Lady Oscar (film)

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Lady Oscar

Film poster
Directed by Jacques Demy
Produced by Mataichiro Yamamoto
Written by Screenplay:
Jacques Demy
Patricia Louisianna Knop
Manga:
Riyoko Ikeda
Starring Catriona MacColl
Barry Stokes
Christine Bohm
Jonas Bergstrom
Music by Michel Legrand
Cinematography Jean Penzer
Editing by Paul Davies
Release dates Japan:
March 3, 1979
Running time 124 minutes
Country France
Japan
Language English
Lady Oscar is a 1979 film, based on the manga The Rose of Versailles by Riyoko Ikeda. The film was written and directed by Jacques Demy, with music composed by his regular collaborator Michel Legrand. The film is a Japanese-French co-production and was filmed in France.[1]

Plot

Oscar Françoise de Jarjayes (Catriona MacColl) is a young woman whose father, a career military man, wanted a boy. After she was born her father took to dressing Oscar in boy's clothes and raising her as a man. Privately Oscar acknowledges her feminine side, she dresses as a man and gains an honored position as a guard of Marie Antoinette (Christina Bohm). In her youth, Oscar is in love with Andre (Barry Stokes), the son of the family's housekeeper. Years later, when the French Revolution begins, Oscar and Andre's paths cross for the first time in years. With the assault on the Bastille, Oscar and Andre find themselves fighting on opposite sides of the revolution.

Cast

Production

The major sponsor of the film was Shiseido, a cosmetics company, and Catriona McColl promoted a red lipstick for the spring cosmetic line that year.[2] Frederik L. Schodt translated the entire manga series into English as a reference for the producers of this film, but gave the only copy of the translation to them and it was lost.[3]

Reception

The film was not a commercial success,[4] and MacColl's portrayal of Oscar, in particular, was criticised, it was felt by some critics that she was not androgynous enough to play Oscar.[5]

References

  1. ↑ "The New York Times". The New York Times. Retrieved 2012-01-30. 
  2. ↑ Graham, Miyako (1997). "Lady Oscar & I". Protoculture Addicts (45): 41. 
  3. ↑ Thompson, Jason (2010-05-06). "The Rose of Versailles". Animenewsnetwork.com. Retrieved 2012-01-30. 
  4. ↑ Buruma, Ian (1985) [1984]. "The Third Sex". A Japanese Mirror: Heroes and Villains of Japanese Culture. Great Britain: Penguin Books. pp. 118–121. ISBN 978-0-14-007498-7. 
  5. ↑ Shamoon, Deborah (2007). "Revolutionary Romance: The Rose of Versailles and the Transformation of Shōjo Manga". Mechademia (University of Minnesota Press) 2: 3–17. ISSN 2152-6648. 

External links

Films directed by Jacques Demy


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