Review: Sean Connery In Medieval Mystery THE NAME OF THE ROSE
Jean-Jacques Annaud’s The Name Of The Rose is a richly textured medieval mystery where Sean Connery’s Franciscan friar attempts to solve a series of murders in an Italian monastery. Released in 1986, this adaptation of Umberto Eco’s best selling novel is perfectly realised, loaded with a selection of great faces which perfectly capture a sense of time and place. The film flopped in the U.S., where it grossed a little over $7 million, however the rest of the world was more susceptible to its charms and the film ultimately banked over $77 million globally. It’s a fascinating thriller, a mainstream movie with a big star, crafted with a European sensibility.
Released between Highlander and The Untouchables during Connery’s 1980s renaissance, The Name Of The Rose is a mystery-thriller in the mould of Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes tales. It’s surely no coincidence that Connery’s character is named William of Baskerville (as in The Hound Of The Baskervilles) and like Holmes, he also has a less knowledgeable sidekick (and narrator), this time in the form of Christian Slater’s Adso. I also wouldn’t be too surprised if Dan Brown took a little inspiration from the film (and Umberto Eco of course) when writing The Da Vinci Code. The pair move around the dark and dank corridors of the abbey, searching for clues among the atmospheric milieu.
What Makes The Name Of The Rose so captivating is the earthiness of the whole endeavour. You can feel the cold and the mud and smell the manure and smoke. This is a lived-in film – and you can almost understand why it was shunned by mainstream American audiences when it came out in 1986 – after all, this was the year where Tony Scott’s slick and stylish Top Gun topped the box office. I mentioned previously that this is a film loaded with a selection of great faces – and I don’t just mean great actors (although it certainly has plenty of those). The casting in The Name Of The Rose is exceptional – the likes of F. Murray Abraham, William Hickey, Michael Lonsdale and Ron Perlman all look like they could be found living within the confines of a 14th-century Italian abbey. As for Sean Connery – well he’s playing Sean Connery in Franciscan friar mode and he’s as charismatic and engaging as you’d expect him to be. He’s a one of a kind movie star and he’s great here. Now, you could argue that Christian Slater is miscast as Connery’s young novice and you may be right but I’m willing to let that slide because the rest of the casting in The Name Of The Rose is so on-point.
Deftly constructed by Jean-Jacques Annaud, The Name Of The Rose is an expertly crafted offbeat thriller. It eschews the obvious and delivers something that still feels fresh – no mean feat for a 40 year old film.
Special Features
Second Sight’s release of The Name of The Rose is impressively presented. You get a pair of commentaries, one from director Jean-Jacques Annaud and another from film critic James Marsh. The disc also comes with interviews with Christian Slater, Ron Perlman, writer Andrew Birkin and Annaud. These are all interesting and engaging chats with plenty of tidbits and behind the scenes tales of how the film came to be. What stands out is how proud everyone still is about the film. The set is rounded out by a vintage featurette on the making of the film.
A great package for a film that could very easily have been overlooked.
