watts (Carey Mulligan) works a difficult job at a laundry while she also manages family life with husband Sonny (Ben Whishaw) and young son George (Adam Michael Dodd). When suffragettes stage a violent protest, she sees new co-worker Violet Miller (Anne-Marie Duff) there.

Before long, Miller and others manage to recruit Maud to their cause. This leads her through a series of difficulties, as she encounters stiff resistance to her efforts.

On paper, Suffragette sounds like a slam-dunk. It covers an important social/historical tale and it comes chock full of talent.

In addition to Mulligan and Whishaw, we find a cast that includes Helena Bonham Carter, Meryl Streep, and Brendan Gleeson. How could a movie with such a strong set of performers become anything other than great?

Suffragette falters because it takes a fairly predictable approach to the narrative without much fresh to bring to it. While it offers a strong basic plot, the execution feels lackluster.

In particular, Suffragette simply comes with little depth. It can feel like a collection of platitudes more than a real story.

This means the characters tend to resemble generic symbols than actual people. They exist to advance a well-meaning tale but they never come across like believable humans.

As one-dimensional as the movie’s women seem, the men in Suffragette come across even worse. We find a relentless series of unpleasant jerks, each one worse than the last.

Suffragette ventually starts to feel like torture porn as we watch all the indignities Maud suffers. I get the intention to depict the enormity of her struggles but the end result comes across as borderline sadistic.

While it does seem eye-opening to see what women went through to earn such a basic right, the end product becomes so heavy-handed that it loses lots of points. Suffragette fails to explore its subject matter in an evocative manner.

Suffragette appears in an aspect ratio of 2.39:1 on this Blu-ray Disc. The movie delivered a pretty positive presentation.

Overall delineation seemed good. Some softness affected wider shots, but the majority of the film looked accurate and well-defined.

No issues with jagged edges or shimmering occurred, and I saw no edge haloes. Print flaws also failed to appear.

Colors tended toward a depressing, dingy sense of blue-teal, with amber prominent during many interiors. Given their use, these tones never stood out as impressive, but they suited the narrative.

Blacks felt deep and dark, while low-light shots presented accurate range and clarity. Due to the movie’s aims, the image didn’t dazzle, but it reproduced the source well.

Although I expected little from the DTS-HD MA 5.1 soundtrack for a serious drama like Suffragette, the mix proved surprisingly dynamic. This meant the soundscape opened up more vividly than anticipated.

Music used the speakers to good advantage, and the violent sequences managed to flesh out the spectrum in an active manner, as did scenes at the laundry. All of this allowed us to find a frequently engaging soundfield.

Audio quality worked fine, with speech that seemed natural and concise. Music showed good range and fluidity.

Effects appeared accurate and full, with solid low-end response. Chalk up this soundtrack as a pleasant surprise.

A few extras appear, and we begin with an audio commentary from director Sarah Gavron and screenwriter Abi Morgan. Both sit together for this running, screen-specific look at story/characters, historical elements and fictionalized components, cast and performances, sets and locations, music, costumes, effects, period details, and connected domains.

This turns into a nice overview of a positive array of topics. We learn a lot about the film and its background in this compelling chat.

Three featurettes follow, and Inside Suffragette goes for 10 minutes, 31 seconds. It brings remarks from Gavron, Morgan, producer Faye Ward, costume designer Jane Petrie, makeup and hair designer Sian Grigg, and actors Carey Mulligan, Meryl Streep, Anne-Marie Duff and Helena Bonham Carter.

“Inside” looks at the film’s inspirations and basis in facts, story/characters, cast and performances, Gavron’s approach to the material, costumes and period details, sets and locations, and the use of visual effects. “Inside” offers a decent look at production basics, though it leans toward happy talk at times.

Looking Back, Looking Forward runs seven minutes, 10 seconds. It delivers notes from Mulligan, Morgan, Gavron, Carter, Streep, Ward, actors Ben Whishaw and Brendan Gleeson, author/historian Elizabeth Crawford, University of Lincoln’s Dr. Krista Cowman, and University of Portsmouth’s Dr. June Purvis.

“Looking” examines some of the history behind the film’s events. Nothing deep emerges but we find a reasonable summary.

Next comes Making the VFX, a five-minute, seven-second reel that involves Gavron, production designer Alice Normington and visual effects supervisor Simon Hughes.

They offer commentary as we see examples of the movie’s visual effects work. It becomes a good demonstration of the efforts involved in a film that doesn’t seem like one that’d be “effects heavy”.

The disc opens with ads for Race, The Danish Girl, The Young Messiah, Spotlight, Trumbo, Steve Jobs and The Secret in Their Eyes.

Previews adds promos for Dallas Buyers Club, Theory of Everything, Hyde Park on Hudson, A Little Chaos and Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy. No trailer for Suffragette appears here.

Though exceptionally well-meaning, Suffragette never rises above those aspirations. As hard as it tries to become a moving tale of social change, the end result feels predictable and trite. The Blu-ray brings very good picture and audio as well as a mix of bonus materials. I wanted to like Suffragette more than I did.