An illegitimate mixed race daughter of a Royal Navy Admiral is raised by her aristocratic great-uncle.
Asante has only made two films, and here’s hoping that she goes on to get better and better. Belle isn’t awful, but it is awfully slow, didactic and far too reliant on Mbatha-Raw’s fine, expressive eyes.
Witty and well-heeled, it also boasts a fine cast of British character actors at the top of their game.
If not a star-making turn, Mbatha-Raw's tough, tender performances should give her plenty of opportunities in sharper fare.
As Belle, Gugu Mbatha-Raw gives a luminous performance, aided by a script that creates a powerful tension between the formality of the language and the passion of the sentiments.
A supremely confident work from one of Britain’s most promising directors.
A spirited, good-natured and crowd-pleasing costume drama.
It's a very solid, watchable if conservative piece of work.
With Belle, Asante has succeeded in making a sweeping costume drama that confronts questions of race and gender head on – something that Merchant Ivory films rarely managed to do.
That rare period drama with the ability to reach out across the centuries and capture the imagination of a modern audience.
Belle confirms Asante as an assured and insightful film-maker who knows just how much window dressing a picture requires to make it appealing to the eye. Embracing sentiment without going soft on substance, she hides her stronger purpose beneath a facade of gentility in a manner that would make Jane Austen smile. Bravo!
Gugu Mbatha-Raw on her role in period drama Belle
Belle director Amma Asante: 'A generation growing up will never see colour as an issue'
General release. Check local listings for show times.