Pete Croatto, Cinematters, June 2014
Pete Croatto, Cinematters, June 2014
Belle
Recently, I talked with a local reviewer who was genuinely concerned about movies’ responsibility in portraying history accurately. He figured that with movies a popular activity among teens—and reading presumably ranked somewhere between root canals and genital herpes—that this was an important issue.
It is, except movies, with the exception of some particularly stiff documentaries, are an emotional medium. Audiences gravitated toward 12 Years a Slave and Lincoln because characters from stodgy textbooks emerged as people. Accuracy means little if we can’t empathize with the central figures involved in the past. The same principle also applies to books—even the non-fiction ones.
Director Amma Asante doesn’t make history the star in her terrific, multi-layered drama, Belle, which takes place on the eve of a landmark slavery ruling. Instead, the timeframe spurs a young woman’s spiritual and intellectual awakening. I can’t vouch for the film’s historical accuracy. All I know is I was enthralled by the characters and their problems. The past becomes relevant.
Today, Dido Elizabeth Belle (Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Larry Crowne) would be a society page darling: beautiful, cultured, and filthy rich. In circa 1780 England, the mixed race daughter of Admiral Sir John Lindsay (Matthew Goode) is a social outcast. Raised by her father’s aunt (Emily Watson) and uncle (Tom Wilkinson), Dido’s elevated social standing only complicates matters. She doesn’t dine with her white patrician family or with the help. Dido is at the marrying age, but her complexion reduces her to a social oddity at worst or an exotic treat at best. No wonder that at one point she rubs her skin like she’s trying to rid herself of the color.
Dido is imprisoned in a gilded cage, a realization she reaches after meeting aspiring lawyer John Davinier (Sam Reid). Davinier is being mentored by Dido’s great-uncle, the Lord Chief Justice. It’s an arrangement that cannot last. Davinier’s youthful idealism has no room for diplomacy. He can’t abide Dido’s treatment by the family that claims to love her, or the judge’s creaky thinking regarding the case he’s presiding over: whether a slave ship dumping diseased slaves overboard can be reimbursed by insurance.
Davinier energizes Dido. He considers her more than a curiosity, a feeling that intensifies as their time together increases. As she reads more about the slave case, Dido sees her life beyond cultivated rules of fancy-pants propriety and courtship. Primarily, getting married—yes, Dido has an offer—means nothing if your partner doesn’t view you as a complete person.
Belle hits home because it’s really a modern romance in pantaloons. Marriage is still looked upon as a requirement for adults. People rush into it without asking themselves if the person loves them wholly. To get to that point, you have to know yourself, or find someone who welcomes that exploration. What most appalls Dido’s family about her seeking answers is that she refuses to stay in the purgatory society has assigned her. Davinier offers absolution by loving her unconditionally.
Asante abstains from flashy cinematography here, except whenever Davinier grabs Dido’s hand. Then, we get a quick cut to a close-up, a jolt of an interruption that is almost erotic. Asante treats us like adults. She pulls back and allows Misan Sagay’s quietly revealing dialogue to do its work. We know Dido struggles to loosen the gloved grasp around her neck, so there’s no need to shoot off fireworks. This is intelligent, personal moviemaking. We don’t need a book to tell us that. [PG]
An ICON contributor since 2006, Pete Croatto also writes movie reviews for The Weekender. His work has appeared in The New York Times, Broadway.com, Grantland, Philadelphia, Publishers Weekly, and many other publications. Follow him on Twitter, @PeteCroatto.
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