The Name of the Rose

Having reached the end of my poor sinner's life...

...my hair now white...

...I prepare to leave, on this parchment, my testimony...

...as to the wondrous and terrible events that I witnessed in my youth...

...towards the end of the year of our Lord, 1327.

May God grant me the wisdom and grace...

...to be the faithful chronicler of the happenings that took place...

...in a remote abbey in the dark north of Italy.

An abbey whose name it seems even now...

...pious and prudent to omit.

May my hand not tremble now that I start to relive the past...

...and revive the feelings of uneasiness that oppressed my heart...

...as we entered the battlements.

Should we tell him?

No.

He will look in the wrong places.

But...

...what if he should learn it of his own accord?

You overestimate his talents, my lord abbot.

There is only one authority capable of investigating such matters.

The Holy Inquisition.

What is your opinion, Venerable Jorge?

Dear brethren...

...I leave such worldly matters to younger men.

Adso.

Yes, master? In order to command nature...

...one must first learn to obey it.

Return to the forecourts, get the edificium on your left...

...enter the quadrangle on your right, you'll find the place you need.

Behind the third arch.

But you told me you'd never been to this abbey.

When we arrived, I saw a brother making for the spot in some haste.

I noticed, however, that he emerged more slowly...

...with an air of contentment.

Thank you, master.

On behalf of the Benedictine order, I am honored to welcome you...

...and your Franciscan brothers to our abbey.

The other delegates, they have arrived?

Ubertino de Casale has been here for some weeks.

The others are due tomorrow.

You must be very tired after your long journey.

No.

Not particularly.

I trust you're not in need of anything?

No. Thank you.

Well...

Well, then I bid you peace.

I'm sorry to see one of your brethren has recently been gathered unto God.

Yes, a terrible loss.

Brother Adelmo was one of our finest illuminators.

- Not Adelmo of Otranto. - You knew him?

No, but I knew and admired his work.

His humor and comic images...

...were almost infamous.

- But he was said to be a young man. - Oh, yes.

Yes, very young indeed.

- An accident, no doubt? - Yes.

Yes, as you say, an accident.

Well, that is, I...

Brother William...

...may I speak with you candidly?

You seem most anxious to do so.

When I heard you were coming to our abbey...

...I thought it was an answer to my prayers.

"Here," I said, "is a man who has knowledge, both of the human spirit...

...and of the wiles of the evil one."

The fact is, Adelmo's death has caused much spiritual unease among my flock.

This is my novice, Adso...

...the youngest son of the Baron of Melk.

Please do continue.

We found the body after a hailstorm...

...horribly mutilated, dashed against a rock at the foot of the tower...

...under a window, which was...

How shall I say this?

- Which was... - Which was found closed.

- Somebody told you. - Had it been found open...

...you would have concluded that he'd fallen.

Brother William...

...the window cannot be opened...

...nor was the glass shattered...

...nor is there any access to the roof above.

Oh, I see.

And because you can offer no natural explanation...

...your monks suspect the presence of a supernatural force within these walls.

That's why I need the counsel...

...of an acute man such as you, Brother William.

Acute in uncovering...

...and prudent, if necessary...

...in covering up...

...before the papal delegates arrive.

Surely you know, my lord, I no longer deal in such matters.

I am indeed reluctant to burden you with my dilemma...

...but unless I can put the minds of my flock at rest...

...I will have no alternative but to summon the help of the Inquisition.

Adso!

That is Ubertino de Casale...

...one of the great spiritual leaders of our order.

Come.

Many revere him as a living saint...

...but others would have him burned as a heretic.

His book on the poverty of the clergy isn't favored reading in papal palaces.

So now he lives in hiding like an outlaw.

Fellow Franciscans...

...you must leave this place at once.

The devil is roaming this abbey.

Ubertino...

...it's William.

William of Baskerville.

William?

No.

William is dead.

William, my son...

...forgive me.

We had lost trace of you for so long.

I tried very hard to be forgotten.

When we heard of your troubles...

...I prayed to our virgin for a miracle.

Then your prayers met with a favorable response.

This is my young novice, Adso of Melk.

His father has entrusted me with his education and welfare.

You must get him out of here!

Have you not heard, the devil is hurling beautiful boys out of windows?

There was something...

...feminine...

...something diabolical...

...about the young one who died.

He had the eyes of a girl...

...seeking intercourse with the devil.

Beware of this place.

The beast is still among us.

I can sense him now, here...

...within these very walls.

I'm afraid, William...

...for you, for me...

...for the outcome of this debate.

Oh... My son.

The times we live in.

But let us not frighten...

...our young friend here.

She's beautiful, is she not?

When the female...

...by nature, so perverse...

...becomes sublime by holiness...

...then she can be the noblest vehicle of grace.

- I don't like this place. Really?

I find it most stimulating. Come.

Adso, we must not allow ourselves to be influenced...

...by irrational rumors of the Antichrist.

Let us instead exercise our brains...

...and try to solve this tantalizing conundrum.

My master trusted Aristotle, the Greek philosophers...

...and the faculties of his own remarkable, logical intelligence.

Unhappily, my fears were not mere phantoms of my youthful imagination.

A rather dark end for such a brilliant illuminator.

Another generous donation by the church to the poor.

Now, what if it wasn't that tower that he fell from...

...but somewhere over there, and then the body rolled all the way down here?

Adso?

No devil needed anymore.

Yes. More blood here.

That's where he fell from. He jumped.

Adso, are you paying attention?

Yes. He jumped.

He jumped? You mean that he committed suicide?

Yes. Why else would someone go up there at night in a hailstorm?

- Certainly not to admire the landscape. - No. Perhaps...

Perhaps someone murdered him.

And then toiled all the way up there with the body?

Easier to get rid of it through that sluice gate they pour charity through.

No, no. My dear Adso...

...it's elementary.

Suicide.

Do you think that this...

...is a place abandoned by God?

Have you ever known a place where God would have felt at home?

We praise almighty God...

...that there are no grounds for suspecting an evil spirit among us...

...either of this world or another.

We praise our Lord that the debate...

...which we are so greatly honored to host...

...may now proceed without a shadow of fear.

We also praise the Almighty for sending Brother William of Baskerville...

...whose experience in previous duties...

...although onerous to him...

...has been of such service to us here.

May serenity and spiritual peace...

...reign once more in our hearts.

Master? Hmm?

If I may ask, what...

..."onerous duties"...

...was the abbot talking about?

Were you not always a monk?

Even monks have pasts, Adso.

Now, do try to sleep.

I just...

Yes, master.