| | | | Name Of The Rose
(1986) |
fter realising his potential with the superb "Quest For Fire" (1982), French director Jean Jacques Annaud took on Umberto Eco's novel of religious hypocrisy and malice set in the dark ages.
The film takes place in a remote abbey in the north of Italy, the year is 1327. Brother William of Baskerville (Connery) is a studious and respected monk who arrives on horseback with his novice (a youthful Slater). Once inside the grounds they are welcomed by the Abbott (Lonsdale) who informs them of an unfortunate incident involving the death of one of their own, found broken and mutilated near the graveyard.
They are told of the widespread belief that the presence of evil is at work and when elder monks surmise that the devil himself roams the abbey, the inquisitive William of Baskerville sets out to confirm this as unsound.
When more bodies are discovered, hysteria breaks out with superstition rife among the flock.
Brother William is piecing together the fragments of evidence and with this information confronts the Abbott. It seems that hidden messages, found written in lemon juice, on parchment, reveal secrecy surrounding a book, that could kill and for which men will kill!
The literature contains dangerous writings, the holy code of sorrow must prevail and a certain corruption in the form of comic images is forbidden and must be eradicated at all costs. The bishop however is not convinced and a Holy Inquisition are called led Bernardo Gui (Abraham) a sadistic and unforgiving witchhunter.
After arriving they immediately accuse a young peasant girl who's poverty stricken quarters contain traces of witchcraft, if only in the form of a black cat and cockerel, enough for the inquisition who have sought out the cloven hoofed antichrist.
Also accused is Ron Pearlman's Salvatore, a deformed hunchback monk who dabbles in heretical dialogue, along with his
master they are tortured and finally confess to heresy and seem resigned to their fate, tied to a stake and torched as ordered by the manic witchhunter.
Brother William meanwhile is closer to revealing the truth, as human inferno's seem imminent he and his novice finally gain access to the forbidden library, within the labyrinthine walls they will find the poisoned pages of the book which will save the innocent and prove their theories to be correct.
The film is told with sporadic narration and in flashback by Slater's novice and maintains an atmosphere lacking in many films of its time.
The outlandish features of an ensemble cast are perfect for the subject matter and plot, Connery here gives us one of his most assured performances and surely one of his favorite. Both Lonsdale and Abraham are excellent along with Salvatore the doomed hunchback played by Ron Pearlman who again is immense with his gargoyle like features, comic yet mesmerizing with his monkish appearance.
The picture is strongest with it's ability to portray strong images while maintaining a certain tenderness. The sometimes languid pace with hollow eerie location are matched perfectly with poignant moments etched with comic undertones.
The manner of Brother William can be found in Conan Doyle's iconic detective 'Holmes' and with Slater as his 'Watson' he is driven to solving the mystery with his Sherlockion instincts coming to the fore when mouthing the famous word "elementary".
Religious themes are portrayed with a sense of hypocrisy and indeed the very nucleus of holy belief is questioned continuously, the love of god, can it seems be at least on a similar level to other forms of joy as when Connery states "How peaceful life would be without love", "How safe", "How tranquil and how very dull".
Slaters ultimate "sin" both natural and sexual toward a female is given almost a green light by the wisdom of Connery and in-turn the hasty intercourse scene mid-way through is excellent, filmed with care and not out of place. The natural sensation of feelings emanating from Slater is a welcome angle on warmth and comfort within the human soul that can overcome darkness, tragedy and the religious code of infinite sorrow.
 Don't forget that Name Of The Rose is now available to order on Widescreen DVD using our special 80s Retro Assistant...
|
| | | | 
Name Of The Rose is an outstanding 80's gem, essential and brilliantly cast.
|
| | | |  | 
The character of the Venerable Jorge de Burgos, a Spanish monk, is Umberto Eco's tribute to the Argentinean writer Jorge Luis Borges, who was also blind and who wrote "The Library of Babel" which inspired elements of the story. 
| |
Name Of The Rose was Christian Slater's big studio screen debut, he had previously appeared in the 1985 teen-rebellion indie flick "The Legend of Billie Jean".
"The Girl" (Valentina Vargas) is the only female character in the film, and she does not speak.
The peasant girl who Christian Slater's character has feelings for was played by Chilian model and actress Valentina Vargas. She went on to appear in "Hellraiser": "Bloodline" and "Southern Cross". -Thanks to Loz
The cinematography is by Tonino Delli Colli who worked on many Italian pictures including Sergio Leone's last westerns along with "Once Upon A Time America".
Fans of the movie are well advised to read the novel. Just like some other novels turned into movies, there are delicious details of the novel that have been adjusted, if not deleted, for the movie: Bernard Gui did not die by falling on one of his torture machines; the girl was eventually burned at the stake; William was not able to save any of the books; the abbey-burning scene was more horrific than as shown in the movie; there was that melancholic scene at the ending of the novel where Adso went back to the ruins of the Abbey years later in one of his return trips to Italy from his Abbey in Melk. He was able to collect bits of burnt parchments he kept as souvenirs. Reading it could be tedious though; almost like reading a research material from the Vatican Secret Archives. Well, consider this on the writer, Umberto Eco, being a scholarly medievalist and a professor of semiotics. There is also another book on how to get the most from the novel! -Thanks to Gregg S. Lloren
« Click
here to add some Name Of The Rose trivia
Find much more great trivia in the filmmaker's commentary on the Name Of The Rose DVD.
Rediscover your favorites! If you like
Name Of The Rose or 80's Drama / Historic classics, then be sure to
check out this list: ..... Outsiders ..... Elephant Man ..... Rain Man ..... Drugstore Cowboy ..... Stand By Me ..... Wall Street ..... Mask ..... Amadeus ..... Full Metal Jacket ..... Witness ..... Breakfast Club ..... Glory ..... Platoon ..... Scarface ..... Six Weeks ..... Urban Cowboy .....[More]
| | | |
Christian Slater has since mentioned an experience while doing "Name Of The Rose". Before the love scene in the kitchen he was a bit nervous -being a young actor- and decided to ask Sean Connery for some tips on how to perform it... To which Sean Connery simply replied "Breath, just breath!" -Thanks to Sylvio
«
Click
here to add a new Behind-the-Scenes item for Name Of The Rose
|  |  |  | | Name Of The Rose
Locations |
|
| | |
 Featured Movie Location: The Monestery
Wanna see the real life filming location used for The Monestery in the movie? These scenes were actually shot at Kloster Eberbach Abbey, located at Stadt Eltville (Near Frankfurt), REINGAU, Germany.
Dante Ferretti, the production designer, had the exterior of the monastery built on a hilltop near Lazio, outside Rome, Italy. [Thanks to Helen Chavez]
Featured Link: Kloster Eberbach
Can you help? Do you know any of the Germany (or any other) filming locations used for Name Of The Rose? [Please send them in]
|  | | | | ![[16:9 -Widescreen Enhanced]](16_9.gif) | ![[STEREO or SURROUND]](dd2.gif) | Trailer, Commentary, Featurette |
| | ![[NOT Widescreen]](4_3.gif) | | Trailer, Commentary, Featurette |
| Our
Comments: 2 Disc Special Edition |
|
| | | |
James Horner's score for Name of the Rose is excellent and is perfect in creating the brooding, dark religious atmosphere that permeates nearly every scene of the film.
Oscar winning ("Titanic") composer James Horner who scored Name Of the Rose, also scored many other films including "Aliens", "Krull", "Batteries Not Included", "Glory" and "Brainstorm".
«
Click here to add new music trivia for Name Of The Rose
Soundtrack Available:
Used On CD
| | | |
 NEW!
Use our radical Retro Assistant to show you the most accurate information for hard-to-find Name Of The Rose products anywhere on the web...
At a glance, you can now see all the Movie
releases, Soundtracks
or Movie
Posters, Scripts and Books ever available with online price comparisons, even if they're
rare, out of print or only available in another country!
Over 3 years in development and covering more than 10,000 of the
best products hand picked by our editors, we think it's the most fun and retro way to celebrate the era --and find what you
want.
It covers Name Of The Rose DVD,
VHS,
Blu-ray,
HD-DVD,
Downloads,
Soundtrack
CDs, Movie
Posters, Scripts, Books and more... Why not give
it a try...
The
80's Movies Rewind is proudly a spam-free
non-commercial site, written by movie fans... for movie fans.
If
you enjoy this site, please help to support us and keep us
POP UP & SPAM FREE by ordering your stuff through our services.
As you probably already know, we
are not a corporation, but just 80's fans like you...
| | |
 | | Recent
Additions |
March 3, 2008: Commando USA / UK Blu-ray Coming Soon.
February 28, 2008: Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Soundtrack Update.
Previous
additions
We're always updating and improving, so please and check back with us regularly...
|
| | |
