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Staring: Sean Connery, Christian Slater, Helmut Qualtinger, Elya Baskin, Michael Lonsdale
Director: Jean-Jacques Annaud
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Product Details
Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
Audience Rating: R (Restricted)
Binding: DVD
Brand: Warner Brothers
EAN: 9780790764993
Format: AC-3, Anamorphic, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DVD, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
ISBN: 0790764997
Label: Warner Home Video
Manufacturer: Warner Home Video
Number Of Discs: 1
Publisher: Warner Home Video
Region Code: 1
Release Date: 2004-07-06
Running Time: 130
Studio: Warner Home Video
Theatrical Release Date: 1986-09-24

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Editorial Review
Description
"The Name of the Rose" is a gothic medieval mystery thriller set in a 14th-century Italian monastery. Franciscan monk William of Baskerville (Sean Connery) and a young novice (Christian Slater) arrive for a conference to find that several monks have been murdered in mysterious circumstances. To solve the crimes, William must rise up against the Church authority and fight the shadowy conspiracy of monastery monks using only his wit and intelligence.

DVD Features:
Audio Commentary:Commentary by Director Jean-Jaques Annaud
Documentary:Vintage making-of documentary - The Abbey of Crime: Umberto Eco's "The Name of the Rose"
Featurette:All-new Photo Video Journey with Jean-Jacques Annaud
Scene Access
Theatrical Trailer

Amazon.com
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

Customer Reviews

Connery's Favorite, 2010-05-07
I saw it written in an article that this was one of Sean Connery's favorite film. Shot in Italy during winter, he recalls it being very cold and having to wear lots of clothes under his robes. Excellent film, an early Sherlock Holmes format. I never tire of seeing it. Started listening to monks chanting, peaceful music.

Great Movie based on a great Book, 2009-10-30
This is one of the most unusual stories that I have ever read and was surprised that they made it into a movie. Its not what you would call pop literature and The movie follows the book rather closely. The story take place in northern Italy around the year 1200. The story is about a senior monk and scholar who has been entrusted with the rearing and education of a novice and takes him to a monastery where he has been summoned to investigate the strange goings on there. The matter becomes very complicated and many people have much to hide.

The movie has everything going for it. The locations and the filming are excellent. The soundtrack fits perfectly with the locations and the historical times and sets the mood to fit. Such a great story and production should have a great cast.....and it does. Sean Connery, Christian Slater,
Michael lonsdale, Ron Perlman, F. Murray Abraham. The acting reflects the quality of the actors here and it is first rate. There have been critics who did not like F. Murray Abrahams acting because they said he was over acting. Those people just did not get it. He was playing a man who was a politically motivated inquisitor and was constantly acting in an insincere fashion. He got that point across to me perfectly. His acting here is brilliant its like a window to the mind and the motivation of the man he is playing.

This is one of the greatest fims ever made but its not casual viewing by any means and is not good if your looking for sheer entertainment. I would add that this not for the whole family. There is a sexual scene in here. Its actually Love with a capitol L, and its passionate but its in there and you may want to consider that before you sit the whole family down to watch.

I would add That The film Transfer was excellent and so was the sound. If You read and liked the book you cant go wrong here or if you like arthouse or historical flicks.

Dark ages thriller, 2009-09-22
I will not bore you with the description of the plot, which I am sure you can see in the product description. What i will say though is that this film reminds me of a weird Agatha Christie story set in the Middle Ages. Deaths in the abbey cause the residents to believe evil has taken over their fortress of (very questionable) morality. Where everyone else is lost in the bog of faith and belief, Baskerville relies on reason and logic, the tools of the devil. Impeccable performances by Connery and Slater, the grimy world is brought to life both visually and emotionally with subtlety. Highly recommended.

Luck Find, 2010-07-26
Glad to run across this movie. Believe it or not this film is listed by several historians as being worthwhile viewing just for the accurate portrayal of life in the middle ages.

The Name of the Rose: A Dark, Semiotic, Medieval Mystery., 2010-08-18
The Name of the Rose: A Dark, Semiotic, Medieval Mystery.

By

James Zaworski

"The Name of the Rose" is a film based on the novel written by Umberto Eco, and it stars Sean Connery, F. Murray Abraham and Christian Slater, put out in the late 1980s. I first saw and enjoyed this film with my father and eldest brother in the early 1990s. It is a murder mystery set in a dark and dank abbey in the mountains of northern Italy in the 13th century. The film was given lukewarm reviews and had commensurate box office sales in the United States, but was critically and popularly acclaimed in Europe and the rest of the world.

The Plot.

William of Baskerville (Sean Connery) and his apprentice (Christian Slater), are just arriving at the abbey in the mountains of northern Italy when William begins seeing signs that a monk has recently passed away, as he spies the fresh grave in the graveyard from his window. This William is a real sleuth, and definitely has the powers of observation, logic and reason on his side. The abbot is a bit shocked that William knows about this death, where a monk apparently fell out of, or was pushed out of, a window from a bell tower. William investigates, and concludes from the `crime scene' that this was a suicide and not a murder. The monk in question went up into a tower in the middle of the night, in a hailstorm.

Most of the monks in the abbey are hideously ugly or grotesque, except for a few "beautiful boys" who tempt the others with `unnatural caresses'. Sometimes there are bouts of self flagellation to punish the sinful desire of the flesh.

As William and sidekick explore the abbey (they are Franciscans and are part of a delegation that is to be part of a debate against a papal delegation about some issues of Christ's poverty and the church's poverty), they meet other characters such as a hunchback named Salvatore, who tried to kill William, his master Remeggio, a fat monk (both were formerly of the heretical Dulcinites, who believed in the poverty of the church and slaughtered fat bishops and priests and gave their property to the poor), an old blind man named venerable Yurgi, his sidekick Malackea, a handsome Greek translator, and a good natured herbalist.

Soon, the Greek translator is found dead, and his body has been plunged into a vat of pig's blood. When taken out and examined, it is noted that his index finger is black, as well as his tongue. Now the real murder mystery begins. William soon finds tracks in the snow of someone that dragged the body to the kitchen, and concludes that he was murdered. A counter theory is proposed that these are two of the trumpets, signs of the apocalypse in the Book of Revelation. It is predicted the next murder will be in water, the third trumpet.

Well, the third victim, a corpulent and nearly albino monk who was flagellating himself earlier, is found in a bath of water, confirming the apolcalyptic predictions but also William's prediction that the killer has struck again, as the victim has a blackened tongue and finger.

The papal delegation arrives and they bring a special guest: Bernardo Gui of the Inquisition. William had sparred with this chap before, disagreeing in a heresy case, and was tortured and forced to recant his decision.

In the mean time, William's sidekick gets laid by a peasant girl who scrambles up daily to the abbey to trade sexual favors for a bit of food. She gets caught with Salvatore this time by Bernardo, in `flagrante delicto', as it were, with a black cockerel and a black cat. This proves, to his mind, that she is a witch.

William again contests the decision, and knows that the key to the whole mystery is a book written in Greek that men will kill for, or that the book itself kills. William and sidekick manage to get into the library, but encounter a labyrinth. They had found a clue in the form of a parchment with Greek written in lemon juice that gives the secret hiding place of the book. Just as they arrive, the old blind Yurgi is there with the book, and gives it William to read. William knows this is the lost book of Aristotle, on comedy. He is wearing a glove, and does not get poisoned when he would normally lick his finger to turn the page. Frustrated by this, Yurgi grabs the book and escapes, eating the pages as he goes. They ask him why is he afraid of a book? He says that laughter kills fear, and fear is needed, because we need to fear God. If we laugh at God, all will be chaos. At that point, they catch up with him, and he starts a fire in the library. The library goes up in flames, William is trapped inside and tries to save as many books as possible, then, as the hunchback and master and girl are about to be burned at the stake as heretics, the crowd of peasants saves the girl, and Bernardo gets killed as well.

William escapes the flames and he and sidekick ride off, and the whole account was written by sidekick when he was an old man.

Review.

The acting in the movie is excellent. Sean Connery puts on a convincing performance, and Christian Slater's debut is also very good. The directing is good as well, and the feel of the dark, and dank "Dark Ages" are brought to life in this dimly lit film. No sunny days, no blue skies, only cloudy and cold days in a mountaintop abbey are displayed.

I've read Umberto Eco's novel "The Name of the Rose" after seeing the film based on the novel. This is one of the few movies that remain quite faithful to the book. Of course the book is more detailed and quite long.

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