Belle

Belle is set in 18th-century England and centres on Dido Elizabeth Belle, the mixed-race daughter of a Royal Navy captain. Taken in as a child by her father's aristocratic relatives, she is raised at Kenwood House by her great-uncle Lord Mansfield, the Lord Chief Justice, and his wife. Her position in the household is contradictory: she is too well-born to dine with the servants, yet her skin colour keeps her apart from the company expected of a young woman of her rank. As she grows up, her closeness to a young man with strong views about the law and slavery draws her into the legal and moral battles around the case of the Zong, in which her great-uncle is involved.

The film was released in 2013 and is Amma Asante's first feature as director, followed by A United Kingdom in 2016 and Where Hands Touch in 2018. Misan Sagay wrote the screenplay, Damian Jones produced, and Gugu Mbatha-Raw leads a cast that includes Tom Wilkinson, Sam Reid, Sarah Gadon, Emily Watson and Miranda Richardson. Made for about 11 million dollars, it took roughly 17 million dollars worldwide.

On IMDb it holds 7.3 out of 10 from around 35,000 votes, and on TMDB 7.1 out of 10 from 740 votes, while critics' reviews average 6.9 out of 10 across 153 notices. The audience scores are slightly warmer than the critics' average, though all three sit in similar territory.