The Name of the Rose is a 1986 film directed by
Jean-Jacques AnnaudJean-Jacques Annaud is a French film director, film producer and screenwriter.- Biography :Annaud was born in Juvisy-sur-Orge, Essonne...
, based on
the book of the same nameThe Name of the Rose is the first novel by Italian author Umberto Eco. It is a historical murder mystery set in an Italian monastery in the year 1327, an intellectual mystery combining semiotics in fiction, biblical analysis, medieval studies and literary theory...
by
Umberto EcoUmberto Eco Knight Grand Cross is an Italian semiotician, essayist, philosopher, literary critic, and novelist, best known for his novel The Name of the Rose , an intellectual mystery combining semiotics in fiction, biblical analysis, medieval studies and literary theory...
.
Sean ConnerySir Thomas Sean Connery , better known as Sean Connery, is a Scottish actor and producer who has won an Academy Award, two BAFTA Awards and three Golden Globes Sir Thomas Sean Connery (born 25 August 1930), better known as Sean Connery, is a Scottish actor and producer who has won an Academy...
is the
FranciscanMost Franciscans are members of Roman Catholic religious orders founded by Saint Francis of Assisi. Besides Roman Catholic communities, there are also Old Catholic, Anglican, Lutheran, ecumenical and Non-denominational Franciscan communities....
friar
William of BaskervilleWilliam of Baskerville is a fictional Franciscan friar from the novel Il nome della rosa by Umberto Eco...
and
Christian SlaterChristian Michael Leonard Slater is an American actor. He made his film debut with a small role in The Postman Always Rings Twice before playing a leading role in the 1985 film The Legend of Billie Jean...
is his apprentice Adso of
MelkMelk is a city of Austria, in the federal state of Lower Austria, next to the Wachau valley along the Danube. Melk has a population of 5,222 ....
, who are called upon to solve a deadly mystery in a
medievalThe Middle Ages is a periodization of European history from the 5th century to the 15th century. The Middle Ages follows the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 and precedes the Early Modern Era. It is the middle period of a three-period division of Western history: Classic, Medieval and Modern...
abbey.
Plot
The story takes place in Northern Italy, during the early 14th Century A.D.
FranciscanMost Franciscans are members of Roman Catholic religious orders founded by Saint Francis of Assisi. Besides Roman Catholic communities, there are also Old Catholic, Anglican, Lutheran, ecumenical and Non-denominational Franciscan communities....
monk
William of BaskervilleWilliam of Baskerville is a fictional Franciscan friar from the novel Il nome della rosa by Umberto Eco...
and his novice Adso of
MelkMelk is a city of Austria, in the federal state of Lower Austria, next to the Wachau valley along the Danube. Melk has a population of 5,222 ....
(narrating as an old man) arrive at a
BenedictineBenedictine refers to the spirituality and consecrated life in accordance with the Rule of St Benedict, written by Benedict of Nursia in the sixth century for the cenobitic communities he founded in central Italy. The most notable of these is Monte Cassino, the first monastery founded by Benedict...
abbey where a mysterious death has occurred ahead of an important theological Church conference. William, known for his deductive and analytic mind, confronts the worried Abbot and gains permission to investigate the death – a young illuminator appears to have committed suicide. Over the next few days, several other bizarre deaths occur, and the two gradually discover that everything is not what it seems in the abbey.
William and Adso also make the acquaintance of Salvatore, a demented hunchback who speaks gibberish in various languages, and his handler and protector, Remigio da Varagine who, as events prove, also has a shady past. William quickly deduces that Salvatore had once been a member of a heretical sect and infers that Remigio likewise had been involved. He suspects that they may have been involved in the killings. Meanwhile, Adso encounters a beautiful semi-feral peasant girl who has apparently sneaked into the abbey to trade sexual favours for food; she seduces him, and he falls in love with her.
Investigating and keen to head off accusations of
demonic possessionDemonic possession is held by many belief systems to be the control of an individual by a malevolent supernatural being. Descriptions of demonic possessions often include erased memories or personalities, convulsions, “fits” and fainting as if one were dying...
, the protagonists discover and explore a labyrinthine library in the abbey's forbidden principal tower. William is astonished to find that it is "one of the greatest libraries in all Christendom," containing dozens of works by Classical masters such as
AristotleAristotle was a Greek philosopher and polymath, a student of Plato and teacher of Alexander the Great. His writings cover many subjects, including physics, metaphysics, poetry, theater, music, logic, rhetoric, linguistics, politics, government, ethics, biology, and zoology...
, 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. It becomes clear that the only remaining copy of Aristotle's
Second Book of Poetics is somehow related to the deaths. He further deduces that all of those who died had read the book.
His investigations are curtailed by the arrival of Bernardo Gui of the
InquisitionThe Inquisition, Inquisitio Haereticae Pravitatis , was the "fight against heretics" by several institutions within the justice-system of the Roman Catholic Church. It started in the 12th century, with the introduction of torture in the persecution of heresy...
, 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 confessing. 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. Gui resorts to extracting a confession from Remigio by the threat of torture, and clearly plans to take care of William for good, later.
When another monk 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, and the girl is soon to follow, when the local peasants take advantage of the chaos of the library fire to turn on Gui and free her. Gui attempts to flee but they throw his wagon off a cliff, to his death. William and Adso later take their leave. A much older Adso reflects in his closing narration that he never regretted his decision to continue on with William, and that the girl was the only earthly love of his life, yet he never learned her name.
Cast
- Sean Connery
Sir Thomas Sean Connery , better known as Sean Connery, is a Scottish actor and producer who has won an Academy Award, two BAFTA Awards and three Golden Globes Sir Thomas Sean Connery (born 25 August 1930), better known as Sean Connery, is a Scottish actor and producer who has won an Academy...
as William of BaskervilleWilliam of Baskerville is a fictional Franciscan friar from the novel Il nome della rosa by Umberto Eco...
- Christian Slater
Christian Michael Leonard Slater is an American actor. He made his film debut with a small role in The Postman Always Rings Twice before playing a leading role in the 1985 film The Legend of Billie Jean...
as Adso of MelkMelk is a city of Austria, in the federal state of Lower Austria, next to the Wachau valley along the Danube. Melk has a population of 5,222 ....
- Helmut Qualtinger
Helmut Qualtinger was an Austrian actor, writer and cabaret performer.-Biography:Helmut Qualtinger was born in Vienna, Austria...
as Remigio de VaragineVarazze is a comune in the Province of Savona in the Italian region Liguria, located about 30 km west of Genoa and about 11 km northeast of Savona in the Riviera di Ponente...
- Elya Baskin as Severinus
- Michael Lonsdale
Michael Lonsdale , sometimes billed as Michel Lonsdale, is a French actor who has appeared in over 180 films and television shows....
as The Abbot
- Volker Prechtel
Volker Prechtel was a German actor. He appeared in 52 films and television shows between 1974 and 1997.-Selected filmography:* The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser...
as Malachia
- Feodor Chaliapin, Jr.
Feodor Chaliapin, Jr. was the son and namesake of operatic bass Feodor Chaliapin. He was born in Moscow, Russia, and had a distinguished career in acting throughout Europe, mainly in Italy. His mother was Iola Tornagi, a noted ballerina who quit ballet and acting to take care of Feodor and his...
as (Venerable) Jorge de BurgosBurgos is a city of northern Spain, historic capital of Castile. It is situated at the edge of the central plateau, with about 178,966 inhabitants in the city proper and another 20,000 in its suburbs. It is the capital of the province of Burgos, in the autonomous community of Castile and León...
- William Hickey
William Edward Hickey was an American actor. He was best known for his Oscar-nominated role as Don Corrado Prizzi in the John Huston 1985 film Prizzi's Honor, as well as the voice of Dr...
as Ubertino de Casale
- Michael Habeck
Michael Habeck was a German actor who was best known for providing the German dubbing for Oliver Hardy after Bruno W. Pantel died....
as Berengar
- Urs Althaus as Venantius
- Valentina Vargas
Valentina Vargas is a Chilean-born actress. She developed most of her career in France, where she was raised.-Biography:...
as The Girl
- Ron Perlman
Ronald N. "Ron" Perlman is an American television, film and voice over actor. He is known for having played Vincent in the TV series Beauty and the Beast , a Deathstroke figure known as Slade in the animated series Teen Titans, Clarence "Clay" Morrow in Sons of Anarchy, the comic book character...
as Salvatore
- Leopoldo Trieste
Leopoldo Trieste was an Italian actor, film director and script writer.Trieste was born in Reggio Calabria...
as Michele da CesenaMichael of Cesena was an Italian Franciscan, general of that Order, and theologian.-Biography:...
- Franco Valobra as Jerome of Kaffa
- Vernon Dobtcheff
Vernon Dobtcheff is a French and British actor.Dobtcheff was born in Nîmes, France, to a family of Russian descent. He attended Ascham Preparatory School in Eastbourne, Sussex, England, in the 1940s, where he won the Acting Cup...
as Hugh of NewcastleHugh of Newcastle was a Franciscan theologian and scholastic philosopher, a pupil of Duns Scotus. His origin in Newcastle-upon-Tyne is questioned; he may have been from Neufchâtel.-Works:...
- Donal O'Brian
Donal "Donald" O'Brien was a French-born Italian film and television actor of Irish descent. In his near 40-year career, O'Brien appeared in dozens of stage performances and in more than 60 film and television productions.O'Brien was born in Pau, Pyrénées-Atlantiques, raised in both Northern...
as Pietro d'Assisi- Churches :* The Basilica of San Francesco d'Assisi is a World Heritage Site. The Franciscan monastery, il Sacro Convento, and the lower and upper church of St Francis were begun immediately after his canonization in 1228, and completed in 1253...
- Andrew Birkin as Cuthbert of Winchester
Winchester is a historic cathedral city and former capital city of England. It is the county town of Hampshire, in South East England. The city lies at the heart of the wider City of Winchester, a local government district, and is located at the western end of the South Downs, along the course of...
- F. Murray Abraham
Fahrid Murray Abraham is an American actor. He became known during the 1980s after winning the Academy Award for Best Actor for his role as Antonio Salieri in Amadeus. He has appeared in many roles, both leading and supporting, in films such as All the President's Men and Scarface...
as Bernardo Gui
- Lucien Bodard
Lucien Bodard was a French reporter and writer on events in Asia.Bodard was born on January 9, 1914 in Chongqing to the French consul Albert Bodard, who was stationed several years in China, i.e. in Chongking, Chengdu, Kunming and Shanghai. He grew up with the Chinese language and spoke Mandarin...
as Cardinal Bertrand
- Peter Berling
Peter Berling is a German actor and writer. He has worked on several occasions with director Werner Herzog, in his collaborations with actor Klaus Kinski....
as Jean d'Anneaux
- Pete Lancaster as Bishop of Alborea
Alborea is a municipality in Albacete, Castile-La Mancha, Spain. It has a population of 870.-External links:**...
- Dwight Weist as the Voice of Adso as an old Man (voice)
Production
Director Jean-Jacques Annaud once told Umberto Eco that he was convinced the book was written for only one person to direct, that is to say himself. He felt personally intrigued by the project, among other things because of a life-long fascination with medieval churches and a great familiarity with Latin and Greek.
Annaud spent four years preparing the film, traveling throughout the United States and Europe, searching for the perfect multiethnic cast with interesting and distinctive faces. He resisted suggestions to cast Sean Connery for the part of William because he felt that the character, who was already an amalgam of
Sherlock HolmesSherlock Holmes is a fictional detective created by Scottish author and physician Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. The fantastic London-based "consulting detective", Holmes is famous for his astute logical reasoning, his ability to take almost any disguise, and his use of forensic science skills to solve...
and William of Occam, would become too overwhelming with "
007James Bond, code name 007, is a fictional character created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels and two short story collections. There have been a six other authors who wrote authorised Bond novels or novelizations after Fleming's death in 1964: Kingsley Amis,...
" added. 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 PicturesColumbia Pictures Industries, Inc. is an American film production and distribution company. Columbia Pictures now forms part of the Columbia TriStar Motion Picture Group, owned by Sony Pictures Entertainment, a subsidiary of the Japanese conglomerate Sony. It is one of the leading film companies...
pulled out, as Connery's career was then in a slump. Christian Slater was cast through a large-scale audition of teenage boys. 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.
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. Many of the interiors were shot at
Eberbach AbbeyEberbach Abbey is a former Cistercian monastery near Eltville am Rhein in the Rheingau, Germany. On account of its impressive Romanesque and early Gothic buildings it is considered one of the most significant architectural heritage sites in Hesse, Germany...
, Germany. Most props, including period illuminated manuscripts, were produced specifically for the film.
Reception
The film did poorly at the box office in the United States, playing at only 176 theatres and grossing only $7.2 million in return on a $17 million budget. It received generally positive reviews from American and Italian critics, with review agregrator
Rotten TomatoesRotten Tomatoes is a website devoted to reviews, information, and news of films—widely known as a film review aggregator. Its name derives from the cliché of audiences throwing tomatoes and other vegetables at a poor stage performance...
giving it a 72% approval. It was popular in many parts of Europe, however, with a worldwide gross of over $77 million.
Awards
- The film was awarded the César
The César Award is the national film award of France, first given out in 1975. The nominations are selected by the members of the Académie des arts et techniques du cinéma....
for best foreign film.
- The film was awarded two BAFTAs
The British Academy of Film and Television Arts is a charity in the United Kingdom that hosts annual awards shows for excellence in film, television, television craft, video games and forms of animation.-Introduction:...
. Sean Connery for best actor, and Hasso von Hugo won Best Make Up Artist.
Changes from the book
- The book's last line, translates literally as "Yesterday's rose endures in its name, we hold empty names". The general sense, as Eco pointed out, was that from the beauty of the past, now disappeared, we hold only names.
See also
- Middle Ages in film
Medieval films imagine and portray the Middle Ages through the visual, audio and thematic forms of cinema.-Background:The 20th century is not the first to create images of life during medieval times. The Middle Ages ended over five centuries ago and each century has imagined, portrayed and depicted...
- List of films based on crime books
- List of historical drama films
External links