The Name of the Rose
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Movie Reviews of The Name of the Rose
Movie Review: Name fo the Rose
Summary: 5 Stars
A delightful presentation of mystery and murder set in the very real cesspool that was the time of the Inquisition. Connery and F. Murray Abraham *are* their respective parts. Movie Review: Overlooked Gem
Summary: 5 Stars
In my opinion, this was a great adaptation of Eco's masterpiece. I am one of those quirky Eco fans out there, that loved the ending of this film much better than the ending of the book. The atmosphere, the photography, the brilliant dialogue of the characters, and the beautifully constructed soundtrack by James Horner made this a very surreal view of the Middle Ages, like no other film has ever been able to demonstrate to me. Sean Connery is brilliant in his role as William of Baskerville and Christian Slater, as his young novice, form a picture perfect duo in a world of the Inquisition and it's suppresion of knowledge. This film is a must for anyone that is interested in the Middle Ages. The dialogue has several lines that will leave you pondering on them long after you have seen the film. Great movie, one of the overlooked gems of the time. Movie Review: Must have in your DVD collection
Summary: 5 Stars
one of Sean Connery's first classic. great period movie. one of my favorite movies ever!!Movie Review: Dull and disappointing adaptation of Eco's masterpiece
Summary: 1 Stars
A dull and disappointing adaptation of Umberto Eco's masterpiece by the mediocre French director, Jean-Jacques Annaud. If you have only seen the movie, you will have no idea of the richness of Eco's novel. The movie only deals with the murder mystery (and it does this poorly) leaving aside all the philosophical debates and the esoteric minutiae that made the novel so compelling. The reconstruction of the era makes it look grim and depressing, and I don't think that was the feeling in the book. It's hard to think of a novel so poorly translated to the screen as this one (Reportedly, Eco is of the same opinion, and this is why he hasn't let other books of him be filmed). Connery (a fine actor) is indifferent here, while a young Christian Slater is totally out of cast as Adso (he has a "what the heck am I doing here" look). Skip the movie and read the book.Movie Review: A Good Effort And Mostly An Impressive Result
Summary: 4 Stars
There's probably no way to flawlessly translate the subtle and layered plot of Umberto Eco's globally best selling novel onto the medium of film, but the makers of this atmospheric movie did their best and I think overall did a good job: certainly a better job than they are too often accused of doing. I've heard some stinging criticisms of this film that I don't think applies. Also having previously only seen The Name of the Rose on VHS, I can't express how vast an improvement it is to watch this in widescreen format on DVD.
Sean Connery is worth seeing in almost anything, but the self-containment of his powerful charisma is masterful to witness as he brings the humbly arrogant genius of the fourteenth-century William of Baskerville to life. Likewise a young Christian Slater, several years before his one-time A-list fame, is interesting and capable as the eventual author of the narrative, Adso. Sadly F. Murray Abraham, an actor I can't help but like in other roles, is not a convincing Bernardo Gui, and he plays this character in a way that makes him nothing like he was as written by the author, and I found this a glaring weakness in the film.
Visually The Name of the Rose scores full marks. There is brutality here to this film that challenges the modern mind in ways few motion pictures set in this period do (the close-up of the butchering of a hog for the abbey's kitchens is one example) and adds a veneer of realism that aids the suspension of disbelief. The set designers did a fairly adept job of conveying the time and place of Eco's sumptuously imagined Medieval Italian world to viewers of our era, and the underlying meaning of the message below the solution to the mystery of the murders of monks was not lost in the screenplay.
The real weakness in this production and the reason it loses a star in my opinion relates to the needless and puzzling divergence from Eco's plot in ways that were neither necessary or readily explicable. The Name of the Rose as filmed here is sound moviemaking and until someone someday shoots a longer, Masterpiece Theater type of adaptation, it not only has to do for now, but it is a worthy depiction of one of the best novels of the last quarter of the twentieth century.