The Name of the Rose
1986 · Directed by Jean-Jacques Annaud
Original language: English
- drama
- thriller
- mystery
The story
14th-century Franciscan monk William of Baskerville and his young novice arrive at a conference to find that several monks have been murdered under mysterious circumstances. To solve the crimes, William must rise up against the Church's authority and fight the shadowy conspiracy of monastery monks using only his intelligence; which is considerable.
What it’s like
Cold stone and candlelit dark dominate this 1986 adaptation, with grey winter daylight spilling through high abbey windows and the warm orange of hearth fire and torch flame pooling against heavy brown wool habits. Annaud frames the medieval Italian monastery with wide, muddy exteriors and tight interiors, the library's stacked shelves and winding corridors creating a claustrophobic, labyrinthine texture. Sound is mostly plainchant, wind, rain, and the creak of wood, with a sparse, austere score that swells during moments of dread. The pace is measured and talky, built on conversation, deduction, and slow unease rather than action, and the tone is intelligent, wry, and quietly foreboding. Violence is sudden and brief, with a few bloody deaths and an inquisition sequence that is harrowing but not lingered on; there is some sexual content and a few stretches of grim, unsettling imagery. Its emotional core is the bond between a worldly, skeptical master and his earnest young apprentice, and the way faith and reason pull against each other. Made for viewers who enjoy atmospheric period mysteries, literary intrigue, and thoughtful historical drama.
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