The Name of the Rose (1986)

Jean-Jacques Annaud's The Name of the Rose is a flawed attempt to adapt Umberto Eco's highly convoluted medieval bestseller for the screen, necessarily excising much of the esoterica that made the book so compelling. Still, what's left is a riveting whodunit set in a grimly and grimily realistic 14th-century Benedictine monastery populated by a parade of grotesque characters, all of whom spend their time lurking in dark places or scuttling, half-unseen, in the omnipresent gloom. A series of mysterious and gruesome deaths are somehow tied up with the unwelcome attention of the Inquisition, sent to root out suspected heretical behavior among the monastic scribes whose lives are dedicated to transcribing ancient manuscripts for their famous library, access to which is prevented by an ingenious maze-like layout.

Enter Sean Connery as investigator-monk William of Baskerville (the Sherlock Holmes connection made explicit in his name) and his naive young assistant Adso (a youthful Christian Slater). The Grand Inquisitor Bernado Gui (F. Murray Abraham) suspects devilry; but William and Adso, using Holmesian forensic techniques, uncover a much more human cause: the secrets of the library are being protected at a terrible cost. A fine international cast and the splendidly evocative location compensate for a screenplay that struggles to present Eco's multifaceted story even partially intact; Annaud's idiosyncratic direction complements the sinister, unsettling aura of the tale ideally. --Mark Walker Amazon.com

Holmes and Watson in midevil times

While a bit slow moving, this midevil thriller was quite good despite its flaws. The flaws, I think, were brought on by the fact it occured in midevil times and the world is a very, very different place. Still, this was a great movie in its challenge to the subject matter and the thinking of the time.

Sean Connery plays William of Baskerville who has recently arrived at a remote abbey with his young novice Adso, played by a young Christian Slater. Some strange events at the monestary have the others convinced that they have been touched by the devil, in that some monks have met some mysterious ends. In a midevil Holmes and Watson crime solving (if Connery's moniker is not the dead give away then what is?), William determines that these monks did not meet their ends so easily and that there is a very human force behind their deaths rather than the work of the devil. Eventually representatives from the Inquisition come and single out the odd or trouble makers, in the traditional witch hunt mentality.

The make up jobs they did on the monks are reason enough to give it such high marks (have you ever seen such ugly people on screen?!), but this movie succeeds in that it tackles such a foreign world to us. Imagine living back then with only a small percentage of the popultion literate, having people really believe in witches and the forces of the devil having a direct effect on their lives, and without modern technology. The movie portrays how monks lived in religious communities very well from their spiritual needs to their mundane. This might seem odd to movie goers, but it was a truly unique experience. October 25, 2008

The Name Of The Rose

I have been looking for this movie for 2 or more years. I have seen them on VHS but wanted it on DVD. It is an excellent movie that you want to watch over and over. There is a good love scene in the movie and is very unexpected to an unsuspecting subject. The plot has twist and turns in it and that is what makes it a movie you want to see several times. This movie has all the elements, greed, lust, deceit, politics, and oh yes more than several deaths. Was it murder, if so, who did it? Each time I watch the movie I see something that I missed which helps to fill in the blanks and makes it a wonderful evening of entertainment. September 30, 2008

Simply, Superb !

This is a remarkable film. No more words for a classic of all times. Great actors, great mystery film, great music. September 13, 2008

Why do all the monks look so weird?

After arriving at an abbey in which one of the monks has recently died under mysterious circumstances, former Inquisitor, Br. William of Baskerville (Sean Connery), proceeds to solve the mystery of this death and the subsequent deaths of a number of other monks, with the assistance of his young novice, Adso (Christian Slater).

Over the past 10 years, I have read "The Name of the Rose" twice (I consider it to be among my top 10 books of all time) and seen the movie twice. The first time I saw the movie, I was disappointed by it, as it pales by comparison to the novel, but watching the film a second time, some years after my last reading of the book, it doesn't seem like such a bad movie after all. Whether in book form, or as a movie, "The Name of the Rose" is a really great story. It's a great mystery, but even if you already know who the killer is, this tale of greed, corruption, lust, and murder in a medieval monastery has all the makings of a top class thriller. The mystery elements simply serve to add structure to events that are already fascinating in their own right.

Sean Connery is perfectly cast as William of Baskerville, a character clearly modelled on Sherlock Holmes, as his name (a homage to "Hound of the Baskervilles") suggests and Christian Slater, in a very early film role, isn't bad, although I, personally, think he is at his best when he is playing slightly deranged characters, such as in "Heathers", which Adso is definitely not.

The main things I have against this film, are, firstly, that the film writers changed the ending of the book (although the killer remains the same, other aspects of the book's ending are changed to make it more convenient and "audience friendly", which ruined it for me), and secondly, all of the monks in the abbey are weird looking. I really can't figure out what possessed the makers of this film to make every monk in the abbey look like a freak, but I find that it detracts from the film. I am guessing that it is the filmmakers' way of saying that all of the monks are in some way corrupt and that that corruption is manifesting itself in their appearances (sort of like comic-book villains), but this is such a heavy-handed thing to do and seems out of place in an otherwise well-made movie.
July 21, 2008

sublime

The finest piece of literature (Umberto Eco's eponymous book) gave birth to one of the best thrillers ever directed.

Sean Connery's performance confirms why he is such an astounding actor. Christian Slater in, I believe, his first role shines here.

But most importantly, the cinematography and set are sublime (and trust me, I am not biased because I personally knew Tonino Delli Colli), it is truly sublime.
June 5, 2008

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