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The Name Of The Rose (1986)
Front Cover Actor
Sean Connery William of Baskerville
Christian Slater Adso of Melk
F. Murray Abraham Bernardo Gui
Elya Baskin Severinus
Ron Perlman Salvatore
Feodor Chaliapin, Jr. Jorge de Burgos
William Hickey Ubertino de Casale
Volker Prechtel Malachia
Helmut Qualtinger
Michael Lonsdale
Feodor Chaliapin Jr.
Michael Habeck
Urs Althaus
Movie Details
Genre Crime; Drama; Mystery; Thriller
Director Jean-Jacques Annaud
Producer Bernd Eichinger
Writer Umberto Eco; Andrew Birkin
Studio Warner Bros.
Language English
Audience Rating R (Restricted)
Running Time 130 mins
Country France
Color Color
Plot
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

Personal Details
Seen It Yes
Index 844
Collection Status In Collection
Location Home
Owner AB
Links Amazon US
Amazon UK
Amazon Fr
User Lookup 1 DivX6
User Text 1 En Fr
Product Details
Format DVD
Region 2
Screen Ratio 1.85:1
UPC (Barcode) 3384445007426
Release Date 06/07/2004
Subtitles English; French; Spanish
Audio Tracks English Dolby Digital 5.1
Nr of Disks/Tapes 2