The Name of the Rose

A mysterious murder, conspiracies, secrets, disturbing relationships. Terror has taken hold of a gloomy monastery that is about to become a silent, solemn witness to a great theological disputation. The fate of the debate is in peril, an enigmatic evil lurks in the shadows, and the God – to whom all the protagonists have supposedly dedicated their lives – has abandoned his own worshippers. The Name of the Rose is one of those iconic films that seems to have always been a part of our culture. This at once epic and intimate picture has enthralled successive generations of both die-hard cinema goers and film buffs looking for adrenaline, excitement, and suspense. Jean-Jacques Annaud masterfully translates Umberto Eco’s novel to the screen, preserving its fascinating subject matter and philosophical depth in the format of an electrifying historical detective story. The screening at Timeless Film Festival Warsaw is a perfect opportunity to see how this classic piece of cinema has coped with the passage of time, and how it compares with more recent films, that often owe a lot to its legacy.

Jakub Marciniak

Jean-Jacques Annaud (born 1943) is a French director known for his epic storytelling, meticulous historical detail, and striking visual style. He won an Oscar for his debut Black and White in Color (1976) and gained worldwide fame with The Name of the Rose (1986), The Lover (1992), and Seven Years in Tibet (1997). His films, including Enemy at the Gates (2001), blend spectacle with reflections on history and human nature. He often explores the relationship between man and nature, as seen in The Bear (1988) and Two Brothers (2004). His cinema is defined by visual mastery, emotional depth, and grand storytelling, with notable recent works like Wolf Totem (2015) and Notre-Dame on Fire (2022).