Varese Sarabande Records will release Belle – Original Motion Picture Soundtrack digitally and on CD May 13, 2014. The soundtrack features original score composed by Rachel Portman (The Cider House Rules, Emma). Academy Award-winner Rachel Portman delivers one of her most sumptuous scores for this period story of illicit love, Belle.
"The score needed to support many different emotions within the story. At times it needed strong bold themes, at others, subtle almost 'holding' an atmosphere or feeling." said Portman. "It is a very beautiful film with a fascinating story—both wonderful ingredients for a composer to work with!" "Using all the elements of the film, she came up with something really different," said director Amma Asante of Portman. "At times, it absolutely brought tears to my eyes."
"I loved the collaboration with Amma Asante," said Portman. "We talked in depth about the story and the emotional threads running throughout. It was important to find a theme for Dido that expressed her as a person. The first scene I scored—or rather, that inspired the main theme—was where Dido and John walk in secret by the docks and John asks Dido about her mother. The music needed to play the subtext that John was falling in love with Dido."