Name der Rose, Der (1986)

Director:

Jean-Jacques Annaud

Writers:

Umberto Eco (novel)
Andrew Birkin (screenplay) ...
(more)

Release Date:

24 September 1986 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Mystery | Thriller | Crime

Tagline:

Who, in the name of God, is getting away with murder?

Plot:

An intellectually nonconformist monk investigates a series of mysterious deaths in an isolated abbey.

Plot Keywords:

Corporeal Mortification | Sex Scene | Teenager Nudity | Ox Heart | Male Rear Nudity

Awards:

Won 2 BAFTA Film Awards. Another 14 wins & 2 nominations

Cast

Sean Connery	...	William of Baskerville
Christian Slater	...	Adso of Melk
Helmut Qualtinger	...	Remigio da Varagine
Elya Baskin	...	Severinus
Michael Lonsdale	...	The Abbot
Volker Prechtel	...	Malachia
Feodor Chaliapin Jr.	...	Jorge de Burgos
William Hickey	...	Ubertino da Casale
Michael Habeck	...	Berengar
Urs Althaus	...	Venantius
Valentina Vargas	...	The Girl
Ron Perlman	...	Salvatore
Leopoldo Trieste	...	Michele da Cesena
Franco Valobra	...	Jerome of Kaffa
Vernon Dobtcheff	...	Hugh of Newcastle
Donald O'Brien	...	Pietro d'Assisi (as Donal O'Brian)
Andrew Birkin	...	Cuthbert of Winchester
F. Murray Abraham	...	Bernardo Gui
Lucien Bodard	...	Cardinal Bertrand
Peter Berling	...	Jean d'Anneaux
Pete Lancaster	...	Bishop of Alborea
Dwight Weist	...	Voice of Adso as an Old Man (voice)
Franco Adducci	...	Monk
Niko Brücher	...	Monk
Aristide Caporale	...	Monk (as Aristide Caporali)
Fabio Carfora	...	Monk
Peter Clös	...	Monk
Mario Diano	...	Monk
Fabrizio Fontana	...	Monk
Rolando Fucili	...	Monk
Valerio Isidori	...	Monk
Luigi Leoni	...	Monk (as Luigi Leone)
Armando Marra	...	Monk
Maurizio Mauri	...	Monk
Ludger Pistor	...	Monk
Francesco Scali	...	Monk
Maria Tedeschi	...	Monk
Andrea Tilli	...	Monk
Ennio Lollainni	...	Swineherd
Emil Feist	...	Swineherd
Francesco Maselli	...	Swineherd
Renato Nebolini	...	Swineherd
Antonio Cetta	...	Peasant
Franco Covielleo	...	Peasant
Daniele Ferretti	...	Peasant
Sabatino Gennardo	...	Peasant
Luciano Invidia	...	Peasant
Mauro Leoni	...	Peasant
Massimiliano Scarpa	...	Peasant
Umberto Zuanelli	...	Peasant
Mark Bellinghaus	...	Jorge's Novice
David Furtwaengler	...	Novice (as David Furtwängler)
Patric Kreuzer	...	Novice (as Patrick Kreuzer)
Kim Rossi Stuart	...	Novice (as Kim Rossi-Stuart)
Lars Bodin-Jorgensen	...	Adelmo
Franco Diogene	...	Papal Envoy
Giordano Falzoni	...	Papal Envoy
Eckehard Koch	...	Papal Envoy
Gina Poli	...	Papal Envoy
Gianni Rizzo	...	Papal Envoy
Lothar Schoenbrodt	...	Papal Envoy (as Lothar Schönbrodt)
Vittorio Zarfati	...	Papal Envoy
Carlo Bianchino	...	Papal Guard
Eugenio Bonardi	...	Inquisition Guard
Pietro Ceccarelli	...	Inquisition Guard
Franco Marino	...	Inquisition Guard
Hans Schödel	...	Inquisition Guard
Peter Welz	...	Nero
Alberto Capone	...	Executioner
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Gaston Bonheur	...	Monk (uncredited)

Directed by
Jean-Jacques Annaud

Writing credits
Umberto Eco		(novel "Il nome della rosa")
Andrew Birkin		(screenplay) &
Gérard Brach		(screenplay) &
Howard Franklin		(screenplay) &
Alain Godard		(screenplay)
Jean-Jacques Annaud		uncredited

Produced by
Franco Cristaldi	....	co-producer
Jake Eberts	....	executive producer
Bernd Eichinger	....	producer
Alexandre Mnouchkine	....	co-producer
Bernd Schaefers	....	producer
Thomas Schühly	....	executive producer
Herman Weigel	....	associate producer

Original Music by
James Horner

Cinematography by
Tonino Delli Colli

Film Editing by
Jane Seitz

Casting by
Gianni Arduini
Dominique Besnehard
Celestia Fox
David Rubin
Sabine Schroth
Lynn Stalmaster

Production Design by
Dante Ferretti

Art Direction by
Toni Lüdi

Set Decoration by
Francesca Lo Schiavo

Costume Design by
Gabriella Pescucci

Makeup Department
Klaus Börmert	....	special makeup effects artist (as Klaus Boerrnert)
Renato Francola	....	special makeup effects artist
Ilona Herman	....	makeup artist: Mr. Connery
Frederike Reimer	....	makeup artist
Gerhard Reitinger	....	makeup artist
Hans Jürgen Schmelzle	....	makeup artist
Maurizio Silvi	....	special makeup effects artist
Hasso von Hugo	....	supervising makeup artist

Production Management
Franco Caduti	....	production manager
Marco Giannoni	....	unit manager

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Gianni Arduini	....	first assistant director
Enrico Marrari	....	assistant director (as Andrea Marrari)
Laura Petrella	....	assistant director (as Laura Petrella-Elek)
Margot Rothkirch	....	second assistant director
Victor Tourjansky	....	first assistant director

Art Department
Laurence Duval Annaud	....	storyboard supervisor
Luigi Sergianni	....	construction manager
Bruno Tempera	....	property master
Enki Bilal	....	graphic researcher (uncredited)

Sound Department
Milan Bor	....	sound mixer
Friedrich M. Dosch	....	foley editor
Heiner Harss	....	foley artist
Norbert Herzner	....	supervising sound editor

Stunts
Sergio Mioni	....	stunt coordinator
Stefano Maria Mioni	....	stunt double
Angelo Ragusa	....	stunts

Camera and Electrical Department
Eraldo Barbona	....	grip
Robert Willoughby	....	special still photographer (uncredited)

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Alberto Spiazzi	....	assistant costume designer

Music Department
Robert Hathaway	....	music editor
Harry Schnitzler	....	music recording engineer

Other crew
Laurence Duval Annaud	....	script supervisor
Padre Angelo Arpa	....	religious advisor
Jean-Yves Asselin	....	location manager
Stephan Beringer	....	assistant: Mr. Connery
Christopher Cruise	....	dialogue director
Christopher Cruise	....	script advisor
Roy Everson	....	stand-in: Mr. Connery
Walter Fiordelmondo	....	production assistant
Anna Gross	....	production executive
Jacques Le Goff	....	historical advisor
Ian Underwood	....	synthesizer programmer
Frans J. Afman	....	financial consultant (uncredited)

Production Companies

• Cristaldifilm
• France 3 Cinéma
• Les Films Ariane
• Neue Constantin Film
• Rai Uno Radiotelevisione Italiana
• Zweites Deutsches Fernsehen (ZDF)

Distributors

• Acteurs Auteurs Associés (AAA) (1986) (France) (theatrical)
• Adyton International (2000) (Poland) (TV)
• Aquarius TV (2001) (Greece) (TV)
• Constantin Film (Germany)
• Sandrew Film & Teater (1986) (Sweden) (theatrical)
• Sandrew Metronome (2001) (Denmark) (DVD)
• Transmundo Films (Argentina)
• Transmundo Home Video (THV) (Argentina) (video)
• Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation (USA)
• Warner Home Video (2006) (UK) (DVD)
• Warner Home Video (2004) (USA) (DVD)

Other Companies

• Arriflex  camera equipment provided by
• Euro-Titres  titles
• Kodak  film stock
• L.C.P. di Pompei  shoes

Also Known As:

Nom de la rose, Le (France)
Nome della rosa, Il (Italy)
The Name of the Rose (USA)

Runtime:

130 min

Country:

France | Italy | West Germany

Language:

English | Latin

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

70 mm 6-Track (70 mm prints) | Dolby (35 mm prints)

Certification:

Canada:R (Nova Scotia/Ontario) | Iceland:14 | Spain:13 | Portugal:M/12 | Argentina:16 | Canada:13+ (Quebec) | Finland:K-16 | France:U | Netherlands:16 | Norway:15 | Singapore:M18 | Sweden:15 | UK:18 | USA:R | West Germany:16 | Canada:PA (Manitoba) | Australia:M

Filming Locations:

Abruzzo, Italy

Company:

Cristaldifilm

Trivia:

The language Bernardo Gui's guards are speaking is Swiss German. They seem to be mercenaries in foreign service - a common habit of Swiss soldiers in the Middle Ages.

Goofs:

Audio/visual unsynchronized: When the monks proceed towards the final burning of their prisoners at the stake, they chant. You can see a few monks moving their lips totally unsynchronized.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Voice of Adso as an Old Man: Having reached the end of my poor sinner's life, my hair now white, I prepare to leave on this parchment my testimony as to the wondrous and terrible events that I witnessed in my youth, towards the end of the year of our Lord 1327. May God grant me the wisdom and grace to be the faithful chronicler of the happenings that took place in a remote abbey in the dark north of Italy. An abbey whose name it seems, even now, pious and prudent to omit.

Movie Connections:

Spoofed in "Neighbours: The Shame of the Rose (#1.4968)" (2006)

Criminally underrated by some, hailed as a masterwork by others. Who's right? The "masterwork" campaigners, of course!

'Variety' got it completely wrong when they called this film "sorrowfully mediocre" and "sluggishly staged". For in all honesty The Name of the Rose is one of the greatest films of the '80s, and a film that grows in greatness every time you revisit it. Based on a major bestselling novel by Umberto Eco, the film is an excellent murder mystery further heightened by its authentic period trappings and a clutch of tremendous performances.

Brother William of Baskerville (Sean Connery) and his young apprentice Adso (Christian Slater) are monks who arrive in a 14th Century monastery having been summoned for a religious conference. Soon after their arrival, a series of bloodthirsty murders take place and the friars still alive begin to fear that either the Apocalypse is upon them, or a highly disturbed individual is out to bump them off. Brother William has a penchant for sleuthing, so he probes into the mysterious deaths and discovers that each victim had laid his eyes upon a Greek manuscript hidden deep within the interior of the monastery. He gradually realises that the killer must be targeting those who know of the book's existence, but just as he is about to solve the killings an inquisitor (F. Murray Abraham) arrives and tries to discredit Brother William's theories, preferring to blame the crimes on non-existent heretics and satanists.

The film is very realistic in every way - the cold, uncomfortable monastery; the graphic murders; grotesque and disfigured characters; a startlingly explicit sex scene; authentic-sounding dialogue; excellent indoor and outdoor locations; and well-researched costume designs. Furthermore, it is a superbly paced film, never in too great a hurry to unravel but never so slow that it becomes a plod. Connery is great as the hero, surpassed only by Abraham in a breathtaking role as Bernardo Gui the inquisitor, and Slater does well considering his tender age as the loyal apprentice. Both Roy Scheider and Michael Caine were short-listed for the Connery role, but I don't see how either actor could've done better with the character. Jean Jacques Annaud directs outstandingly, capturing every shadow, every expression and every plot piece with the eye that only a director obsessed with his material possibly can. The Name of the Rose makes the top #50 of the 1980s without question.