64
Metascore
35 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 100McClatchy-Tribune News ServiceRoger MooreMcClatchy-Tribune News ServiceRoger MooreBeautifully cast, touchingly played and handsomely mounted, Belle is as close to perfect as any costumed romance has a right to be.
- 83Entertainment WeeklyChris NashawatyEntertainment WeeklyChris NashawatyLike "Downton Abbey" but with corsets, culottes, and tricorn hats, Belle subtly skewers the absurd rules and hypocrisies of class. But the real takeaway is Mbatha-Raw. She makes a case for why she ought to be a star.
- 70VarietyJustin ChangVarietyJustin ChangThat the film still works as well as it does is due to not only its polished craftsmanship and disarming comedy-of-manners approach, but also its fascinating insights into the conflicted mindset of British society
- 60The GuardianHenry BarnesThe GuardianHenry BarnesAmma Asante's second feature tells Dido's extraordinary story in handsome, if formulaic, style.
- 60The DissolveNathan RabinThe DissolveNathan RabinAs a period production, Belle is gorgeous, dazzling spectacle, replete with ornate costumes, lovely sets, and in Mbatha-Raw, a striking, charismatic lead. But the film never finds a way to invest its narrative with a sense of urgency.
- 50Slant MagazineTomas HachardSlant MagazineTomas HachardThe film is concerned largely with intellectual horrors and portrays the fight against slavery rather neatly as a growing feeling of internal guilt that slowly turns society toward the light.
- 50New York PostLou LumenickNew York PostLou LumenickIf you were wondering what “12 Years a Slave” might have been like as a two-part episode of “Masterpiece Theatre,” you might want to check out this unsatisfying but not uninteresting oddity. It renders another historical story about race with exquisite taste but not much in the way of passion.
- 40Time OutJoshua RothkopfTime OutJoshua RothkopfCloser to a special episode of "Diff’rent Strokes" than to "12 Years a Slave," the movie seems to exist to give its white characters belated moments of conscience.
- 40Village VoiceStephanie ZacharekVillage VoiceStephanie ZacharekThere's a great story here, but Asante — who has made one previous feature, the 2004 drama A Way of Life — can't quite harness its power.