CASE STUDY - The 2nd life of Le Nom de la rose: a fruitful collaboration between cataloguers and distributors

A critical and public success, the re-release of The Name of the Rose (1986) last February in France was a resounding success. For this 12th edition of the MIFC, distributor Jean-Fabrice Janaudy, director of Les Acacias, and publisher Hugues Peysson, director of L'Atelier d'Images, took part in a case study on the second life of Jean-Jacques Annaud's film, led by Pierre Olivier, catalogue and video director at TF1 Studio. 

In his introduction, Pierre Olivier presented the questions that accompanied the idea of a re-release of The Name of the Rose, a film that has been invisible since 2016, notably due to a conflict between two of the film's three co-producers. On the ‘For’ side: this is a cult film, particularly for a whole generation of journalists and programmers; it is eagerly awaited because it is rare on the big screen; the 4K restoration is of high quality; director Jean-Jacques Annaud is showing great interest in and commitment to this re-release; and it is a film that is eagerly awaited by buyers of physical media. On the ‘cons’ side: the artistic direction and certain scenes, notably a sex scene, are perhaps not up to date, Jean-Jacques Annaud is a director recognised by the public but less so by the critics and, despite his commitment, he is very busy with his current projects. 

But after seven years of negotiations to secure a theatrical release and the film's excellent reception at two major festivals, Il Cinema Ritrovato in Bologna and Lumière in Lyon, all the flags were green. 

The cinema release  

As Jean-Fabrice Janaudy pointed out in his introduction, the advantage of re-releasing The Name of the Rose now is that Jean-Jacques Annaud is alive and well. The filmmaker, committed to this re-release, has opened up his archives and offered his talent as a storyteller for theatrical accompaniment and interviews. 

In terms of communication tools, the distributor has decided to restore the original poster and provide a 23-page booklet, approved by the director. A new trailer has been produced, without the cult sex scene, not so much for controversial reasons as for fear of the BA being censored by the politics of social networking.  

While social networks were one of the preferred means of reaching a younger audience, the press - in print, on TV and on the radio - was also an important and decisive support for the film's release. A number of special previews also accompanied the theatrical release during the February holidays, with the aim of attracting a family audience. Simultaneous screening in 68 Pathé cinemas across France attracted 4,902 spectators in one evening. On the day of release, 24 February, 29 cinemas were there at the start, but a total of 480 cinemas showed the film, selling a total of 47,000 tickets. While Jean-Fabrice Janaudy has fond memories of his collaboration with Jean-Jacques Annaud, he regrets that few cinemas, despite the general enthusiasm, supported them from the start of the re-release. 

The physical edition 

This is not the first time that The Name of the Rose has been released in a physical edition, since it was first released on DVD in 1998, followed by a boxed set in 2004 published by Warner Bros and a Blu-ray by TF1 Vidéo. L'Atelier d'images, represented by Hugues Peysson, had already worked on the latter before joining Seven 7 (in co-edition) and Les Acacias for this new re-release. For this exceptional box set, the publisher is offering a Dolby Vision mastering, a 44-page booklet annotated by Jean-Jacques Annaud, a new interview with the filmmaker by Jerôme Wybon, the director's masterclass by Philippe Rouyer, on the occasion of the Lumière Festival, and the re-release of the 116-minute making-of, in two parts, which appeared on the 2004 Warner box set, reformatted in 16:9. 

When the physical edition was released, Jean-Jacques Annaud, who had been heavily involved in the film's cinema release, again agreed to interviews, including a six-page interview in Les Années Laser. 

To date, Seven 7 and L'Atelier d'images have sold 9,000 boxed sets and a total of 14,000 copies of Le Nom de la Rose, all editions combined (UHD, BRD, DVD). The film has also had 10,000 screenings on VOD. 

In the future, an Imax Enhanced version is in the pipeline, along with new dubbed versions in three regional languages: Corsican, Breton and Occitan. The adventure of The Name of the Rose, already a great success, is far from over.