La Rose de Versailles

When I was a child, this story moved and shocked me deeply. I had high hopes for MAPPA's theatrical version, but to my dismay, not even 20 minutes in, I was already thinking, "What am I watching?" and "Did I open the wrong movie?" I barely lasted an hour before giving up. Throughout the viewing, I couldn't connect with the characters' emotions at all. The story, which should have resonated deeply with the audience, felt completely hollow. The scene transitions were jarring, and even the use of music felt off and disconnected from the narrative-as if they just wanted to rush through the story.

This was originally a story rich with a strong sense of its era. I still remember how heartbreaking it was to see André die when I watched it as a kid. Oscar was such a stunningly cool woman. But the 2025 theatrical version had none of that! It tried to compress a story that originally took many episodes to tell into just two hours. Naturally, the screenplay should've carefully chosen which parts to keep or cut, and there was no way the original pacing could be copied wholesale. After about an hour, I just felt the pacing was all over the place, and I had no idea what the storytelling was trying to convey. Many scenes were delivered in such awkward ways that I found myself constantly thinking, "Uhh... what?"-completely speechless.

Three stars: one for Hiroyuki Sawano's music, one for the voice actors who clearly understood their roles, and one for the beautiful visuals. That's it. Regardless of the medium-anime, novel, manga, live-action TV, or film-the story and writing are absolutely critical. But in this film, I saw no evidence of thoughtful screenwriting or post-production effort.

Take NieR, for example-originally a game adapted into an anime. You could tell the writers put in real effort to weave the entire story together. Even though they changed the order of events or tweaked some scenes, they still managed to faithfully recreate the narrative and evoke genuine emotion in the audience. That's something the 2025 Rose of Versailles movie completely failed to do.

Those who fell for the original series were compelled by the intense and sweeping storyline that was driven by the main characters and negating nearly all background characters who were also important to moving the story makes this series that feels like an empty and shallow world of what was a cult classic that moved and inspired other works. When Lady Oscar would fight, she did not hold back, she was colder for longer, and the films sort of takes that from her with the pacing between the musical numbers and story created too much overwhelm to actually enjoy the film. Her character was compromised for flashy ensembles and I highly suggest to watch the original series entirely before attempting to watching this hectic overview. That being said the artwork is one of its strengths and it was refreshing to see an attempt at this pivotal series. I'm not mad, just disappointed.

With barely 2 hours, it was clear that the feature film would cut many things present in the manga and the old anime from which this film is based, but the things absent are really too many.

They have sacrificed many elements in this film that are fundamental to fully understanding this work, starting with the most obvious one: having a female protagonist forced to grow up and act as a man, which is more prominently introduced here at more than 30 minutes after the incipit, but still coming across as always oversimplified in the overall. Even the other events that are more closely linked to actual history, and which should have a greater impact on Marie Antoinette's growth, are treated with extreme speed; everything is oversimplified in this film, in a decidedly negative way.

Unfortunately all expectations were confirmed: redundant, cloying film, forced musical interludes, little pathos and unfortunately the characters are without charisma.

The film was very superficial and fast-paced. It didn't give the main story and events of the revolution their due. Everything was unclear and rushed. Most of the focus was on the relationships, while the deeper, more important historical events of the story were neglected. I understood the ending because I had already watched the original anime; otherwise, the plot would have been vague.

In addition, the film made it seem as though Oscar's happiness in the end was due to her finding love, and that the entire dilemma revolved around it. This is partially true, but it's not the main reason. The deeper reason, which was ignored, is that she finally rebelled and followed her heart and freedom after being a mere scapegoat following orders her entire life. Oscar was also portrayed as a much weaker character than in the anime, breaking down and crying in front of the army! Oscar was never like that; her image was distorted and weakened greatly.

I can excuse them since it's a movie, and they're limited to a certain length, thus neglecting some aspects and events. We all know that the romantic market is strong, so it's normal to focus more on the aspects of love to ensure greater success and returns. Overall, the movie is incomparable and does not reach the level of the original work, the seventies anime, at all.

"The Rose of Versailles" made me think that there should be more historical dramas as animated movies. This had great potential! And at times it was really historically accurate. I know it's a remake of a beloved series, but had they focused more on history and the protagonists this would have been better. The musical numbers are actually really bad, every single one of them feels wrong, because they are very modern. There are two female protagonists in this story but the last act centers entirely on one of them, we never get to say goodbye to Marie Antoinette. Her story never concluded. It was a really good idea for an animated movie, I just wish they'd do it justice. The way this was executed felt cheap. Still I've enjoyed it tremendously!