A
CBS made-for-TV movie (
2000), starring
Sam Neill as
Thomas Jefferson and
Carmen Ejogo as his
slave and mistress,
Sally Hemings. The story begins after the death of Mrs. Jefferson. Almost immediately, the action follows Jefferson and Hemings to
revolutionary France, where Sally (and her brother
James) are legally free. It is here that their
affair begins, and Jefferson pledges to formally free Sally and James when they return to the States. In a later scene, he does give James Hemings his
freedom, but his promise to Sally remains unfulfilled, even to his death - she is not one of the five slaves (Jefferson's own children by Sally) freed in Jefferson's will. Throughout the story, Jefferson's sister Martha antagonizes Sally; one of the most stirring scenes is their confrontation after his death, where Sally rebukes Martha for her plans to sell Sally off as part of
the heavily-indebted estate.
IMDB calls this a "romance"; I'm not sure where romance can really come into play in the relationship between slave and slave-owner. Ejogo does an excellent job portraying Sally from vibrant maidenhood through middle age; Neill is his usual self, reserved and awkward with his passions.