The Name of the Rose

By Juliëtte de Valk

Introduction

Il nome della rosa, better known as The Name of the Rose, is the masterpiece of Italian writer Umberto Eco. Eco was born in 1932 Alessandria and died recently in Milan in 2016. The book of more than five hundred pages was released in 1980. It was this bestseller through which Eco became a famous writer. French director Jean-Jacques Annaud took the challenge of adapting it to film. The movie takes place in November of 1327, deep in the late Middle Ages, where the Franciscan brother William of Baskerville has the tough job of debating a group of Benedictine monks, fellow Franciscan brothers, and delegates of the Pope in Avignon. Upon arriving at Avignon, William hears from the abbot about the mysterious death of one of the Benedictine novices and must find out what happened. We see both of these storylines through the eyes of the young, Benedictine novice Adso of Melk, William's sidekick.

While watching the film, the viewer finds themselves in a remarkable combination of being part of a Sherlock Holmes story and playing medieval Cluedo at the same time. Along with William of Baskerville, the viewer will find out step-by-step who committed the mysterious murders at the Benedictine abbey. The inquisition itself appears as a thread throughout the story, although it is only shown explicitly in a couple of scenes. While watching the movie, the viewer finds that the scenes which depict the inquisition are not as historically accurate as one would hope.

Portrayal

Although the novel's main emphasis lies on the mysterious murders, the inquisition is still important. And it is quite an image that is sketched in this movie: if we look at the inquisition in The Rose they pretend that there is already a centralized institution at that time, called 'the Holy Inquisition'. But the way the term 'Holy Inquisition' is used in the film is not historically accurate, for, as Hunt Janin explains, during the 'heyday of the medieval era' there was not yet a single, centralized authority which we could label as 'the Inquisition'.¹ In the film, this 'Holy Inquisition' consists of wealthy, arrogant-looking clerics who do their work subjectively, and who are led by personal motivations and emotions. The representative of this 'Holy Inquisition' is inquisitor Bernard Gui. He was a historical figure that really existed. And in the film, he does not hesitate to tackle the heretics he encounters.

In the movie, three characters are eventually accused of heresy: the cellarer Remigio,² his right-hand Salvatore and 'the village girl'.³ There is one specific scene, about eight minutes long, in which we can see how the accused are all found guilty. In a way, the scene is a bit boring for there is a lot of talking and not much action. Bernard Gui shines in this scene though, knowing that he has all the power to do whatever he wants. He looks even more arrogant because the shots are taken from a low angle. He is arrogant for a reason: he uses his power to accuse all three characters of heresy and execute them at the stake within twenty-four hours without a fair, legal trial. No witnesses are called. Even one of the defendants is not heard. The inquisitor himself sentences the accused to death and guides them to the stake.

The main image depicted here is one of inquisitors who search for reasons to punish people and use the threat of torture to make them confess. The way torture is shown in this movie makes it seem as if it is a common practice, done with the goal of making the defendant confess. Torture was not regarded as a mode of punishment, as controversial as this may sound, but purely as a means of eliciting the truth. As J. Jeremy Wisnewski explains, "Inquisitors would not accept confessions as valid if they were made during torture sessions, since they had been obtained under terrible pressure".⁴ In The Rose, this image of torture being a main part of the inquisition is even more emphasized and dramatized the moment Bernard Gui asks the guards to show Remigio the instruments in order to coerce him to confess to the murders. This could have been the case, historically speaking, for the overall goal of the inquisitor was not to punish people but to encourage them to repent.⁵ Inquisitors did these things to bring people back on track.

During one of the last scenes, we see that all three defendants are taken to the stake, which stands in front of the abbey. The girl is eventually freed by the people from the village and is able to escape. Burning at the stake as portrayed in the movie, however, is not historically accurate. The inquisitor did not have the power to sentence a heretic to death by himself. Instead, he must hand over the accused to the secular authorities.⁶ The final scene, when Bernard Gui accuses the three persons of being heretics and burns them at the stake by himself, is tantalising, but not at all historically accurate.

Cultural Context

The main goal of Jean-Jacques Annaud was to make a film that did as much justice as possible to Eco's novel. It was not out of protest or as a reaction. He just wanted, and still wants, to make films which are real and authentic. This is the reason he takes such a long time to prepare before he starts shooting each film, as he has done with any film he has directed so far.

We can say, though, that the way the inquisition is portrayed does something to the image people have of 'the Church'. The way the one is pictured affects the image one has of the other because the inquisition and the Church are directly related. So, seeing inquisitor Bernard Gui (who actually existed) makes it seem as if the Church was only searching for heretics, punishing people even when it is not fair. Maybe people who saw the film at release were more open to these kinds of coloured, dramatized pictures because fewer people felt a connection with the Church.

Message

Maybe we should not ask ourselves what kind of message Jean-Jacques Annaud would like to ask his audience, but instead, we should ask Umberto Eco. I think Eco wanted to 'play' with some contradictory themes, but he also did his best to be as historically accurate as possible. He did a remarkable job, using all his knowledge and historical information. Eco created a story with so many details, characters, historical events, and actions. We must give him credit for that.

One major theme which comes to the forefront while watching this movie is 'order versus chaos'. William of Baskerville goes to the abbey to talk with his fellow Benedictines, Franciscans, and the delegates of the pope, wanting to talk about the tensions between the two monastic groups. Upon arrival, William becomes Sherlock Holmes himself when he takes on the task of determining who committed these mysterious murders. Monasteries seem like a place of rest, order, and structure. However, in this particular abbey, quite a bit of chaos happens. There are murders, crimes, thefts, lost goods, and monks falling in love. It is a lot of chaos for a place, especially a place one would choose to live if one preferred a life of solitude and nothing to distract oneself from God.

The themes of 'rich' and 'poor' also play an important role. The clergy, pictured as rich and powerful, stand in front of the poor. Not only are the villagers depicted as poor in some scenes, but so are the monks living in poverty. They all are part of the same Church, although the clergy is a totally different group with a whole different kind of lifestyle. It also has a lot to do with 'power'; the Church has the power to punish and to decide what is right and what is wrong. The lay people just follow the orders.

Conclusion

Although we must give Annaud credit for depicting the Medieval period as authentically and accurately as possible, it is not possible to say he depicts the inquisition in a historically accurate way. This is especially apparent when looking at the way Bernard Gui is portrayed and the way he acts as an inquisitor. The way in which the trials take place and the burning at the stake both feed the already popular idea that the inquisition was all about punishing people and burning heretics. It does not give the viewer insight into more historically accurate information about this particular theme which has had such a great impact on history.

It seems to me that the inquisition is used in The Rose as an instrument to create a stage which lets the fictive character William of Baskerville and the non-fictive inquisitor Bernard Gui confront each other. The inquisition seems the perfect theme to increase the pressure and makes the tension more tangible throughout the film.

Overall, we can say that the way the inquisition is imagined makes it look as if the Church in the Middle Ages focused on punishment in their attempt to reduce heresy instead of focusing on correction and discipline. The viewer takes for granted the image of the inquisition because the focus is not on accurately depicting the inquisition, even though the inquisition is an important part of the film.

Footnotes

¹ Hunt Janin, Medieval Justice: Cases and Laws in France, England and Germany, 500-1500 (Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers, 2004), 96. 
² Editor's Note: A "cellarer" was a person who took care of storage rooms in the Medieval period. These rooms usually held food and drinks, though they could have stored other, non-food items as well.
³ The girl comes to the abbey now and then to give her body in exchange for food. She remains unnamed in both the book and film.
⁴ J. Jeremy Wisnewski, Understanding Torture (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2010), 34.
⁵ Janin, Medieval Justice, 93.
⁶ Wisnewski, Understanding Torture, 33.

Bibliography

• Eco, Umberto. De Naam van de Roos. Amsterdam: Prometheus, 2017.
• Janin, Hunt. Medieval Justice: Cases and Laws in France, England and Germany, 500-1500. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company, Inc., 2004.
• Wisnewski, J. Jeremy. Understanding Torture. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2010.

All material from The Name of the Rose: © Twentieth Century Fox, 1986.