Plot

The biracial daughter, Dido Elizabeth Belle (Gugu Mbatha-Raw), of Royal Navy Captain Sir John Lindsay (Matthew Goode) is raised by aristocratic Great-uncle Lord William Murray, 1st Earl of Mansfield (Tom Wilkinson) in 18th century England.

This movie was inspired by the true story of Dido Elizabeth Belle (Gugu Mbatha-Raw), the illegitimate biracial daughter of Royal Navy Captain Sir John Lindsay (Matthew Goode). Raised by her aristocratic great-uncle Lord William Murray, 1st Earl of Mansfield (Tom Wilkinson) and his wife (Emily Watson), Belle's lineage affords her certain privileges, yet the color of her skin prevents her from fully participating in the traditions of her social standing. Left to wonder if she will ever find love, Belle falls for an idealistic young vicar's son bent on change, who, with her help, shapes Lord Mansfield's role as Lord Chief Justice to end slavery in England.—Fox Searchlight Pictures

Set in 18th-century England, based on a true story, Dido Elizabeth Belle (Gugu Mbatha-Raw) is the illegitimate, biracial daughter of Royal Navy Captain Sir John Lindsay (Matthew Goode) and a black woman with whom he had an affair while serving overseas. Lindsay brings her to his uncle Lord William Murray, 1st Earl of Mansfield (Tom Wilkinson) who along with his wife Lady Mansfield (Emily Watson) are already raising Elizabeth (Sarah Gadon), another niece the same age as Dido. Though Lady Mansfield fears scandal having a dark-skinned child as part of the home, Dido's father reminds them that his daughter does have the right to live there because of her lineage, and Lord Mansfield, a Lord Chief Justice of Britain, agrees. Belle and Elizabeth quickly become best friends, and when they come of age, each begins courting suitors. Elizabeth is pursued by James Ashford (Tom Felton), a smarmy and racist manipulator who wants to marry her in order to please his equally conniving mother, Lady Ashford (Miranda Richardson), by increasing his own family's wealth and standing, while Dido proves to be alluring to James' brother Oliver (James Norton). However, Dido's deepest affections are for John Davinier (Sam Reid), an idealistic young lawyer who is trying to sway Lord Mansfield on a crucial case before the high court that will have profound implications for Britain's slave trade.

It's the late 18th century. Dido Elizabeth Belle, the biracial illegitimate daughter of Royal Navy Captain Sir John Lindsay (Matthew Goode) and a West Indian slave, grew up in privilege with her paternal cousin Elizabeth Murray (Sarah Gadon) in the household of their and Sir John's uncle Lord William Murray, 1st Earl of Mansfield (Tom Wilkinson) and Aunt Lady Mansfield (Emily Watson), he a Chief Justice. While Dido and Elizabeth have always treated each other as sisters and have considered Lord and Lady Mansfield like their own parents, Dido, although living in comfort, is not afforded all that is given to Elizabeth, due to the color of her skin. As such, Dido is not to come out as Elizabeth is in finding a suitable husband who can raise her status in society. Conversely, Sir John, upon his death, provided financially for Dido, unlike Elizabeth's father, who has made no such financial arrangement for her, making Dido financially secure regardless of what happens with her in terms of matrimony. Regardless, Dido still wants all that it means to come out, she being casually courted by Oliver Ashford (James Norton), against the wishes of his mother and brother, Lady Ashford (Miranda Richardson) and James Ashford (Tom Felton), who in turn is courting Elizabeth. Bigoted Lady Ashford and James do whatever in their power to make Dido's life a living hell, especially if it looks as if she and Oliver plan to marry. Meanwhile, Dido befriends John Davinier (Sam Reid), the son of a local vicar and an aspiring lawyer, who is researching a case for Lord Mansfield regarding an insurance claim filed by a slave ship's owner for loss of slaves at sea due to illness. Lord Mansfield and John end up having a falling out about one aspect of the case, John wanting the case to lead to abolishing of slavery in England. Through Dido secretly helping John with the case behind Lord Mansfield's back, she and John fall in love. Such a relationship, if it comes to light, having many obstacles including the objections of Lord and Lady Mansfield in favor of Oliver Ashford as a more suitable husband for Dido.—Huggo

This period drama is inspired by the life of Dido Elizabeth Belle (Mbatha-Raw), who was the illegitimate daughter of John Lindsay, a Captain in the Royal Navy, and a Caribbean woman named Maria Belle who gave birth to their child in 1762. Belle's racial background renders her an outsider in her high society circle, and her uncle's role in a slavery case places her in the spotlight.

Dido Elizabeth Belle Lindsay was born in 1761, the natural daughter of Maria Belle, an enslaved African woman in the West Indies, and Captain Sir John Lindsay, a British Royal Navy officer. After the death of Dido's mother, Captain Lindsay takes Dido to England in 1765 and entrusts her to his uncle William Murray, 1st Earl of Mansfield, the Lord Chief Justice, and his wife, Elizabeth who live at Kenwood House, an estate in Hampstead outside London. Lord and Lady Mansfield raise Dido as a free gentlewoman, together with their niece Lady Elizabeth Murray, who came to live with them after her mother died and her father remarried. When the two nieces reach adulthood, the Mansfields commission an oil portrait of their two great-nieces, but Dido is unhappy about sitting for it as she is worried that it will portray her as a subordinate, like other portraits she has seen depicting aristocrats with black servants. Dido's father dies and leaves her £2,000 a year. Lady Elizabeth, by contrast, will have no income from her father, whose new wife has been named his sole heir. Arrangements are made for Elizabeth to have her coming out to society, but Lord and Lady Mansfield believe no gentleman will agree to marry Dido because of her mixed-race status.

Lord Mansfield agrees to take a vicar's son, John Davinier, into an apprenticeship for law. In 1783, Mansfield hears the case of Gregson v. Gilbert, regarding the payment of an insurance claim, for slaves killed when thrown overboard by the captain of a slave-ship an event now known as the Zong massacre. Dido helps her uncle with his correspondence and after John tells her about the Zong case, she begins sneaking correspondence to him which he believes will advance the cause of the abolitionists. Lord Mansfield and John have a disagreement on the main issue of the case and John is told not to see Dido again. Didos aunts, Lady Mansfield and Lady Mary Murray, Lord Mansfield's sister, seek to steer Dido into an engagement with Oliver Ashford, son of a scheming grand dame and younger brother to the bigoted James Ashford. At first James is interested in Elizabeth but stops courting her once he finds out she will have no inheritance. Oliver proposes to Dido and she accepts, even though she continues to see John. After James threatens Dido with violence, she tells Elizabeth and says she will give part of her inheritance to her for a dowry so she can find a different match. Lord Mansfield finds out about Dido's visits to John and confronts both of them. During the confrontation, John professes his love for Dido. Sometime later, Dido meets with Oliver and breaks off their engagement.

Dido is relieved when the painting is unveiled, showing her as Elizabeth's equal. She tells Lord Mansfield that the portrait commission proves that he can defy convention. Dido sneaks into the balcony of the Inn of Court, so that she can hear Lord Mansfield narrowly rule that the Gregson slave-trading syndicate, based in Liverpool, were not due insurance payments for the loss of slaves during a voyage, when they were thrown overboard by the crew. The ship's officers claimed they ordered this action because they were out of potable water. It appeared to Lord Mansfield that the slaves were over-crowded, making them sick and not likely to fetch a high price at auction, so the officers decided they would be worth more in insurance payments after their loss. Lord Mansfield sees John and Dido outside the Court after his ruling and says that Dido can only marry a gentleman. Therefore, he agrees to resume John's apprenticeship in law, so that he can become a gentleman.

On-screen text informs the viewer that Dido and John married and had two children, that Elizabeth also married and had children, and that the painting hung at Kenwood House until 1922, when it was moved to Scone palace.

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