The Name of the Rose

Only a limited number of films that I watched during my youth managed to leave an everlasting impression on me, but Jean-Jacques Annaud's adaptation of Umberto Eco's "The Name of the Rose" is one of them. Even though we are 25 years later, and I've seen perhaps 15.000 films since then, I still remember practically every detail of that wondrously grim and mysterious film in which creepy monks were being killed off in a remote and petrifying old monastery. Although I tried a couple of times, I never found the courage to actually read Eco's source novel. It's just too thick, sorry. The 1986-masterpiece is urgently due for a re-watch, but instead I stumbled upon this Italian/German mini-series that allegedly was a lifelong dream-project for actor and producer John Turturro to realize. Come to think of it, it's actually quite surprising that it took more than 30 years for someone to make a new version! Seeing that Annaud's film is "only" a little over two hours long, I must assume that it threw a massive amount of Eco's book-content overboard. With 8 episodes of approximately 1 hour each, I'm sad to confess that "Il Nome Della Rosa" is too long and quite often balancing on the verge of boring. Also, I keep reading that the script differs immensely from the book, at least for what concerns the numerous sub plots surrounding the pivot murder mystery.

Turturro is great, but Sean Connery's charismatic image remains stuck in my brain as the one and only William of Baskerville; - wise Franciscan friar and Sherlock Holmes ahead-of-time. All the other, nevertheless adequate, actors can't even begin to measure themselves against the quality performances of the fantastic actors in the 1986 film, like F. Murray Abraham, Ron Perlman, Michael Lonsdale or William Hickey. The sole performance I rate higher comes from the fairly unknown Damian Hardung, who's portrayal of young novice Adso Von Melk is more authentic and convincing than Christian Slater's role.

Or, perhaps I just ought to stop comparing this with youth's nostalgia and simply acknowledge the multiple great aspects of this prestigious mini-series. The production values, for instance, are deeply impressive. The 14th century set-pieces, costumes and relics are astounding. Also, the history lessons processed into the screenplay are far more educational and compelling than anything you'll ever learn in school, and Tchéky Karyo has a brilliant supportive role as the megalomaniac Pope Giovanni XXII. If there's anything I firmly believe, it is that medieval Popes were exactly as deplorable and vile as him.

A lot of money has been spent on this production, and it shows. John Turturro is great, as always, and the supporting cast includes stalwarts such as Sebastian Koch, Rupert Everett, and Michael Emerson. But you might want to hold off on making the popcorn. The Name of the Rose is a big book, but Jean-Jacques Annaud showed us that it's possible to present it on film in just a couple of hours or so; nevertheless, this series has been expanded to 8 one-hour episodes. You might expect the producers would want to explore plot points from the book in greater detail, but that hasn't really happened. Instead the writers have been busy updating Eco's masterpiece to speak more directly to contemporary issues. In the first two episodes (all I've seen of the series), you can tick off feminism, immigration, torture, gay rights--you name it (perhaps your time would be better spent at the microwave after all). When it focuses on Eco's story, the series can be riveting, and I'm eager to learn more about the library. So what if Damian Hardung as Adso of Melk seems to belong to a different century?--that was also the impression I had of Christian Slater as Adso in Annaud's 1986 film, and it didn't ruin the story for me. John Turturro, on the other hand, is perfect as William of Baskerville, even if we won't be forgetting Sean Connery right away, and there's nary a hint of a Brooklyn accent in his delivery. So I guess I'm in for the long haul.

Italian/German co-production with interesting and suspenseful screenplay by Andrea Porporati, Nigel Williams, John Turturro, director Giacomo Battiato himself and based on novel "Il Nome Della Rosa" by Umberto Eco. The novel has sold over 50 million copies worldwide, becoming one of the best-selling books ever published. It is a historical murder mystery set in an Italian monastery in the year 1327, and an intellectual mystery combining semiotics in fiction, biblical analysis, medieval studies, literary theory and Roger Bacon's scientific method. Set in 1327 , when after a strange death in a Medieval Abbey, the Benedictine monks are convinced that the four riders of apocalypse are coming ; many of the monks fear that there can be only an evil, supernatural explanation. Our two protagonists (John Turturro, Damian Hardung) arrive at a Benedictine abbey in Northern Italy to attend a theological disputation. The abbey is being used as neutral ground in a dispute between Pope John XXII and the Franciscans over the question of apostolic poverty. The monks of the abbey have recently been shaken by the suspicious death of one of their brothers, Adelmo of Otranto, and the abbot asks William (a former inquisitor) to investigate the incident. During his inquiries, William has a debate with one of the oldest monks in the abbey, Jorge of Burgos, about the permissibility of laughter, which Jorge regards as a threat to God's established order. The abbey is in fear over the recent death of one of their young monks, a brilliant illustrator who was found killed by an impact at the base of a cliff outside. With the Abbey to play host to a council on the Franciscan's Order's belief that the Church should rid itself of wealth, William of Baskerville (John Turturro), the enlightened friar and his young apprentice Adso da Melk (Damian Hardung) investigate a series of mysterious deaths at the mysterious abbey risking the wrath of a powerful Inquisitor. The Abbot (Michael Emerson) asks William to help solve the mystery as he is known to be a man of great intellect and a former investigator for the inquisition. As William is asked to assist in determining the cause of the untimely death. Meanwhile , several murders happen and along the way the young monk Adso finds a mysterious girl (Greta Scarano). At the request of Pope John XXII (Tchéky Karyo) - whose intention is to eliminate the Franciscan order together with his ideal of poverty and the heretical religious sect of the ¨Dulcinos¨- the General Inquisitor (Rupert Everett) arrives at the Abbey and things go wrong. A Medieval Murder Mystery !. Who, in the name of God, is getting away with murder?. A story of unholy murder !. They believed in God, but traded with the Devil !.

This is an acceptable television rendition of Umberto Eco's bestseller and the series took time of preparation. The TV series contains thrills, suspense , mystery , sexual scenes , intriguing issues, Impressively spectacular production design and results to be quite entertaining. Television adaptation of Umberto Eco's novel 'The Name of the Rose' who previously was successful in 1986 by Jean-Jacques Annaud with Sean Conney and F. Murray Abraham. The series deals with a valuable lost book and the relentless search to find it; through the motif of this lost and possibly suppressed book which might have aestheticized the farcical, the unheroic and the skeptical, it also makes an ironically slanted plea for tolerance and against dogmatic or self-sufficient metaphysical truths - an angle which reaches the surface in the final epidodes. The mystery revolves around the abbey library, situated in a fortified tower-the aedificium that has 4 towers. This structure has three floors-the ground floor contains the kitchen and refectory, the first floor a scriptorium, and the top floor is occupied by the library. This has a total of fifty-six rooms. Each room has a scroll containing a verse from the Book of Revelation. The two lower floors are open to all, while only the librarian may enter the last. A catalogue of books is kept in the scriptorium, where manuscripts are read and copied. A monk who wishes to read a book would send a request to the librarian, who, if he thought the request justified, would bring it to the scriptorium. Finally, the library is in the form of a labyrinth, whose secret only the librarian and the assistant librarian know. It displays very fine acting by John Turturro as an intellectually nonconformist and respected Franciscan monk investigating a series of mysterious deaths in an isolated abbey. Turturro as a monkish Sherlock Holmes trying to solve a series of murders , he is fun to watch. Good support cast plenty of familiar faces (mostly Italian and German actors), such as Damian Hardung, Greta Scarano, Fabrizio Bentivoglio, Richard Sammel, James Cosmo, Elya Baskin and special mention for Rupert Everett as the feared Inquisitor and Michael Emerson as the suspect Abbot.

Nowadays, the only place where manuscripts and books are made with the same techniques and materials depicted in the movie is the abbey of Praglia on Padua (Veneto, Italy); it takes six months to a year to create a single page. Dialogues in medieval Occitan language have been translated and supervised by a team of experts from the University of Salerno.

It contains colorful and luxurious cinematography by John Conroy, filmed on various locations in three different Italian regions: Lazio, Abruzzo and Umbria. As well as suspenseful and spiritual musical score by composer Volker Bertelmann. The series was finely directed by Giacomo Battiato, a specialist on accurate biopic , as he directed autobiography stories about Giovane Casanova , Benvenuto Cellini and Stradivari. The Name of the Rose(2019) rating: 6.5/10. Better than average.

After watching the first episode I was extremely disappointed. Sure the costumes were wonderful and helpful in providing atmosphere but the writers decisions left me bored and disinterested. Umberto Eco's story was both pictorial and gripping yet the writers in this mess dilute it to such an extent that I kept thinking that there was something else I should be doing. Even when they strictly stick to the word's spoken by William of Baskerville and Adso it feels forced and artificial. As far as I'm concerned this conception of The Name of the Rose is mostly a fail.

The book and the movie are masterpieces. This serie spoils the original story by deviating from its storyline and not in a better way but rather in a french way( without inner purpose and in a life random but not clever way) maybe to prove the story can last for a while! Even the tricks that Baskerville used to elucidate mysteries and riddles have been Changed! Why? To gain independence from the movie? To serve the producer ego! The result is a little bit disappointing. You should have been more smart than Umberto Echo which is not needed and really hard. I'd rather watch again the movie instead! Which I did!