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.
Plot
Dido Elizabeth Belle Lindsay is born in 1761, the illegitimate daughter of Royal Navy officer Captain Sir John Lindsay, and enslaved African woman Maria Belle in the West Indies. After Dido's mother dies in 1769, Lindsay takes Dido to England and entrusts her to his uncle William Murray, Earl of Mansfield, the Lord Chief Justice, and his wife Elizabeth, who live at the estate Kenwood House in Hampstead, near London.
They raise Dido as a free gentlewoman with their other great-niece Lady Elizabeth Murray, whose widowed father had remarried a woman who pressured him to disown her. When the cousins reach adulthood, the Mansfields commission a portrait of them, but Dido fears she will be portrayed as a subordinate, similar to other portraits which depict aristocrats with black servants.
Dido's father dies, leaving her a vast income of £2,000 a year, making her an heiress. Lady Elizabeth, by contrast, will have no income from her father, as his son with his new wife has been named sole heir. Arrangements are made for Elizabeth to have her coming-out to society, but Lord and Lady Mansfield believe no gentleman will agree to marry Dido because of her mixed race.
Fearing lower-ranking men will only marry Dido for her wealth, and that a marriage to a lower-status man will reduce her rank and shame the family, Lord Mansfield decides she will travel to London with her cousin but will not be "out" to society. He asks her to take her spinster great-aunt Mary's place as the keeper of the house, with the implication that she will not marry.
Lord Mansfield agrees to take the local vicar's son, John Davinier, into a law pupillage. In 1783, Mansfield hears the case of Gregson v. Gilbert, about an insurance claim for slaves killed when thrown overboard by the captain of a slave-ship. Dido helps her uncle with his correspondence.
After John tells Dido about the case, she begins sneaking correspondence to him which he believes will advance abolitionism. Lord Mansfield and John disagree about the case; John is told to leave, not to see Dido again, and his pupillage is at an end.
Dido's aunts, Lady Mansfield and Lady Mary Murray, seek to steer Dido into an engagement with Oliver Ashford, younger brother to the bigoted James Ashford. At first, James is interested in Elizabeth but stops courting her once he discovers she will have no inheritance. Oliver, who has no fortune, proposes to Dido and she accepts, but continues to see John in secret. James takes Dido aside, tells her she will disgrace his family's name, then insults and gropes her.
Dido tells Elizabeth of James' true character, offering to give her part of her own inheritance as a dowry so she can find a different match. Lord Mansfield finds out about Dido's visits to John and confronts them, and John professes his love for her. Dido then meets Oliver and breaks off their engagement.
Dido is relieved when the painting is unveiled, since she is shown as Elizabeth's equal. She tells Lord Mansfield that the portrait commission proves that he can defy convention.
Dido sneaks into the court to hear Lord Mansfield narrowly rule that the slave-trading syndicate is not due insurance payments for the slaves whom the crew threw overboard during the voyage. The ship's officers claimed they ordered this action because they were out of drinking water, but Lord Mansfield had discovered that the ship passed by many ports without stopping for more, before murdering the slaves. The slaves' quarters were overcrowded, making them sick and not likely to fetch a high price at auction, so the officers had decided they would be worth more in insurance payments after their "loss", and threw them overboard.
When Lord Mansfield sees John and Dido outside the court after his ruling, he says that she can only marry a gentleman. Therefore, he agrees to resume John's pupillage, so that he can become a lawyer. Dido and John embrace, in acknowledgement of their romantic feelings.
In the credits we see Dido and John married, having two sons. Elizabeth also married and had three children, and their joint portrait hung at Kenwood House until 1922, when it was moved to Scone Palace near Perth, the birthplace of Lord Mansfield.
Cast
Painting
The 1778 painting, once thought to be by Johann Zoffany, is now attributed to David Martin. The painting hung in Kenwood House until 1922 and now hangs at Scone Palace in Perthshire, Scotland. It was one of the first European portraits to portray a black subject on an equal eye-line with a white aristocrat, though distinctions are implied by the poses, as Elizabeth's "formality and bookishness are contrasted with the wild and exotically turbanned 'natural' figure of Belle."
The painting is replicated in the film with the faces of the actresses portraying the characters replacing those in the original. Dido's finger-to-cheek gesture is absent in the fictionalised version, as is her feathered turban. The original picture is shown on screen at the end of the film.
Production Filming began on 24 September 2012. The film was shot on location in the Isle of Man, Oxford and London. It is the first major British motion picture to be shot in true-4K, using Sony's F65 CineAlta digital production camera. The film was produced by DJ Films, Isle of Man Film, and Pinewood Pictures with support from the BFI.
Production designer Simon Bowles created the 18th-century Bristol Docks on the Isle of Man and created a set for Kenwood House, based on a number of stately homes in the London area.
Original music for the film was composed by Rachel Portman.
Music
Historical accuracy
Sagay chose to set the major events, Belle's and Elizabeth's love affairs and the Zong case, in the same year the painting was made – when Belle was about 18. In reality, Belle married at 32, long after Lady Elizabeth was married and no longer in touch with Belle.
Sir John Lindsay died on 4 June 1788, when Lady Elizabeth has been married years before and no longer lived in Kenwood. Dido was 27 years old at the time of her father's death.
John Davinier was in real life a French manservant, not an English apprentice lawyer. John Daviniere was 7 years younger than Dido. In the film, Dido was married to Davinier when she was 18, therefore John would only be 11 years old at the time.
James Walvin, professor emeritus at the University of York, said of Belle: "Much of the historical evidence is there – though festooned in the film with imaginary relishes and fictional tricks. Partly accurate, the whole thing reminded me of the classic Morecambe and Wise sketch with André Previn (Eric bashing away on the piano): all the right notes – but not necessarily in the right order." Reviewing the film for History Extra, the official website of BBC History Magazine, Walvin noted that while the second half of the film centres on Dido Elizabeth Belle's involvement in the Zong case, in reality she was "nowhere to be found in the Zong affair". In the film "Tom Wilkinson's Mansfield finds his cold legal commercial heart softened, and edged towards abolition by the eyelash-fluttering efforts of his stunning great niece" and his "adjudication becomes, not a point of law, but the first bold assertion towards the end of slavery". Walvin points out that "he merely stated that there should be another hearing of the Zong case – this time with evidence not known at the earlier hearing". Walvin awarded the film one star for enjoyment and two for historical accuracy.
Dido Elizabeth Belle was never given her father's last name of Lindsay; instead she took her mother's last name Belle. She was baptised in London aged 6 by Maria but John Lindsay was absent from the baptism. In the movie it was said that Dido's mother was dead so no one could take care of Dido, and Sir John Lindsay took Dido to be taken care of by his maternal Uncle. In real life, Dido's mother Maria Belle was alive, Maria was a 14 year old when Dido was conceived and 15 when she gave birth to Dido, Maria was later given property by Sir John Lindsay in Pensacola, Florida and purchased her freedom in 1774. Sir John Lindsay fathered a total of five illegitimate children from 5 different women. Dido Belle in June 1761, John Edward Lindsay on 9 February 1762, Ann in November 1766, Elizabeth in December 1766, and John Lindsay in November 1767.
According to colonial law at the time, Dido's actual birthright as the daughter of a slave woman, was that she would have been considered by law a slave herself, and didn't have any rights nor freedom. Additionally as an illegitimate child, Dido also didn't have rights to her father's name, social position, or property.
Real Dido would also be in charge of some chores normal for genteel woman, but many doubt that Lady Elizabeth did any of these task. As remarked by Thomas Hutchinson from his visit to Kenwood."She is a sort of Superintendent over the dairy, poultry yard, &c., which we visited, and she was called upon by my Lord every minute for this thing and that, and shewed the greatest attention to everything he said."
"A Black came in after dinner and sat with the ladies, and after coffee, walked with the company in the gardens, one of the young ladies having her arm within the other. She had a very high cap, and her wool was much frizzled in her neck, but not enough to answer the large curls now in fashion. I knew her history before, but my Lord mentioned it again. Sir Lindsay, having taken her mother prisoner in a Spanish vessel, brought her to England, where she delivered of this girl, of which she was then with child, and which was taken care of by Lord M., and has been educated by his family. He calls her Dido, which I suppose is all the name she has. He knows he has been reproached for showing a fondness for her – I dare say not criminal" Because Dido was in charge of dairy and poultry yard, some experts said it was unlikely that she would have worn a fancy dress like her cousin Elizabeth would, as it would get spoiled by the dirt, Dido was also described wearing a "very high cap" with frizzy hair.