Atmospheric, dark, beautiful, horrific - all this and a tremendous cast too!
Although only an echo (sorry about the pun!) of Eco's novel, the film fulfills its promise as a stylish medieval whodunnit, complete with a Beautiful Young Monk (Slater), a Clever Monk With a Mysterious Past (Connery) and a plethora of Ugly Monks who are the suspects in this tale of religious heresies and righteous murder.
Connery and Slater are adequate, Vargas is appropriately nubile, and the rest of the cast are a revelation, especially Ron Perlman as the gibbering, multi-lingual hunchback Salvatore, whose bobbing, shambling figure haunts the abbey like a living gargoyle. Why he wasn't nominated for an award I'll never know ...
Anyway - a tremendous movie, well worth a look, even if you don't like historical films. It's great! But read the book first if you can...
Although only an echo (sorry about the pun!) of Eco's novel, the film fulfills its promise as a stylish medieval whodunnit, complete with a Beautiful Young Monk (Slater), a Clever Monk With a Mysterious Past (Connery) and a plethora of Ugly Monks who are the suspects in this tale of religious heresies and righteous murder.
Connery and Slater are adequate, Vargas is appropriately nubile, and the rest of the cast are a revelation, especially Ron Perlman as the gibbering, multi-lingual hunchback Salvatore, whose bobbing, shambling figure haunts the abbey like a living gargoyle. Why he wasn't nominated for an award I'll never know ...
Anyway - a tremendous movie, well worth a look, even if you don't like historical films. It's great! But read the book first if you can...