Belle (2013)

William Murray, 1st Earl of Mansfield and Lord Chief Justice, takes in an illegitimate grand-niece, the daughter of an admiral and an enslaved African woman, and not long after is required to rule on a case affecting the legality of the slave trade. Such is the burden of Misan Sagay's script, written in the vein of Jane Austen adaptations, which swaps incisive, specific criticism of the social customs of the landed gentry for broad arguments against the now-indefensible position. Read the full review here.