The Rose of Versailles Review: When Will Netflix Ever Learn About Making Anime Movies?

 Copyright © Netflix, MAPPA, Toho Next, Avex Pictures

Title: The Rose of Versailles
Director: Ai Yoshimura

Based on: The Rose of Versailles by Riyoko Ikeda

Release Date: January 31, 2025 (Japan), April 30, 2025 (Netflix)

    Look, Netflix just made their breakthroughs with A Whisker Away and Drifting Home, but now they've decided to go downhill a few years later. Last year, some of their anime movies were not hitting the spectacular mark, like Maboroshi and My Oni Girl. This year, Netflix released their newest one called The Rose of Versailles, the latest anime movie about the history of Marie Antoinette. The movie is based on the manga of the same name. It tells about the lives of two women, each named Lady Oscar and Marie Antoinette, as they live in distinct gender identities during the French Revolution. When this film was released in the tail end of April, it gained mixed reviews, like with an average IMDb score of 5.9/10. Critics and audiences praised the beautiful animation but criticized the story and faithfulness to the source material. If the trailer was prominently meant to be promising enough, then it shows that The Rose of Versailles just turned out to be an artsy French disappointment.

Summary

   "In the late 18th century, four people meet in Versailles, France and live their respective destinies while being tossed by the tides of the era." - Google

Reasons

    The thorns that made The Rose of Versailles far from good are the confusing story, out-of-place musical numbers, and creative liberties. We thought we were going to get something that would have made sense. Instead, the film turned out to change character focuses left and right; either it would be Lady Oscar or Marie Antoinette. Plus, there are some plot holes that do not make sense, especially when it comes to the motivations and the anachronism. Then, the movie shoves in a bunch of musical numbers that are sung by the characters. In turn, they do not do anything but ruthlessly stuff the film to the near 2-hour runtime. At the start, the musical number screams that it should have been a limited series instead of a movie. In addition, I know this is coming from someone who hasn't read the manga nor seen the anime, but I heard that they changed what is important. What I did know is that they changed important points in history. If Oscar had existed enough to say that she is a female, then it would have been illegal in the history of France.
    Its leaves, the music, detailed designs, and romance, are what prevent The Rose of Versailles from being straight-up awful. Sure, the musical numbers are not meant to be there, but some of the songs were okay. I mean, they will not be award-worthy, since almost every song just feels the same. It is just rather a one-time listen, and you forget about it later. Additionally, the designs are actually okay. Marie has the best character designs out of everyone in the whole movie. Most prominently, Oscar does have some pretty designs, but her dress design was not really that great. The last one out of the mixed bag, the romance, is something that depends on the character. Marie's romance was quite beguiling as we get to follow who she is going to marry. On the other hand, Oscar's romance was there, but the emotion was actually quite forced.
    Some petals, like the lovely animation, voice acting, and the concept in general, are the redeeming qualities of The Rose of Versailles. This is another movie that is animated by MAPPA, the same animation studio for In This Corner of the World and Maboroshi. In this one, they did much better. The animators are aiming to bring back the old anime art style from the original manga. Another credit to give is for the voice acting. The cast nailed it on voicing the characters, like Oscar, because they consist of stars like Miyuki Sawashiro, Aya Hirano, Kazuki Kato, and Shunsuke Takeuchi. Unfortunately, they just had to sing those musical numbers for no reason. Last but not least, the concept for this movie is a unique idea. An anime movie about Marie Antoinette is actually a great thing to write on paper. If it were not for the musical numbers and clunky story, then it would have been a good movie.

Conclusion

    The Rose of Versailles may look like a rose on the surface, but when plucked out, it is actually just a thorny rose. This year, Netflix released yet another disappointment that is another example of style over substance. Fortunately, at least it isn't as awful as The Electric State, which made so many nonsensical points by repeatedly disrespecting the book. In the same time length of production, what this movie should have done is removed the musical numbers and looked at the manga's details, so that it would not be an obscure disappointment. If you have Netflix, watch this only if you want to, but I would recommend waiting for something else to come on Netflix instead.

    Score: 4/10 (if only this movie had better sense of the French Revolution...)