La rosa de Versalles

Where to start with "The Rose of Versailles" from 2025? Visually, I have to admit, the film has its own elegance. The graphics are clean, the costumes are sumptuous and some scenes recreate the atmosphere of the time well. However, let's stop here with the compliments, because for the rest... a disaster waiting to happen!

The story, which was the beating heart of the manga and the old, timeless anime, has been literally massacred here. They have cut away entire narrative arcs, fundamental characters have been reduced to extras if not eliminated altogether. It almost seems as if they have taken the most beautiful and significant pages with scissors.

Those who loved the intricate dynamics between Oscar, André, Marie Antoinette and Fersen, the psychological depth of the protagonists, the political and social nuances of the French Revolution, will find here only a pale summary, hasty and superficial. The charisma of the characters has been lost along the way, their motivations appear sketchy and the emotions, which in the manga and anime tore our hearts, here leave us totally indifferent.

It's as if they wanted to make a "The Rose of Versailles" for those who have never read or seen the original, depriving it of all its richness and complexity.

There is no comparison with the old anime, which despite the technical limitations of the time, managed to convey the passion, drama and grandeur of this epic. The anime was an engaging experience, capable of making you cry, dream and reflect. This 2025 film is just an empty shell.

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 character development is nonexistent, and they made a terrible musical. It has time jumps of years in seconds, and the story as it was told generates no interest.

The love story between the characters is incongruous.

The story of Marie Antoinette and King Louis XVI is almost nonexistent; it loses all the context that the original series had and that made it interesting.

On the other hand, the songs are neither adequate nor of high quality, which causes a feeling of discomfort when you realize they've transformed the story into a musical. This, in my personal opinion, is the most negative aspect.

Don't watch it; just keep the memories of the original series.

The art is very detailed, but it doesn't make up for the poorly developed film.

"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!

Such a wasted opportunity to do something memorable because of the music used. The music is unoriginal, tacky and just out of place. If the style of the music resembled a bit the style of the music of the era could have been a GREAT musical to watch. Instead, the story runs too fast and waste so much time in music that isn't memorable and it's just out of context.

Those musical moments are supposed to fill up parts of the story, but they don't because they stay in the shallow end.

The relationship between characters isn't understood at all; it all seems too fast in the end, and we don't get to see the guillotine or the moment when the monarchs are taken into custody.

The designs, costumes, and all the aesthetic side area gorgeous reinterpretation of an old classic, but that's it.