What better way is there to celebrate a holiday, than to watch Lady Oscar, the French live action movie with English cast and audio, Japanese subtitles, based on a Japanese manga about the French Revolution that is being translated into English?

Rose of Versailles Digital Remaster (ベルサイユのばら デジタルリマスター版) is Schrodinger’s movie – not bad, not good, not inaccurate, not accurate. I think I like it but I cannot be sure. ^_^

On second thought, I think I like it.

As a live-action version of the manga classic, it’s really not bad. It follows the key pieces of the story in a condensed fashion. The Affair of the Necklace has a chunk of the story and the end rush to tragedy plays out at increasing speed. 

The major changes are in the characterizations. 

Andre is a freedom fighter and tends to chide Oscar, demanding she be one, too. He’s not lovelorn, he’s vexed that his woman is so gosh-darn delusional. He’s kind of a mix of Bernard and Andre.

Girodel is another changed character, but at least he is in purple, which I thought was funny. Instead of being a self-proclaimed rival, Girodel is a jerk, but his marriage offer provides us with a scene in which Oscar strides into Versailles in white and silver and cape and dances with one of the court ladies, then kisses her, so I am not complaining. ^_^

General de Jarjayes is not nice to either Oscar nor Andre, which is a shame. I much preferred the General of the anime.

Jeanne and Rosalie are exactly as we remember them, although we don’t get to spend too much time with them. (I also feel that the actresses were too old for the roles by about 25 years, but that might be me.)

Marie Antoinette is overblown and likewise delusional right to the very end. They do a fine job of making her unrepentant through the final moments. 

And finally, there’s Oscar. Catriona MacColl plays the role exactly as it is written and does a fine job of it. 

I also want to shout out Granny, who is the only sane character in the movie. When Fersen is praising Oscar as a fine young man, Granny looks at him like he’s an idiot and says, “How could anyone see Oscar and not realize she’s a woman?” Thank you Granny. Oscar could not have passed for a man if she were trying.  In fact, the issue of her sex and gender presentation is a running thread throughout the story and is one of the reasons General de Jarjayes comes off as such an asshole. For a man who called Oscar his son for two decades, he marries his daughter off pretty quickly. It was a vexing moment.

The movie ends with a nice little scene of Oscar and Andre shouting each other’s names, but fades on Oscar unable to find Andre, who has been killed. She does not die at the storming as she did in the manga and anime. It kills some of the epic feel of the story.

Ratings:

Overall – Not bad

I wouldn’t probably recommend this movie to someone who isn’t already a fan of the story, but if you are, how could you pass up this chance to see this classic manga as a live-action movie?