The Last Rose: A Royal Whimsy in the 18th Century

Is this for you?

If you have a soft spot for 18th-century period pieces that don't care much for historical accuracy but have a lot of heart, you'll probably like The Last Rose. It’s light, it’s earnest, and it moves with the pace of a Sunday afternoon nap. If you need grit, intense political maneuvering, or high-stakes drama, you should probably skip this one. It's not trying to win an award for realism.

The whole premise of Queen Anne deciding to just emancipate the peasantry because a German lady-in-waiting told her to is… well, it’s cute. It’s the kind of simplistic moral storytelling that feels like it belongs in a theater production from another era.

Odd Little Moments

There is a scene in the second act where a group of farmers just stands around in a field looking bewildered. The lighting is weirdly flat, like they’re standing in a box. I couldn't stop looking at the background, where one extra is clearly trying to suppress a giggle while the main actors are being all dramatic and regal.

The costume work is fine, I guess, but everyone looks a little too clean for the 1700s. It’s like they just walked out of a department store dressing room.

• The dialogue is remarkably polite.
• Hanna Ralph has a way of staring into the middle distance that makes you wonder if she forgot her next line.
• The music swells at the exact wrong moment, drowning out a perfectly good bit of acting.

It’s not quite as charming as Mon curé chez les pauvres, which had a much better handle on its own tone. The Last Rose feels like it’s holding its breath, waiting for someone to tell it that it’s doing a good job. Sometimes it hits, sometimes it feels like a school play.

I found myself thinking about A Woman of Pleasure while watching the court scenes. Both films have that weird, artificial quality where you can almost see the studio walls if you squint hard enough. The Last Rose doesn’t pretend to be big, which is its saving grace, really. It’s a small, quiet story about a Queen who decides to be nice for a change. Is it groundbreaking? No. Is it weirdly relaxing? Yeah, actually.

Don't look for logic in the plot. The transition from tyranny to freedom happens with the speed of a finger snap. It makes no sense, but it’s nice to imagine the world worked like that once upon a time. 🥀