The Rose of Versailles (2025)

Oscar Francois de Jarjayes, born a woman but raised as a man and soldier.  Marie Antoinette, born a noblewoman but destined to rule a nation.  As France inches towards a bloody revolution, the friendship between these two will face awaken personal challenges that will forever alter their fates.  Love, honor, duty and the wish to be free of them all will drive these women to opposite ends of a conflict that will change the course of a nations history forever.

Considering the time period where it takes place and the overall focus on romance in wartime, The Rose of Versailles lends itself quite well to being turned into a musical.  After all, there have been more than a few musical iterations going as far back as the 70s and there’s an OVA compilation of the original series that came out in 1987.  I guess with the sudden resurgence of classic Anime titles like Rurouni Kenshin and Ranma ½, it was only a matter of time before someone thought to resurrect The Rose of Versailles for a new age and this time combine the Animated Film and Musical avenues together.  The end result is a film that is just as much a music laden compilation film as much as it surprisingly improves on and enhances a lot from the TV Series.  It’s a mixed bag but in an overall good or bad way?
 
Just like the show and the Manga that inspired it, The Rose of Versailles splits its focus down the middle between Oscar and Marie Antoinette.  Between the two, Marie gets both the short end of the adaptation but also the bulk of the music.  Yes a lot of her half of the film is told through song and montage unless she is chatting with either Oscar or Hans (also wow I have not missed his last name being the every other word out of someones mouth, a minor annoyance of mine from the show).  The musical numbers are a definite highlight, showcasing every facet of Marie’s life through her loneliness, excess and of course, her doomed love life.  I also applaud that they do a better job of aging up Marie throughout the film as opposed to the show, where she seemed to be forever the same character design we saw when we first met her across a couple decades.  That said, it’s still a speed run that wants to really keep things narrowed to her and Hans.  As a result, some of the best parts of the shows addictive societal court drama like Madame Polignac and the Diamond Necklace Incident are either briefly glimpsed or just omitted altogether.  Heck, whereas the series gave us a gut wretchingly haunting final episode depicting Marie’s final years, the movie moves all of that to text during the end credits.  Yeah she got cheated for sure. 
 
It actually makes me think that instead of one movie, this should have been a dual project: one from Marie’s perspective and the other from Oscar.  Because Oscar gets the lions share of most of the better narrative changes in the movie.  She’s still the beautiful bad ass she’s always been.  The movie though allows her to be a little more vulnerable and let her emotions come out into the open.  They actually start this early on in a new scene with her and Marie where Marie speaks of her current position and how she wants to love freely without the burden of title.  It’s a nice way to plant the seeds of Oscars eventual journey before the second half of the movie moves almost solely to her.  Much like Marie’s section, a lot of story is condensed or changed but here, again, the changes make the story better.  Andre’s injury and the spark the sets off the fuse for the revolution are moved to the same scene and its one of the films best.  There’s even some great care taken not to have Andre repeat the same mistake that kept me from giving the TV Series a perfect 10/10.  Yeah if anything Oscars entire narrative is the best, reworking where necessary yet never losing what made her tale so endearing and inspiring in the first place.
 
Jeez is MAPPA ever not busy this decade?  The studio hard at work on Chainsaw Man and Jujutsu Kaisen clearly has plenty left in the tank to spare for the production of The Rose of Versailles.  It may not be as in needing of its own wing in an art museum beautiful as the TV Series but it’s bright and colorful and energetic where needed and able to go darker and grittier when called for.  The Storming of the Bastille looks even more amazing in modern day animation, able to show off more movement and the true extent of the carnage and courage on display.  As for the musical numbers, they’re pretty good and the tunes themselves are catchy.  If they ever wanted to retry The Rose of Versailles in animated form, MAPPA’s go the OP and ED animations basically set and ready to go.  Hiroyuki Sawano and Kohta Yamamoto team up for the songs themselves and once more remind audiences why Sawano in particular is such a sought after composer for any Anime project.  Once again, OP and ED themes, there right here if MAPPA wants to do a show. 
 
Like I said, I’m a little mixed on the Rose of Versailles movie.  Marie Antoinette’s tragic tale gets the short end of the production, especially her grim finale.  And speedrunning through her early years to get to the Oscar led second half removes many of the characters and plotlines that made the TV show so addictive to watch.  On the other hand, Oscar’s tale is even better than before by refocusing and reworking some events together while tweaking some of the more questionable storytelling choices of the series and improving them outright.  The animation and toe tapping songs do their share of the heavy lifting never let you question this Anime is meant for the musical treatment.  But yeah, this should have been two parts.  I don’t hate the movie in the slightest, heck it’s better than I thought it would be.  As a coda to my time in Versailles with Oscar and Marie, it’s not bad.  Though here’s hoping either a second attempt at a movie musical or a brand new TV series can come around and show these lost legend beauties to a new generation of Anime fans, Roses Forever.
 
8/10
 
And with that, our Extended Summer Series Review of The Rose of Versailles officially comes to a close.  Otakon awaits but we’ll be back with my usual Top 5 Wednesday debrief Next Wednesday.  But before we get to Mortal Kombat Legends, there’s a special review arriving Saturday, August 8^th and it’s got both the touch and the power.  See ya at Otakon and see ya when I get back right here at the Gundam Anime Corner.