The
movie
The Name of the Rose has been described as "a European
film on a Hollywood budget," which isn't a bad way to think of
this brooding, thoughtful film that's partly a murder mystery and
partly a musing on the human thirst for, and simultaneous fear of,
knowledge. Set in an exquisitely reproduced 14th century monastery,
and with meticulous attention to historical detail, The Name of
the Rose introduces us to William of Baskerville (Sean Connery),
a Franciscan monk who has come with his young pupil Adso (Christian
Slater) to an Italian monastery to participate in a doctrinal debate
between the Franciscans and the Benedictines. When he arrives,
however, William finds that something horrible is afoot. One monk has
already died – murdered by Satan, the monks believe – and
the death toll soon rises. William seeks to use the tools of reason
to uncover the truth, but the visiting Inquisitor Bernardo
Gui (F. Murray Abraham) takes a harsh view of such heresy.
The
Name of the Rose works hard to create an atmosphere of
brooding intensity and foreboding, and it comes off very effectively:
from the leering gargoyles that frighten Adso to the grim outlines of
the scriptorium building, from the pallor of the monks to the filthy
rags of the peasants, the film contains many little details that
combine to create a sense of oppression and doom hovering around the
abbey. Since the film is also very attentive to historical accuracy
in everything from costumes to sets, and certainly in the attitudes
and beliefs of the monks, the dark atmosphere never goes over the
top. Grim as it is, it's easy to believe that The Name of the Rose
shows us how dark the "Dark Ages" could really have been.
And
yet, we have a ray of light in the character of William, a humane and
literate man who is open-minded enough to see the Church's
persecution of "heresy" is misguided at best, openly cruel
and sadistic at worst. Connery does an excellent job here of
portraying William as a man ahead of his times, yet also of his
times: we can believe that it was men like him, passing on their
wisdom to younger men like Adso, who kept a tiny flame of knowledge
and reason alive through the collapse of civilization. William is
torn between a desire to champion the truth, and the sure knowledge
that to do so openly is to invite imprisonment, torture, and death;
he has a keen intelligence, yet admires a fellow Franciscan who
chides him for his sin of intellectual pride. We see William as a
hero, fighting for reason and the preservation of knowledge. Yet the
actual events of the story are more complex than that: at the end of
the film, has knowledge been preserved, or lost? Have the monks
benefited from his investigation, or suffered?
Running two hours and eleven minutes, The Name of the Rose
unfolds slowly; the character of Bernardo Gui doesn't even appear
until halfway through, though F. Murray Abraham's portrayal of the
arrogant Inquisitor is certainly memorable enough to consider him one
of the key characters. As we might expect from a film that adapts the
lengthy novel by Umberto Eco, The Name of the Rose expects
viewers to pay attention. It's never deliberately obscure, but
neither does it over-explain. With its secondary themes addressing
the abuse of power and wealth, the repression of any thoughts that
might challenge conventional beliefs, and the use of fear and
ignorance to govern the masses, The Name of the Rose may be
set in the Middle Ages, but it is a powerful illustration of how
little human nature changes over time.
The opening credits call the film "A palimpsest
of Umberto Eco's The Name of the Rose." A palimpsest
is a page of manuscript that has been written on several times, with
the earlier writing often faintly visible beneath the newer text; it
was a common practice in medieval monasteries, and often ended up
being the only way that some classical texts survived (quite
accidentally) to the modern day. It's quite a clever way to provide
attribution while also reminding us that the relationship between the
film and the original novel is not that of a direct translation or
copy.
The
DVD
The cover art makes the film look like a B-grade horror flick, but on
the bright side, Warner's DVD of The Name of the Rose comes in
a keepcase, in what is hopefully a new trend. There's no insert.
Video
The Name of the Rose appears in an anamorphically enhanced
widescreen transfer, at the film's original 1.85:1 aspect ratio. It's
not the pristine transfer we might have hoped for, but it's a
reasonable treatment of the 1986 film. (Time flies: that's nearly
twenty years ago as I write this.) A consistent level of noise
appears in the film, but perhaps because of the style of
cinematography used here, with its emphasis on misty, shadowy shots,
it's really only noticeable in shots with a lot of open sky. Fortunately the print is free of flaws or dirt. There's
a nice amount of texture and detail in the image, and only very minor
edge enhancement. In a film deliberately dominated by grays, blacks,
and browns, there's little use of color. As with many films of the
1970s and 1980s, there's a slight muting of the colors in general;
I'm not sure whether this is a stylistic trend, a result of the type
of the film used at the time, or the result of aging. Overall,
though, the subtleties of shading and tone in this limited palette
are handled well. Contrast is perhaps the one problematic area, as
it's heavier than it really needs to be, even for this very moody
piece. Still, the black levels are kept nicely black, so there's
never any graininess or washing-out of dark scenes, and I suspect
that most of the very dark appearance is deliberate in any case.
Audio
The remastered Dolby 5.1 soundtrack does a nice job of presenting an
attractive and immersive audio experience. Some of the dialogue is a
little tough to catch, when we have actors speaking quietly with
accents, but overall the actors' voices are captured clearly and with
a nicely natural sound. The film's brooding theme music, as well as
the in-scene music of the monks' choir, is handled well, and while
the surround channels don't get a whole lot of use, they're still
used effectively on several occasions.
Extras
The first special feature here is a nicely done audio commentary
track by director Jean-Jacques Annaud. He provides an interesting
series of comments about the choices he made in the film as well as
anecdotes from behind the scenes, and appears to be genuinely
enjoying the opportunity to revisit the film.
Next on tap is a German documentary called "The Abbey of Crime:
Umberto Eco's The Name of the Rose." This 43-minute piece
was evidently created while the film was in production, and is
essentially a promotional piece, though it has a few interesting
interview snippets with cast and crew, as well as author Umberto Eco.
English subtitles are provided by default, but they're optional.
One special feature that's more interesting than the title indicates
is "A Photo Video Journey with Jean-Jacques Annaud." It's
essentially a 16-minute extension of the audio commentary, as Annaud
looks through various photos from the shooting and comments on
various aspects of making the film.
Lastly, the theatrical trailer for the film is included. I was also
pleased to note the simple and easy-to-navigate menus.
Final
thoughts
The
Name of the Rose is a dark and richly textured film that does a
commendable job of capturing Umberto Eco's massive novel on the
screen. Blending an interesting mystery puzzle with a creepy and
authentic medieval setting, brooding music and cinematography, solid
performances from a stellar cast, and a thoughtful approach to the
story's themes about the search for knowledge, The Name of the
Rose is highly recommended.
Buy: