The Name of the Rose (film)

Last updated
The Name of the Rose
Name of rose movieposter.jpg
US release poster by Drew Struzan
Directed by Jean-Jacques Annaud
Screenplay by
Based on The Name of the Rose
by Umberto Eco
Produced by
Starring
Narrated by Dwight Weist
Cinematography Tonino Delli Colli
Edited by Jane Seitz
Music by James Horner
Production
companies
Distributed by Columbia Pictures (Italy)
Neue Constantin Film (West Germany) [1]
Acteurs Auteurs Associés (France) [1]
Release dates
  • 19 September 1986 (1986-09-19)(United States)
  • 16 October 1986 (1986-10-16)(West Germany)
  • 17 October 1986 (1986-10-17)(Italy)
  • 17 December 1986 (1986-12-17)(France)
Running time
131 minutes
Countries
  • Italy
  • West Germany
  • France
LanguageEnglish
Budget$17.5 million [2]
Box office$77.2 million

The Name of the Rose is a 1986 historical mystery film directed by Jean-Jacques Annaud, based on the 1980 novel of the same name by Umberto Eco. [3] Sean Connery stars as the Franciscan friar William of Baskerville, called upon to solve a deadly mystery in a medieval abbey. Christian Slater portrays his young apprentice, Adso of Melk, and F. Murray Abraham his Inquisitor rival, Bernardo Gui. Michael Lonsdale, William Hickey, Feodor Chaliapin Jr., Valentina Vargas, and Ron Perlman play supporting roles.

Contents

This English-language film was an international co-production between West German, French, and Italian companies [4] and was filmed in Rome and at the former Eberbach Abbey in the Rheingau. It received mixed to positive reviews from critics and won several awards, including the BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role for Sean Connery. Another adaptation was made in 2019 as a television miniseries for RAI.

Plot

Franciscan friar William of Baskerville and his novice, Adso of Melk, arrive at an early 14th century Benedictine abbey in Northern Italy. A mysterious death has occurred ahead of an important theological Church conference—a young illuminator appears to have committed suicide. William, known for his deductive and analytical mind, confronts the worried Abbot and gains permission to investigate the death. Over the next few days, several other bizarre deaths occur.

William and Adso make the acquaintance of Salvatore, a hunchback who speaks gibberish in various languages, and his handler and protector, Remigio da Varagine. William deduces from Salvatore's penitenziagite that he had once been a member of a heretical sect and infers that Salvatore and Remigio may have been involved in the killings. Meanwhile, Adso encounters a peasant girl who snuck into the abbey to trade sexual favors for food, and has sex with her, thus losing his virginity.

Investigating and keen to head off accusations of demonic possession, the protagonists discover and explore a labyrinthine library in the abbey's forbidden principal tower. William finds that it is "one of the greatest libraries in all Christendom," containing dozens of works by Classical masters such as Aristotle, thought to have been lost for centuries. William deduces that the library is kept hidden because such advanced knowledge, coming from pagan philosophers, is difficult to reconcile with Christianity. William further deduces that all of those who died had read the only remaining copy of Aristotle's Second Book of Poetics .

His investigations are curtailed by the arrival of Bernardo Gui of the Inquisition, summoned for the conference and keen to prosecute those he deems responsible for the deaths. The two men clashed in the past, and the zealous inquisitor has no time for theories outside his own. Salvatore and the girl are found fighting over a black cockerel while in the presence of a black cat. Gui presents this as irrefutable proof that they are in league with Satan and tortures Salvatore into a false confession. Salvatore, Remigio, and the girl are dragged before a tribunal, where Gui intimidates the Abbot into concurring with his judgment of heresy. But William, also "invited" by Gui to serve on the panel of judges, refuses to confirm the accusations of murder, pointing out that the murderer could read Greek, a skill that Remigio doesn't possess. Gui resorts to extracting a confession from Remigio by the threat of torture, and clearly plans to take care of William for good.

When the head Librarian succumbs like the others, William and Adso ascend the forbidden library, and come face to face with the Venerable Jorge, the most ancient denizen of the abbey, with the book, which describes comedy and how it may be used to teach. Believing laughter and jocularity to be instruments of the Devil, Jorge has poisoned the pages to stop the spread of what he considers dangerous ideas: those reading it would ingest the poison as they licked their fingers to aid in turning pages. Confronted, Jorge throws over a candle, starting a blaze that quickly engulfs the library. William insists that Adso flee, as he manages to collect an inadequate armload of invaluable books to save; the volume of Poetics, Jorge, and the rest of the library are lost.

Meanwhile, Salvatore and Remigio have been burned at the stake. The girl has been slated for the same fate but local peasants take advantage of the chaos of the library fire to free her and turn on Gui. Gui attempts to flee but they throw his wagon off a cliff, to his death. William and Adso later take their leave of the Abbey. On the road, Adso is stopped by the girl, silently appealing for him to stay with her, but Adso continues on with William. In his closing narration, a much older Adso reflects that he never regretted his decision, as he learned many more things from William. Adso also states that the girl was the only earthly love of his life, yet he never even learned her name.

Cast

Production

Director Jean-Jacques Annaud told Umberto Eco that he was convinced the book was written for only one person to direct: himself. He was intrigued by the project due a lifelong fascination with medieval churches and a great familiarity with Latin and Greek. [5]

Annaud spent four years preparing the film, traveling throughout the United States and Europe, searching for the perfect cast, focusing on a multi-ethnic cast and actors with interesting and distinctive faces. He resisted suggestions to cast Sean Connery for the part of William because he felt the character, who was already an amalgam of Sherlock Holmes and William of Occam, would become too overwhelming with "007" added. [5] Later, after Annaud failed to find another actor he liked for the part, he was won over by Connery's reading, but Eco was dismayed by the casting choice, and Columbia Pictures pulled out because Connery's career was then in a slump. [5]

Christian Slater was cast through a large-scale audition of teenage boys. [5] (His mother, Mary Jo Slater, was also a prominent casting director who consulted on the film.) For the wordless scene in which the Girl seduces Adso, Annaud allowed Valentina Vargas to lead the scene without his direction. Annaud did not explain to Slater what she would be doing in order to elicit a more authentic performance from the actors. [5]

Although U.S. casting agencies proposed only white actors for his medievalist film, Director Annaud insisted on including a black monk to play the translator Venantius. The Swiss actor Urs Althaus, who had previously been a model for the likes of Yves Saint Laurent, Calvin Klein, Valentino, Armani, Gucci, and Kenzo, was hired in an effort to reach maximum authenticity (including the presence of people of color in medieval Italy and the rest of Europe). [6]

The exterior and some of the interiors of the monastery seen in the film were constructed as a replica on a hilltop outside Rome and ended up being the biggest exterior set built in Europe since Cleopatra (1963). Many of the interiors were shot at Eberbach Abbey, Germany. Most props, including period illuminated manuscripts, were produced specifically for the film. [5]

Reception

The film was very successful in Germany with a gross of $25 million. [7] However, it did poorly at the box office in the United States, where it played at 176 theaters and grossed $7.2 million. [8] At the same time, it was popular in other parts of Europe (including Italy, France and Spain). [7] Decades later, Sean Connery recalled that the film grossed over $60 million worldwide. [9]

The film holds a score of 76% on review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, based on 25 reviews, with an average rating of 6.3/10. [10] On Metacritic, the film holds a weighted average score of 54 out of 100, based on 12 reviews, indicating "mixed or average reviews". [11] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B+" on an A+ to F scale. [12]

Roger Ebert gave the film 2.5 stars out of a possible 4, writing: "What we have here is the setup for a wonderful movie. What we get is a very confused story... It's all inspiration and no discipline." [13] Time Out gave the film a positive review: "As intelligent a reductio of Umberto Eco's sly farrago of whodunnit and medieval metaphysics as one could have wished for ... the film simply looks good, really succeeds in communicating the sense and spirit of a time when the world was quite literally read like a book." [14] John Simon stated that The Name of the Rose misfired due to its ending, which was slightly happier than the book's ending. [15]

In 2011, Eco was quoted as giving a mixed review for the adaptation of his novel: "A book like this is a club sandwich, with turkey, salami, tomato, cheese, lettuce. And the movie is obliged to choose only the lettuce or the cheese, eliminating everything else – the theological side, the political side. It's a nice movie." [16]

Ron Perlman has commented that The Name of the Rose is "one of the few films of mine that I admire without qualification... There's only two or three projects I've ever worked on where I thought, 'Okay, I wouldn't change a thing' and Name of the Rose is one of those. A great eye recognizes how great Name of the Rose was, and there aren't that many around; it takes a very sophisticated kind of moviegoer." [17]

Awards

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sean Connery</span> Scottish actor (1930–2020)

Sir Sean Connery was a Scottish actor. He was the first actor to portray fictional British secret agent James Bond on film, starring in seven Bond films between 1962 and 1983. Connery originated the role in Dr. No (1962) and continued starring as Bond in the Eon Productions films From Russia with Love (1963), Goldfinger (1964), Thunderball (1965), You Only Live Twice (1967) and Diamonds Are Forever (1971). Connery made his final appearance in the franchise in Never Say Never Again (1983), a non-Eon-produced Bond film.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Umberto Eco</span> Italian semiotician, philosopher and writer (1932–2016)

Umberto Eco was an Italian medievalist, philosopher, semiotician, novelist, cultural critic, and political and social commentator. In English, he is best known for his popular 1980 novel The Name of the Rose, a historical mystery combining semiotics in fiction with biblical analysis, medieval studies and literary theory, as well as Foucault's Pendulum, his 1988 novel which touches on similar themes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Melk</span> Place in Lower Austria, Austria

Melk is a city in the Austrian state of Lower Austria, next to the Wachau valley along the Danube. Melk has a population of 5,257. It is best known as the site of a massive baroque Benedictine monastery named Melk Abbey.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">F. Murray Abraham</span> American actor (born 1939)

F. Murray Abraham is an American actor. Known for his roles on stage and screen, he has received an Academy Award and a Golden Globe Award as well as nominations for a BAFTA Award, four Emmy Awards, and a Grammy Award. He came to prominence for his portrayal of Antonio Salieri in the drama film Amadeus (1984) for which he won an Academy Award for Best Actor.

<i>The Name of the Rose</i> 1980 historical novel by Umberto Eco

The Name of the Rose is the 1980 debut novel by Italian author Umberto Eco. It is a historical murder mystery set in an Italian monastery in the year 1327, and an intellectual mystery combining semiotics in fiction, biblical analysis, medieval studies, and literary theory. It was translated into English by William Weaver in 1983.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Christian Slater</span> American actor (born 1969)

Christian Michael Leonard Slater is an American actor. He made his film debut with a leading role in The Legend of Billie Jean (1985) and gained wider recognition for his breakthrough role as Jason "J.D." Dean, a sociopathic high school student, in the satire Heathers (1988). He has received critical acclaim for his title role in the USA Network television series Mr. Robot (2015–2019), for which he earned the Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor – Series, Miniseries or Television Film in 2016, with additional nominations in 2017 and 2018.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jean-Jacques Annaud</span> French film director, screenwriter and producer (born 1943)

Jean-Jacques Annaud is a French film director, screenwriter and producer. He directed Quest for Fire (1981), The Name of the Rose (1986), The Bear (1988), The Lover (1992), Seven Years in Tibet (1997), Enemy at the Gates (2001), Black Gold (2011), and Wolf Totem (2015).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Melk Abbey</span> Historic site in Austria

Melk Abbey is a Benedictine abbey above the town of Melk, Lower Austria, on a rocky outcrop overlooking the Danube river, adjoining the Wachau valley. The abbey contains the tomb of Saint Coloman of Stockerau and the remains of several members of the House of Babenberg, Austria's first ruling dynasty.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jason Connery</span> British actor (born 1963)

Jason Joseph Connery is an Italian-born British actor and director. He is the son of Sean Connery and Diane Cilento. On screen, he is best known for appearing in the third series of the ITV drama series Robin of Sherwood in 1986. He took over the main role after Michael Praed's character was killed off at the end of the second series.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ron Perlman</span> American actor (born 1950)

Ronald N. Perlman is an American actor. His credits include the roles of Amoukar in Quest for Fire (1981), Salvatore in The Name of the Rose (1986), Vincent in the television series Beauty and the Beast (1987–1990), for which he won a Golden Globe Award, One in The City of Lost Children (1995), Johner in Alien Resurrection (1997), Koulikov in Enemy at the Gates (2001), Hellboy in both Hellboy (2004) and its sequel Hellboy II: The Golden Army (2008), Clay Morrow in the television series Sons of Anarchy (2008–2013), Nino in Drive (2011) and Benedict Drask in Don't Look Up (2021). As a frequent collaborator of Hellboy director Guillermo del Toro, he has had roles in the del Toro films Cronos (1993), Blade II (2002), Pacific Rim (2013), Nightmare Alley (2021), and Pinocchio (2022). He also starred in Star Trek: Nemesis (2002) and two Stephen King adaptations, Sleepwalkers (1992) and Desperation (2006).

William of Baskerville is a fictional Franciscan friar from the 1980 historical mystery novel The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco.

<i>The Hound of the Baskervilles</i> (1959 film) 1959 film by Terence Fisher

The Hound of the Baskervilles is a 1959 British gothic mystery film directed by Terence Fisher and produced by Hammer Film Productions. It is based on the 1902 novel of the same title by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. It stars Peter Cushing as Sherlock Holmes, Sir Christopher Lee as Sir Henry Baskerville and André Morell as Doctor Watson. It is the first film adaptation of the novel to be filmed in colour.

<i>The Bear</i> (1988 film) French adventure family film

The Bear is a 1988 French adventure family film directed by Jean-Jacques Annaud and released by TriStar Pictures. Adapted from the novel The Grizzly King (1916) by American author James Oliver Curwood, the screenplay was written by Gérard Brach. Set in British Columbia, Canada, the film tells the story of an orphaned grizzly bear cub who befriends a large adult male Kodiak bear as two trophy hunters pursue them through the wild.

<i>La Abadía del Crimen</i> 1987 video game

La abadía del crimen is a video game written by Paco Menéndez with graphics made by Juan Delcán and published in 1987 by Opera Soft. It was conceived as a version of Umberto Eco's 1980 book The Name of the Rose. Paco Menéndez and Opera Soft were unable to secure the rights for the name, so the game was released as La abadía del crimen. "The Abbey of the Crime" was the working title of the novel The Name of the Rose.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bacqueville-en-Caux</span> Commune in Normandy, France

Bacqueville-en-Caux is a commune in the Seine-Maritime department in the Normandy region in northern France.

<i>Lordalia</i> 1979 book by Italo Alighiero Chiusano

L′ordalia, is the third novel by Italo Alighiero Chiusano, published in 1979. The title recalls the ordeal, a judicial practice by which, during Middle Ages, the guilt or innocence of the accused was determined by subjecting them to an unpleasant, usually dangerous experience.

Penitenziagite is a rallying cry derived from the Latin "Poenitentiam agite," meaning the same. It has been also interpreted as a paraphrase of the Greek "πένητες διάγετε" attributed to Christ, meaning "live life as a pauper".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Portrayal of James Bond in film</span> Fictional character

James Bond is a fictional character created by the British journalist and novelist Ian Fleming in 1952. The character first appeared in a series of twelve novels and two short story collections written by Fleming and a number of continuation novels and spin-off works after Fleming's death in 1964. Bond's literary portrayal differs in some ways from his treatment in the James Bond films, of which there have been twenty-seven in total, produced and released between 1962 and 2021.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pino Locchi</span> Italian actor (1925–1994)

Giuseppe "Pino" Locchi was an Italian actor and voice actor.

<i>The Name of the Rose</i> (miniseries) Historical drama television miniseries

The Name of the Rose is a historical drama television miniseries created and directed by Giacomo Battiato for RAI. It is based on the 1980 international bestseller novel of the same name by Umberto Eco. The series stars John Turturro as William of Baskerville and Rupert Everett as Bernard Gui. It was co-produced by Italian production companies 11 Marzo Film and Palomar, and distributed internationally by the Tele München Group.

References

  1. 1 2 "The Name of the Rose (1986)". UniFrance . Retrieved 16 August 2021.
  2. ↑ Solomon, Aubrey (1989). Twentieth Century Fox: A Corporate and Financial History. Scarecrow Press. p. 260.
  3. ↑ Canby, Vincent (September 24, 1986). "The Name of the Rose (1986) FILM: MEDIEVAL MYSTERY IN 'NAME OF THE ROSE'". The New York Times .
  4. ↑ "Der Name der Rose (1986)". BFI. Archived from the original on February 3, 2018. Retrieved 2021-10-20.
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 6 DVD commentary by Jean-Jacques Annaud
  6. ↑ Richard Utz, "The Black Monk in The Name of the Rose," Poiema , September 23, 2024.
  7. 1 2 "'Rose' Producer Inks Doris Dörrie". Variety . 21 January 1987. p. 33.
  8. ↑ "The Name of the Rose (1986)". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved 15 January 2018.
  9. ↑ "An Oral History of THE NAME OF THE ROSE (1986) - memories relayed by Sean Connery during his EFA lifetime achievement award speech"
  10. ↑ "The Name of the Rose". Rotten Tomatoes . Fandango Media . Retrieved May 12, 2024.
  11. ↑ "The Name of the Rose Reviews". Metacritic . Fandom, Inc. Retrieved June 20, 2023.
  12. ↑ "Home". CinemaScore. Retrieved 2023-06-20.
  13. ↑ Ebert, Roger. "The Name of the Rose Movie Review (1986)". rogerebert.com. Retrieved 15 January 2018.Star full.svgStar full.svgStar half.svgStar empty.svg
  14. ↑ "The Name of the Rose". Time Out . 10 September 2012. Archived from the original on August 8, 2021. Retrieved February 9, 2022.
  15. ↑ Simon, John (2005). John Simon on Film: Criticism 1982–2001. Applause Books. p. 646.
  16. ↑ Moss, Stephen (27 November 2011). "Umberto Eco: 'People are tired of simple things. They want to be challenged'". The Guardian. Retrieved 15 January 2018.
  17. ↑ "An Oral History of THE NAME OF THE ROSE (1986) - memories relayed by Ron Perlman"
  18. ↑ "Le nom de la rose". Académie des César (in French). Retrieved 2024-03-02.
  19. ↑ "Film in 1988". BAFTA Awards. Retrieved 2024-03-02.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.