Mamoru Hosoda On Belle, Grief, Female Heroes, And Finding Hope In The Online World

thegamer.com:

Belle is a film about grief and the acceptance of loss. It follows Suzu, a young girl who deals with the loss of her mother by escaping into the online world of U. Here she is able to find her voice, becoming a viral superstar as the reality she has always wished for finally comes to fruition. It's a beautiful fantasy, but also a heartfelt example of learning to admire who you are and embracing the help of those around you.

Ahead of its release in UK cinemas I had a chance to sit down with director Mamoru Hosoda to talk about Belle’s creation, Suzu’s role as a heroine, and how so many of his films deal with the ideas of loss, acceptance, and virtual identity.

Related: Belle Review - A Spellbinding Animated Adventure From Mamoru Hosoda

“At the start of the film, [Suzu] isn’t the heroine, she’s quite dark, she’s overwhelmed with the trauma of losing her mother,” Hosoda tells me, recalling the loss that underpins so many of the film’s central themes. “She doesn’t believe in herself, and I believe there’s a lot of people like that today, including in the online world. I think we have this tool in social media where we can connect with the online world, and it looks very positive, like on TikTok everyone is always so happy, but I think a lot of young people feel like it leads to feelings of loneliness, and low self-esteem, and I wonder how they will manage when they’re faced with the possibility of being trolled the second they post something online. That’s what I wanted to explore in Belle, and also about the context of my own five-year old daughter and how she will cope in the future.”

Hosoda has been making films for decades, his catalogue including the likes of Wolf Children, The Girl Who Leapt Through Time, and Summer