MINI SERIES: THE ROSES OF VERSAILLES
Introduction
Lady Oscar: Between Genres and Genders
by Patrick Bray
12 June 2025
Some fictions dare us to imagine what at first seems completely outlandish, even preposterous. Yet if we take up that challenge and accept to immerse ourselves in this new world, and this new reality, we find that this fiction may have opened up a new way of seeing truths which had alluded us before. We
call such fictions myths, and if our culture no longer recognises myths for all their religious and philosophical potential, at least it affords childhood the luxury of immersion in myths, both ancient
and modern.
Riyoko Ikeda’s creation, Lady Oscar, is a modern myth. It tells the fabulous tale of Oscar François de Jarjayes, a young woman who was raised as a man by her ambitious father. She is destined by him to become commander of the French Guards at Versailles, and after her initial training, she is tasked with protecting the Dauphine, Princess Marie Antoinette. While never hiding the fact that she is a woman, Oscar proudly performs her duties as a man: duelling, leading men into battle, and occasionally passively seducing women. When the French Revolution breaks out, she is caught between her personal
loyalty to the Queen, her growing awareness of inequality and injustice, and her love for her childhood friend André.
Lady Oscar’s Cornelian dilemma – openly affirming her right to be a woman while being treated as a man – reveals the impossible situation all women face in the modern world, whether in France, the UK, Italy, or Japan. Riyoko Ikeda, as a fine historian of the French Revolution and as an engaged intellectual on the Left, had the genius to situate her myth at the birth of modern politics. The Revolution brought political equality to aristocrats and commoners alike, removed serfdom, and encouraged mass participation in politics. Liberté, Égalité, Fraternité… Abolishing privileges meant that for the first time an individual could be seen as a citizen, equal to others and with a direct relationship to the nation, as opposed to being relegated as simply a member of a group or class. This emancipation marked an undeniable leap forward for humanity, but came at the cost of loosening other social bonds and especially of recognising difference. Women made many gains in the Revolution (those claiming that they lost rights may have identified a bit too much with Marie Antoinette), but women were denied the full rights of active citizenship, only gaining the right to vote in France in 1944. Lady Oscar speaks to so many because she embraces the egalitarian future without forgetting that the fight will not be easy.
The essence of myths is that they call to be repeated and transformed with each retelling. This is only partially because we take pleasure in reimagining what we have heard, like children reading the same book every night. Myths need to repeat – their elements rearranged, their perspectives shifted – in order to continue testing the validity of the truths they claim to illustrate. Each telling adapts to a new situation for new audiences, actualising a truth that would have otherwise been lost. The power of a myth can be gauged by the number of times it has been adapted, and Lady Oscar is no exception. Besides the original shōjo manga The Rose of Versailles from 1972 and 1973, it was made into a live-action film (Lady Oscar) by the celebrated French director Jacques Demy in March 1979, a wildly successful television anime series of the same name which ran from October 1979 to 1980 in Japan and then in Europe, a series of live musicals, and in 2025 a Japanese feature-length animated film available
on Netflix.
The original Japanese title, Berusaiyu no bara, while usually translated in the singular as The Rose of Versailles can also be translated in the plural. Our three-part series for Think Pieces, The Roses of Versailles, emphasises the plurality of Ikeda’s marvellous myth. Each essay approaches Lady Oscar from a different perspective: Christina Parte looks at the history of shōjo mangas, Frances Clemente observes the anime’s reverberations throughout contemporary Italian politics, and Alessandra Aloisi analyses the philosophical and political ramifications of Jacques Demy’s filmic version. These original takes on the ‘Lady Oscar myth’ are bound to resonate with readers at a time when gender has once again become a politicised touchstone. Lady Oscar’s fight continues.
PATRICK BRAY is Director of the UCL Centre for French and Francophone Research, Institute of Advanced Studies.
Lead image: Collage © Think Pieces
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