Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		4.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		2.0
Overall		4.0

Belle Blu-ray Movie Review

Everything isn't always as simple as black and white.

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman September 16, 2014

In some ways, 2013 might be thought of as the cinematic “year of the slave”, with Steve McQueen’s harrowing epic 12 Years a Slave crowning many critics’ top film lists and going on to win the Academy Award for Best Picture. The frightening randomness of what happened to Solomon Northup was one of the most devastating aspects of that film, and much the same random aspect plays into what might be thought of as the “flip side” to traditional tales of woebegone slaves, another 2013 film, Amma Asante’s Belle. Dido Elizabeth Belle was a real person who managed to escape a life of slavery by having the supposed good fortune of being a mixed race child whose father was a high ranking British Navy officer. Though the film doesn’t really dwell on the matter, historical records suggest that Belle’s mother was a slave and that Belle’s father had taken the woman as his personal concubine after having captured a slave ship in some kind of sea skirmish. While that perhaps puts at least a partial lie to this character’s seeming nobility within the film, it doesn’t alter the rather remarkable fact that this man did bring his young “Mulatto” (as they were termed) child back to England, depositing her with his famous uncle, Lord Mansfield, where Belle was raised in a bizarre kind of netherworld where she was well educated and lived a free woman’s life, albeit one constrained by her dark skin and assumed racial identity. Belle imagines its titular character’s life (there isn’t much in the actual historical record about Belle’s day to day existence), while knitting her peculiar story in with Britain’s growing awareness of the horrors of the slave trade (Lord Mansfield was instrumental in striking down some laws pertaining to slavery in his role as Lord Chief Justice). Perhaps a bit too glossy for its own good, Belle is the kind of sumptuous historical epic that harkens back to an earlier era of filmmaking. It’s grand, opulent and beautiful to watch (courtesy of amazing sets and costumes), but thankfully it also has an unusual amount of emotional resonance. This is not the overpoweringly horrific emotion of 12 Years of Slave, but a perhaps appropriately British sort of reserved abhorrence about the cruel practice of treating human beings as ownable objects.

The film begins with Belle as a little girl, meeting her white father, Captain Sir John Lindsay (Matthew Goode), for the first time. Lindsay assures the little girl she’ll come to no harm, and he takes her to his uncle, William Murray, First Earl of Mansfield (Tom Wilkinson), and Murray’s wife, Lady Mansfield (Emily Watson). The Mansfields are already raising an orphaned little girl named Elizabeth Murray. While Lord and Lady Mansfield pay a bit of lip service to how supposedly “shocking” it is that Lindsay has a mixed race daughter, when he explains that duty to the King calls and he will be on a mission for the unforeseen future, they relent and agree to take little Dido Elizabeth Belle in, deciding she will be a suitable companion for Elizabeth if nothing else.

Belle indulges in a fairly hokey bit of segueing as the young Belle and Elizabeth frolic in a yard and pass behind a large tree, only to emerge as young women, now played by Gugu Mbatha-Raw and Sarah Gadon. The intervening years seem to have been kind to Belle. She is obviously loved by Lord Mansfield, as well as by occasionally churlish but lovable governess Lady Mary Murray (Penelope Wilton). She also seems to be a sister in all but blood to Elizabeth, and the two share a palpable bond. Even the social morés of the time, customs which dictate that Belle can’t dine with the white folks but can partake in after meal discussions, do little to dampen the relationships Belle obviously shares with her family.

Still, it’s obvious that Belle is looked on as something of a curio by Mansfield’s social circle, including scheming Lady Ashford (Miranda Richardson), who can’t quite decide if Belle’s mixed race outweighs the fact that she’s also an heiress and therefore potentially easy money for her unmarried sons. Belle is only too aware that she’s viewed as something of a parlor trick, but she rises to the occasion when challenged to display supposed elite talents like playing the keyboard. Screenwriter Misan Sagay probably errs a bit in portraying Belle as simply too good to be true—beautiful, smart and talented—but Mbatha-Raw invests the role with humanity and heart.

Sagay also attempts to weave some of the real life Lord Mansfield’s court decisions into the overall arc of Belle’s attempts to find her place in British society, something that evidently there’s no real evidence is part of the historical record. That at least gives the film a sweep of history informing its more intimate story, but it also tends to feel overcalculated, as Lord Mansfield doesn’t really need to undergo much of a transformation to become an abolitionist, at least when viewed through the prism of how he’s always treated Belle. A romantic subplot with Belle and an aspiring barrister named John Davinier (Sam Reid) is also a bit hackneyed, but at least provides a bit of hand wringing and angst before an expected happy resolution.

Belle is something of a pageant, given its huge manorial locations and opulent sets and costumes, and it therefore struggles at times to achieve the intimacy that the story requires. At times leaning a bit too much on tableaux rather than true emotion, there’s perhaps a tad too much speechifyin’ (if I may be permitted a spectacularly un-Queen’s English term) to sit well with those who want a story to unfold organically rather than seeming to tick boxes imposed from without. Still, this is often a very touching film and it’s unusually provocative. Not much may be known about the real life Belle, and this film may in fact only serve to further muddy the waters, but her story (such as it is known) is so unique and compelling, even in this fictionalized version, that it serves as a potent symbol for an entire culture coming to terms with its own view of race and social status.

Belle Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Belle is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.39:1. According to the IMDb, this was shot digitally with the Sony CineAlta F56, and the results here are unusually sumptuous and well realized. Colors are accurate and very nicely saturated, and the outdoor location shots offer some beautiful depth of field. Clarity is exceptional, and contrast is also strong, helping to overcome some minimally lit scenes (director Amma Asante seems to favor natural lighting, or at least lighting that is not overtly theatrical). Some brief CGI elements are a bit on the soft side, but otherwise this is a sharp and appealing looking transfer with no artifacting issues of any note.

Belle Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Belle's lossless DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 mix isn't bombastic in any meaningful sense, but it's subtly attuned to both the pastoral setting of Kenwood House as well as the more urban environment of London, with nicely placed ambient environmental effects helping to create vivid, lifelike sonics. Dialogue is cleanly presented and Rachel Portman's evocative score fills the surrounds very nicely. Dynamic range is somewhat limited in this period drama, but fidelity is top notch and there are no problems of any kind to discuss.

Belle Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Promotional Featurettes include:

  Belle: The Story (1080p; 4:08) traces the broad outlines of the plot.

  
  

  Gugu Mbatha-Raw Breakout Role (1080p; 4:03) profiles the leading actress.

  
  

  The Power of Belle (1080p; 5:31) features interviews with writer Misan Sagay, who discusses what Belle's story means to her.

  
  

  From Painting to Screen (1080p; 4:38) features more of Sagay, here discussing the painting of Belle and her cousin which hung at Kenwood House for decades and which helped to inspire this film.

  
  

  The History Behind the Painting (1080p; 4:55) gives some of the backstory of the work of art.

• Gallery (1080p; 1:05 in auto advance mode)


• Theatrical Trailer (1080p; 2:26)

Belle Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

I'm frankly a sucker for well appointed historical dramas, and so I was perhaps more willing than some to let some of Belle's patent artifices slide. The basic story here is so remarkable, no matter how much fictionalizing was actually done to it, that the sheer oddity of Belle's predicament makes for a compelling viewing experience, no matter what temporary dramatic stumbles Sagay's screenplay forces upon her. Tying Belle's story into Britain's awakening of conscience is a trickier ploy, and not one that this film fully pulls off, or at least integrates organically. Absolutely opulently designed, and beautifully filmed and scored, Belle also benefits from uniformly excellent performances. It may not be "real" history, but Belle comes Recommended.