Belle (2013)
- Directed by
- Amma Asante
- Genre
- drama film
- Country
- United Kingdom
- Runtime
- 1h 44m
- Rated
- PG
- Rating
- 7.1 of 10 from 731 voters
- Elsewhere
- IMDb
The catalogue in 3D
The film shelves have a room of their own that you can walk around in. The cat behind the counter is the AI Catbot, and they pick real films from the same catalogue when you tell them what you feel like watching. Nothing is for sale, here or in there. Go in from here and this film is already out on the counter, with more like it waiting on the shelf next to it.
How it feels
A mixed-race woman raised by aristocratic relatives navigates British high society in the 1700s. She becomes involved with a lawyer and her family faces a key court case about a slave ship massacre.
thoughtfulrestrainedromantichistoricalseriousbiographicalperiod-settingcharacter-driven
What happens
Belle is a 2013 British period drama film directed by Amma Asante, written by Misan Sagay and produced by Damian Jones. It stars Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Tom Wilkinson, Miranda Richardson, Penelope Wilton, Sam Reid, Matthew Goode, Emily Watson, Sarah Gadon, Tom Felton, and James Norton. The film is loosely inspired by the 1779 painting of Dido Elizabeth Belle beside her cousin Lady Elizabeth Murray at Kenwood House, which was commissioned by their great-uncle, William Murray, 1st Earl of Mansfield, then Lord Chief Justice of England. Very little is known about the life of Dido Belle, who was born in the West Indies and was the illegitimate mixed-race daughter of Mansfield's nephew, Sir John Lindsay. She is found living in poverty by her father and entrusted to the care of Mansfield and his wife. The fictionalised story centres on Dido's relationship with an aspiring lawyer; it is set at a time of legal significance, as a court case is heard on what became known as the Zong massacre, when slaves were thrown overboard from a slave ship and the owner filed with his insurance company for the losses. Lord Mansfield ruled on this case in England's Court of King's Bench in 1786, in a decision seen to contribute to the Slave Trade Act 1807. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)
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Lapwing (2021)- More like this film, on a shelf you can walk up to.It's the lit case on the top shelf.