The Name Of The Rose

The Name Of The Rose

When film director Jean Jacques Arnaud bought the rights for the novel The Name Of The Rose for $15,000, it was just an obscure Italian novel written by Umberto Eco, a virtually unknown academic. Arnaud had become intrigued by the novel's premise, a whodunit unravelled by a Sherlock Holmes-like character, one William of Baskerville (Sean Connery), called in to investigate a murder in a medieval monastery.

The Abbott (William Hickey) believes that the death has been caused by demonic forces but Baskerville's investigations with the help of his novice Adso (Christian Slater), quickly provide a more rational answer.

Of course, such deductions are dangerous in an atmosphere permeated by the Inquisition with the threat of torture and death hanging over anyone who dares to think outside the Roman Church's orthodoxy.

Eco's novel, of course, makes pointed jabs at forces that hinder Learning in the present day but these remain, at best, implicit in Arnaud's interpretation, who doesn't really have the time to diverge from the basic story. This is especially so, given that there's an introduced romantic sub-plot between Adso & "the girl" (Valentina Vargas). Rumor has it that 15-year old Slater lost his virginity on the set and that the two weren't er...acting during the sex scene.

Vargas is a lot more pleasing on the eye than most of the monks, many of who have deliberately chosen "character" faces. The most eccentric of these is Salvatore (Ron Perlman), a half-wit who speaks in his own language and who, it turns out, actually witnessed the demise of the first monk.

While William has been investigating there have been several others and when he manages to leverage the truth out of Salvatore, the chain of murders begin to have a logical sequence.

Interestingly, Sean Connery was considered box-office death in the early 1980's and his agent pestered Arnaud for a year before the director relented and gave Connery a reading. In fact, 20th Century Fox even dropped their option on the film when it became known that Connery was playing the lead. Ironically, Connery is superb as William of Baskerville and it's hard to think of any of his peers playing the role.

Slater, too is entirely convincing, too, as the novice who hero-worships his tutor and keeps making sloppy intellectual observations until the very end, when he uses his logic to get them out of a sticky problem, much to his master's relief.

The rest of the monks are all competent, especially Feodor Chaliapin Jr. but F. Murray Abraham, fresh from his Oscar win as Salieri in Mozart shines with arrogant malice as The Inquisitor when he enters in the second half of the movie (incidentally, director Annaud's gossip on the audio commentary about Abraham is delicious).  

With a 4-year gestation, a considerable part of the budget for The Name Of The Rose went on ensuring that every element was historically accurate and the film certainly looks fantastic. However, with the construction of the impressive monastery & labyrinthe set, there was little budget for fancy shots and to a small extent, The Name Of The Rose suffers because of this, though it's really not a major problem.

The Name Of The Rose isn't for everybody...and it certainly isn't a chick movie but if you're at all interested in seeing Sean Connery as a sleuth, medieval religion, the Inquisition or seeing Christian Slater lose his cherry, check it out!

The Name Of The Rose DVD

"...Director Jean-Jacques Annaud evokes the gloomy, primitive, wood-fire atmosphere of medieval times as Brother William of Baskerville (Sean Connery) and his apprentice Adso (Christian Slater) arrive at an abbey to investigate a mysterious death. As deformed characters slip in and out of the shadows and information is uncovered, a possible conspiracy emerges that hints of not only physical danger but of spiritual and intellectual oppression..." Amazon reviewer

"...Featuring a sharp looking transfer, the DVD of The Name Of The Rose looks remarkably good although some of the sequences are a bit too dark. The use of a high speed grainy film enhances the sense of gritty reality for the film and isn't a flaw of the transfer. The remastered soundtrack available in Dolby Digital 5.1 for the first time makes good use of the surround channels smothering the viewer in the atmosphere of the middle ages..." Amazon reviewer Wayne Klein

The Name Of The Rose soundtrack

• book review of The Name Of The Rose novel
• The Name Of The Rose movie (wikipedia)