i just saw this movie again last night (april 15, 2008), and have seen it several times in the past. I think what i like the best is the atmosphere, the sense of place and history that allows us to immerse ourselves in for a couple of hours. As to the question as to why he doesn't stay with her, well,
if he had, i for one would have been disappointed. It would seem like a typical Hollywood ending for a movie..boy meets girl, boy gets girl. Seems much more realistic that he stays with his master, whom he adores and has so much confidence and love for. Yes, he does express his 'love' for her when he talks to the master that one night, but it just isn't enough to give up his life for her.
of course, the ending dialogue where he says even as an old, old man, he still thinks of her, that is so reminiscent of other films, primiarly "Citizen Kane" and rosebud, where this great man thinks of his sled at the end of his life. I think the films are making a point, and that is ,,,,what will we be thinking about at the end of ourlives? what has meant the most to us all of these years? It makes one want to start thinking now about what is the important thing,,,person, event, etc. inone's life now, and begin to appreciate it and live for it.
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onepotato2
16 years ago
Um, because it's the 14 century, and he's a fricking monk. People have obligations in the real world.
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I personally find that closing sequence -- where he pauses on his mule and she looks up at him, both of them longing for a future that neither of them can have, and then he submits and rides on -- achingly sad and poignant.
by puirt-a-beul (Tue Apr 22 2008 11:13:20)
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This girl would have been smelly and ignorant (and probably diseased many times over) with maybe 5 years to live. She certainly would not have perfectly moisturized, flawless skin, except for a few cutesy smudges applied in a Make-Up trailer. She would not have been the delicate supermodel serf who makes tender, gentle love (like she's been socialized via 20th century values) that the movie felt compelled to show us. She's one of the movie's more ridiculous, conventional ideas superimposed from our own era.
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Squonkamatic
15 years ago
There was no way that Adso would have been able to take her with him even if he wanted to, and it is highly unlikely that he would have wanted to. In the dark ages there were the clerics, the nobles, the soldiers both employed, and everybody else. If you weren't a noble, couldn't fight and were unable to join a monastic order you were *beep* out of luck. He also would have had obligations that would have made any kind of relationship impossible even if she could speak the same language.
This girl would have been smelly and ignorant (and probably diseased many times over) with maybe 5 years to live. She certainly would not have perfectly moisturized, flawless skin, except for a few cutesy smudges applied in a Make-Up trailer. She would not have been the delicate supermodel serf who makes tender, gentle love (like she's been socialized via 20th century values) that the movie felt compelled to show us. She's one of the movie's more ridiculous, conventional ideas superimposed from our own era.
That's always bothered me too. Valentina Vargas has an amazing, wonderful ass but it had absolutely no place in this film & creates a huge continuity error. She also has a suntan. And at 22 (Ms. Vargas' age) she had actually out-lived the life expectancy of a peasant for the era in which the film is set. Her character is completely preposterous. She should have been a snaggle toothed, greasy haired, unwashed, clodhopper with mud up to her armpits, lice galore, some sort of a skin disease & probably syphilis, a bad case of The Itch, and six to eleven children in tow, making her somewhat less than a tight, hot screw. You would want to bathe yourself in rubbing alcohol and set your member afire for a half minute to kill the bacteria after intimate contact with such a creature. Even then you would have a 15% chance of walking away from the encounter with leprosy from contact with any open sores on her dermis.
But she does have a great ass. Better than anything I got when I was 15 at any rate.
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cengelm
15 years ago
And at 22 (Ms. Vargas' age) she had actually out-lived the life expectancy of a peasant for the era
Average life expectancy was low but individual life expectancy was often quite regular. Many people died at birth and during early childhood. But others survived and then founded a family with many children. There are still places on earth where people live in extreme poverty and have a low life expectancy.
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seventeencherrytreelane
11 years ago
Brilliant post. I literally laughed out loud at your description of her. Thank you - I needed a good laugh this evening!
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borg1005-1
11 years ago
She should have been a snaggle toothed, greasy haired, unwashed, clodhopper with mud up to her armpits, lice galore, some sort of a skin disease & probably syphilis, a bad case of The Itch, and six to eleven children in tow, making her somewhat less than a tight, hot screw. You would want to bathe yourself in rubbing alcohol and set your member afire for a half minute to kill the bacteria after intimate contact with such a creature. Even then you would have a 15% chance of walking away from the encounter with leprosy from contact with any open sores on her dermis.
Sounds like my first blind date.
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Alfabeta
13 years ago
He could always quit the order since he had a rich family. The girl looks good because she's a hooker. If you look like an ancient pagan's mother figurine you ain't getting a whole chicken or the friar.
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minniemouse
10 years ago
I love the book. I "like" the movie.
The sex scene seems completely wrong to me though. The girl is too beautiful but at the same time too dirty, raggedy and aggressive in her sexual encounter with Adso.
And she's no hooker, she gives herself to the monks out of hunger and desperation (probably encouraged by her own family) to bring home something decent to eat.
In the book she is obviously relieved that for once she is going to have sex with someone younger and better looking than the old fat monk she usually meets, and that makes her a little more eager, but let's not forget that she is a poor peasant girl in constant awe of those rich and learned monks.
The final scene should not have take place at all. In the book the girl burns at the stake, along with the two condemned monks, period.
Stupid useless fake ending.
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bayowolf
10 years ago
He could always quit the order since he had a rich family.
Basically, the way things worked back then was that the 1st son would inherit the Dukedom, the 2nd would join the King's military, and the 3rd would join the Holy Orders. Adso, being the 3rd son, was obligated to join; had he arrived at Daddy's house with a wife, Daddy would say, "Congratulations, lotsa luck, and don't let the door hit you on the @$$ on your way out."
~~Bayowolf
There's a difference between being frank... and being dick.
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