"Belle"
In this Jane Austen-styled romance, a mix-raced woman raised by nobility struggles to find her place in 18th-century English society.
Dartmouth English professor and writer Gretchen Gerzina briefly introduces this screening. She is the author of several biographies and histories including Black London: Life before Emancipation. This book's cover contains the portrait that inspired Belle and is now available HERE through Dartmouth's Library.
The conflict between skin color and noble birth in 18th-century England is explored in this fictionalized story of Dido Elizabeth Belle, the illegitimate mixed-race daughter of Admiral Sir John Lindsay. Raised by her great-uncle Lord Mansfield (Tom Wilkinson) and his wife (Emily Watson), Belle lives between worlds—too noble to dine with servants, too low to mix with the aristocracy. This Jane Austen-styled romance moves from ballrooms to courtrooms as Belle struggles to find her place in society. D: Amma Asante, UK, 2014, 108m