An English-language dubbed version of the film produced by Central Park Media was released in 2001 as Revolutionary Girl Utena: The Movie.

The film is noted for its extensive use of metaphor and symbolism; its focus on themes of gender, sexuality and the transition from adolescence to adulthood; and for its more mature subject material relative to the anime series.

Though there are significant differences in plot execution between the manga, television series, and film, all three tell the same basic story, utilizing the same general narrative trajectory and characters.

Utena wanders into a rose garden and meets Anthy Himemiya, the sister of the school's absent chairman Akio Ohtori.

She is referred to as the "Rose Bride" by Kyouichi Saionji, another rose-ringed student who sees Utena's ring and challenges her to a sword duel.

Elsewhere, Juri's childhood friend Shiori Takatsuki tells Touga that as a child, her "prince" died attempting to save a drowning girl.

Akio's corpse is found buried in Anthy's garden shortly thereafter, shocking the school with the revelation that he is long dead.

A second video depicts Anthy lucid during her rape, which prompted a panicked Akio to stab her and accidentally fall out of a window to his death.

[6] Be-Papas member Chiho Saito has stated that "characters who weren't treated kindly in the TV show got attention, so I think [the film] was sympathetic in that regard.

[10] Conversely, Nanami Kiryuu makes only a cameo appearance in the film as a cow,[7] in a scene inserted by Ikuhara to reference an episode of the anime series and to serve as comic relief.

The opening title sequence was created by modifying digital graphics through nonlinear composite editing using a supercomputer, a relatively new process for animation at the time.

[10] When Adolescence of Utena was remastered in 2011, the digital elements of the dance scene became more apparent when rendered as high-definition video, prompting Ikuhara and colorist Hiroshi Kaneda to exhaustively retransfer the film.

Mukyuu no Rekishi "Chuusei" yo) and "Naked Rose ~ Carnage ~ Constellations αΨζ Galaxy" (シュラ ―肉体星座αψζ星雲―, Shura ~ Nikutai Seiza Alpha Psi Zeta Seiun~).

[14] A rearranged version of "Absolute Destiny Apocalypse" (絶対運命黙示録, Zettai Unmei Mokushiroku), previously written and composed by Seazer for the anime series, also appears in the film.

[13] The ending credits theme of the film is "I Want to Be Your Fiancé [ja]" (フィアンセになりたい), written and performed by Akio's voice actor Mitsuhiro Oikawa.

The film is included with the final volume of Hanabee's three-volume release of the Revolutionary Girl Utena anime television series.

[13] A remastered version of the soundtrack was included as a part of the Revolutionary Girl Utena Complete CD-BOX, released by King Records in Japan on August 27, 2008.

[42] Otaku USA noted that the manga adaptation is "much closer to the anime’s tone," but "stops short of the extraordinary climax" of Utena transforming into a car.

Or, would you enter the adult world regardless, even if you knew that it was not a pure world?Adolescence of Utena has been noted as a thematically and symbolically dense film, often to a highly surreal and abstract degree, with Animerica Extra calling the film "a bizarre collection of images that could be seen as allegorical, of evidence of a fantastic inner life, or simply symbols for an individual's struggle to find their place in society.

[10] Beyond this, Ikuhara has declined to offer a more substantive explanation for why Utena is specifically transformed into a car, stating that doing so would "limit the meaning of the story and make it less interesting.

"[10] He has, however, described the scene in the context of the film's subversion of Utena and Anthy's relationship roles: "There's the story of Sleeping Beauty, where you have the princess who'd been asleep for a long time who's awakened by the prince.

"[47] Susan J. Napier has argued that the Utena-Car destroying Akio is representative of the series' broader critique of fairy tales and the illusory trappings of shōjo manga, as Utena "becomes literally a vehicle for change" that rejects the dream-like illusions of Ohtori Academy and delivers Anthy and her schoolmates to an enlightened world.

[48] Vulture described the scene as "an image of liberation for a minority group that is still beholden to conservative ideals," saying that it was also "resonant in the scope of transgender imagery, where definition of self can allow you to be anyone or anything you wish.

"[48] The concept of Ohtori Academy as a metaphorical prison or gilded cage, established in the manga and television anime, is amplified in Adolescence of Utena.

[49] The film's version of Ohtori Academy has a surreal appearance, and is inspired by a combination of constructivist, deconstructivist, and Art Nouveau architecture.

[39] Storyboard artist Takuya Igarashi describes the appearance of film's version of Ohtori as being "even less grounded in reality" compared to the anime series, noting that "nothing of the outside world can ever be seen.

"[49] Charlton notes that Ohtori is portrayed as "angular, distorted and often shown in long shots which emphasize space and distance.

"[1] The film's establishing shot of Utena, in which she is backgrounded by unnaturally moving chalkboards, was inserted by Ikuhara to "set the proper tone and to convey to the audience that this is a strange world.