Belle: period drama is better with politics

I’ve always been a lover of period drama. It’s no surprise really, as Jane Austen is often regarded as the grandma of the modern rom com. I love the romance, the costumes and the ridiculous social mores that the characters have to dance around to get anything done. I espeically love the weird dancing. It’s strangely comforting, and makes me more than a little happy to be a 21st century lady, even if these are the end times.

Period romances, like so many things that have mainly a female audience, are often considered fluffy distractions, rather than serious art. Austen was subtly subversive, but it probably wasn’t easy to rock the boat too much in those days. In film, the Merchant Ivory standard has held strong, with escapism given precedence over social commentary.

Belle sets itself apart from standard costume drama fare, by facing issues of gender and race head on. Directed by Amma Asante, it recreates the true story of Dido Belle, a mixed raced girl left by her father, Captain Lindsey, in the care of his uncle, the 1st Earl of Mansfield. Uncle also happens to be Lord Chief Justice, during a period where Britain was rich from slave labor and the abolition movement was gaining traction.

The film is inspired by a painting at Hampstead's Kenwood house, of Dido and her cousin Elizabeth presented as friends and equals. Screenwriter Misan Sagay exercised a fair dollop of artist license in reimagining Dido’s story. She brilliantly entwines Dido’s personal struggle with her identity, with the public struggle against slavery.

Belle boasts some lovely performances, particularly from Gugu Mbatha-Raw as the defiant but sensitive Dido. Tom Wilkinson is engaging as the once idealistic Lord Mansfield. Blackadder babe Miranda Richardson plays scheming Lady Ashford and Tom Felton (i.e. Draco Malfoy) her bigoted prick of a son. They are both brilliant at it.

Dido grows up as an upper class woman with almost but not quite the same privileges as her beloved cousin Elizabeth. While her father leaves her a great fortune, Elizabeth is left penniless. We follow the girls as they attempt to find themselves a good match, despite Lizzy being flat broke and Dido having to navigate a brutally racist society.

Gentlemen of interest do appear and one, cute leftie and legal apprentice John, draws Dido into the case of Gregson vs. Gilbert (now known as the Zong massacre). Traders threw 142 slaves overboard, claiming they had run out of water and had no choice. It was a scam: the slaves were dying from ship conditions and were worth more to the traders as insurance pay offs. Horrified by the case that her dear uncle is presiding over, Dido attempts to influence its outcome.

Stylistically, Belle uses all romantic conventions that we have come to love, while dealing frankly with the atrocities on which its sumptuous world is built. We hear of shocking brutality while most of the characters on screen are more concerned with navigating their social standing. The effect is subversive, and has the added appeal of giving a film with such a dark subject matter a lightness of touch.

It got me thinking how unusual it was to see a film of this style deal head-on with the injustices of its period. We all know that the past, for most people, was full of savage oppression. Yet the majority of period films skim over this by focusing on the pretty costumes, or the stories of those who got to actively participate in public life, i.e. white dudes.

Asante and Sagay have created a moving and original drama from piecing together the story of someone whose race and gender meant she was nearly written out of history. It made me wonder how many other fascinating stories are yet unearthed. I hope Belle inspires more filmmakers dig deeper and start imagining the past through new perspectives.

First published on strongfemalelead.wordpress.com