A Rose Can't Wield a Sword

A French nobleman is so psychologically unprepared for his wife giving birth to a girl that he regards the child as male and names her Oscar. 1979's Lady Oscar (ベルサイユのばら "The Rose of Versailles") sets its drama of gender identity against the turbulent backdrop of the French Revolution, following the manga on which it's based. It's a surprisingly competent production with some effective dramatic scenes but sorely lacking in the action or emotional effectiveness found in the anime.

A Japanese and French co-production directed Jacques Demy (director of The Umbrellas of Cherbourg), it was virtually unseen in France. In Japan, it was unpopular and criticised for making Oscar too feminine.

Oscar's played by an English actress--for reasons I don't understand, it's an English language film--named Catriona MacColl, in her first role. I'm familiar with her from the Italian horror movies she made after this, like City of the Living Dead or The House by the Cemetery. She certainly physically resembles the Oscar of the manga and anime but you'll never mistake her for the great swordswoman she's supposed to be. Nor for a moment does she ever seem like someone who grew up trained in masculine manners and exercise.

But the performances and direction are good enough that some of the romantic chemistry between her and the various handsome men in her life is sometimes sweet, sometimes perverse as the men delight in how thin her facade is. I wish the movie had spent more time on her relationship with Marie Antoinette (Christine Bohm), who's a pretty and intriguing character here, but far less sympathetic than she is in the anime. In fact, this is the most unsympathetic portrayal of Marie Antoinette I've ever seen. I kind of appreciated Demy's boldness in showing a capricious young woman more concerned with hiring hunters for their physical attributes or building an artificial volcano than she is even allowing her own mind to even recognise the fact that people are starving in the streets.

The film was shot entirely on locations in France, at Versailles and other historic buildings. The movie's certainly not lacking in beauty.

Divided Rose

I finally finished watching Rose of Versailles this morning, a 40 episode anime series that premièred in 1979. Following the exploits of Oscar, a fictional French noblewoman who dresses like a man to lead Marie Antoinette's Royal Guard, the source manga by Riyoko Ikeda was a popular work and remains profoundly influential. I gather the manga goes in a completely different direction than the anime series and I suspect it's a superior work. I loved the first half of the series, which was directed by Tadao Nagahama, but the second half, directed by Osamu Dezaki after Nagahama's death, seems like it was made by someone completely uninterested in the series' original concept. A story focused on women in the French court is kind of abruptly shoved aside for a story about men loving and putting up with women during the French Revolution. It's particularly disappointing because so many of the looming dramatic conflicts built up in the first half are completely ignored in favour of bland cliché.

No longer satisfied with her insulated position as the head of the Royal Guard, Oscar (Reiko Tajima) requests a transfer to command a small rural unit of the regular military. We meet Alain (Keaton Yamada), the roguish leader of the rough unit whose tragic story eventually earns Oscar's sympathy. And Oscar's childhood friend, Andre (Taro Shigaki), also enlists in the unit. Andre gets an eye shot out, which is helpful for those of us trying to tell Andre apart from Alain or from Bernard (Akio Nojima) or Fersen (Nachi Nozawa), other competitors for Oscar's and/or Marie Antoinette's heart.

People who don't watch anime often complain all the characters look alike. Here it's a fair cop. I'd swear this is a clone army.

The first half of the series featured stories where Oscar rescued Marie Antoinette, foiled dastardly plots, or got involved with complicated court drama involving Madame du Barry or the poor orphan woman, Rosalie (Rihoko Yoshida).

Rosalie, who'd served as a dramatic link between the world of the court and the common people suffering during the lean times preceding the Revolution, becomes essentially a face in the crowd as Bernard takes over that role in the second half of the series.

All along through the first half, I wondered how the show was going to address the complicated issues surrounding the Revolution since Marie Antoinette was placed at the centre of the drama. How was this character we're designed to love going to fit in in this world of people holding her lifestyle responsible for widespread poverty and hunger? The show simply removes her from centre stage while Oscar is shuffled into a position as a rebel leader. There's one scene where Oscar asks Marie Antoinette not to dissolve a meeting of democratically elected representatives but otherwise the show is devoid of any moments where Oscar is forced to confront a former ally, finding themselves now at opposite sides of an ideological gulf. Instead, there's some pretty thin drama about Andre and Oscar admitting their love for each other and a really embarrassing scene where Oscar commands her troops to join the rebels because she thinks it's what Andre would want her to do. A shot of him nodding smugly behind her confirms this for her teary eyes looking to him for guidance.

I might not have expected a story about a woman actually making decisions and strategies from a 70s anime except the first half of the series gave me exactly that. It really feels like two different series and the first half really feels frustratingly unfinished.

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The etchings rose upon the covered stair.
A ring of watching shades devour tongues.
A giant tusk was hid behind a flare.
A million years collect and weight the lungs.
The verdant brains were placed in plastic bowls.
On station walls the pictures paint the day.
A team of snails observe through tiny holes.
A fleet of squid approached the secret bay.
A team of moths rebuilt an ancient coat.
A winding chain composed a ticking hitch.
A hundred sheets collect within the boat.
Below the crew began at last to stitch.
A boulevard of broken stones is sharp.
The fleet of foot are sure to play a harp.

The French Rose from Japan

I'm twenty episodes in, now, watching the 1979-1980 classic shojo anime series Rose of Versailles; which is to say, halfway through. There are 40 episodes in total. Those familiar only with modern anime series may find this astonishing; nowadays it's extraordinary for an anime series to get more than twelve episodes and usually the animation is cut rate, overreliant on cgi, and the visual design homogeneous. Rose of Versailles has so far maintained outstanding quality; great animation and design and its story, a fictionalised take on Marie Antoinette centred on a female captain of her royal guard, has been a nice, endlessly engaging melodrama.

The details of Marie Antoinette's story have been mostly true to life in the broadest sense though the nature of the show is to render the protagonists and antagonists in exaggeratedly heroic and villainous ways. Since Marie Antoinette is the heroine of the series, Madame du Barry is naturally a scheming, sadistic fiend (though when her story arc ends there is some implicit sympathy for her as she's expelled from the life of an aristocrat). Every villain so far has at least one moment where he or she cackles maniacally, usually while their face is hidden behind a fan.

Fortunately, the show can't avoid some ambiguity considering its subject matter. It fetishises and adores Marie Antoinette and her lifestyle but it also establishes sympathy for France's impoverished populace whose love for her is gradually turning to the hate that will be her undoing. A character named Rosalie seems to be an attempt to personify the common people.

A poor woman who lives alone with her sickly mother, she struggles to get by and has run ins with several of the series regulars who treat her with kindness or cruelty, depending on who they are. But Rosalie's story gets mixed up in the aristocracy as well and eventually she becomes an adopted member of Oscar's household.

Oscar is the captain of the royal guard, a woman who was raised as a man and, although everyone recognises her as a woman, she dresses and behaves in most ways like a man. This is one of the more remarkable aspects of the series and has been the subject of much commentary. It's partly an example of how different the fantasies of teenage girls regarded as normal were in Japan in comparison to the West; but Oscar's thorough adoption of a traditionally male role, manner, and lifestyle is remarkable, especially as there's little romance involved, aside from the men who secretly long for her, most notably her childhood friend, Andre.

It's Oscar more than Rosalie who serves as the show's moral compass and her approval or disapproval of any decision Marie Antoinette makes seems the final word on whether it was right. The series changed directors after episode 18 due to the sudden death of its first director, Tadao Nagahama. Replacement director Osamu Dezaki, who worked on Astro Boy and Lupin III among other shows, has so far brought an effective, more action oriented tone. He puts more emphasis on movement in sword fights and ballroom dancing. It seems this period in the narrative is finally where the viewer gets to see more internal conflict for Oscar and it's only now that we get a hint that her adopting male roles may entail some sexual frustration. I look forward to seeing how that plays out with the Revolution going on.