Sadly Over-hyped

Powerful

The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

It's entirely possible that sending the audience out feeling lousy was intentional

I only read the first few chapters of the Rose of Versailles manga years and years ago, so this review is not coming from the point of view of someone biased against this film on the grounds of inaccuracy to the source material. Because even when measured on its own merits, Lady Oscar (1979)is a weak movie.It's a shame, because this is a pretty production. The 18th century costumes and lavish sets are wonderfully realized, pastel-colored and almost fairy tale-like. They contrast well with the squalor of the lower classes. Michel Legrand's score is lovely and emotional.Too bad everything else is borderline terrible. The dialogue ranges between passable and cringe-worthy. Exposition is delivered via clumsy lines and voice-over. The story is epic in scope, yet it rushes through events and years, leaving us little time to get to know the characters since the script is more obsessed with racing to the next plot point.The acting is not wooden or too over-the-top, but it is incredibly weak all around. No one seems to contain much passion or enthusiasm for the material. The leading lady in particular possesses too little inner strength or charisma to hold our admiration. Heck, she's supposed to be a military officer and yet she cannot mount a horse without aid!I was disappointed with Jacques Demy's direction, which had little verve or flow to it. It was as distant and disinterested in the action as the performers seemed to be. The editing was especially clumsy and confusing at moments.The worst aspect of this movie may be the characters and the way they were written. Marie Antoinette is made into an idiot. Louis XVI is antagonistic. Andre is a creepy jerk. And Oscar is unbelievably wimpy for someone so respected by the other characters. Her appearance and manner are also not as androgynous as they should be.I think this story could have made for a solid swashbuckling melodrama, but as it is, this feels like a lifeless TV movie. While I feel there is a good movie lurking within this mess, the few good things there are cannot save it from mediocrity.

I've finally had the chance to watch Jaques Demy's movie - Lady Oscar. I waited so long to see it and i put so much enthusiasm on it that i almost can't bear the disappointment. As a big fan of Ryoko Ikeda, of "Berusaiyu no bara" and of the Japanese musical version of it, i have to confess: the movie HURT! The acting is so bad, the story is so cut, no fluidity between scenes ... and the end ... oh, that is really painful!!! Oscar is too cute ... no! better said: "sweet"... but OK. Marie Antoinette too stupid! Fersen .. where is Fersen??? So little appearance that i forgot he existed. Girodelle .. oh! ... disgusting! And was that brown haired girl really Rosalie? I think it was the opposite of her. The only character i can't comment on it, is Andre. He was (especially on the first part of the movie) ... he was Andree. He was human, real and acted well .. Pity he ended so stupid ... Everything in this movie have no meaning ... and some scenes are just ridiculous.

I love the Rose of Versailles (Lady Oscar in West) original comics and was a pleasure to watch this movie. However it's necessary to say it's just for fans. When you previously know the characters and want to get in touch with an alternative point of view, it's OK, but if you take Lady Oscar as a movie about the French Revolution's or a cross dresser heroine, you probably would feel disappointed. The work was not as good as it would be; some actors and actresses were not well chosen; main events were forgotten; and Oscar's personal drama lost force. But as I said, I liked it a little, because any Lady Oscar's product would attract me.

Lost ,nobody will deny,is it a sleeper, a great forgotten work?I have my doubts."Lady Oscar",a Japanese production, was never commercially released in Demy's native France.It's a movie so hard to see I had to wait twenty-four years.Was it worth the wait?Partly,but only partly.It's hard to recognize Demy's touch is these historical adventures.The action takes place in the years before the French revolution and I really wonder why Demy used English actors to play Marie-Antoinette,Madame de Polignac,Louis the Sixteenth et al.The historical facts do not rise above the historical clichés:the hamlet of the Queen,the necklace case,her affair with Axel Fersen.Sacha Guitry did much better with his "si Versailles m'était conté";humor is definitely lacking here.The characters of fiction are essentially walk ons ,mainly in the first half.Then Lady Oscar begins to hit her stride,with feminist accents dear to Agnès Varda (Demy's wife and producer).But the end is disappointing as if Demy had planned a sequel(there was a Japanese cartoon,featuring the Lady Oscar -the woman raised and dressed as a boy-,some years after but targeted at the children's market).So what makes this movie worthwhile though?The dazzling costumes,Demy's refined style,all the wonderful ball scenes.The form is a feast for the eye and almost entirely overshadows the content.Lambert Wilson,who was to become a famous actor in the eighties and nineties has a cameo :he's the insolent soldier.That said,the great lost Demy movie is not "Lady Oscar" but his stunning "pied piper" (1972)