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Brother Cadfael - The Rose Rent

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Screenwriter Christopher Russell also adapted A MORBID TASTE FOR BONES. As with BONES, Russell has tinkered with events in the story so that most suspects' motives are played in the key "crime of passion" instead of being mixed judiciously with "crime for gain". Little changes have been made in many background details, such as adapting characters' names to modern ears and eliminating some suspects' potential henchmen and non-romantic entanglements (easier on the budget but at the cost of puzzle and characterization). I find all those points of difference irritating, like midges; the really annoying points are where the major characters have been reinterpreted, or shown acting out of character.

Rather than trimming the beginning of the story, Russell has added material, starting 4 years before the opening of the book, upon the death of Edred Perle (here "Edward"). Quite against his nature as drawn by Ellis Peters, Cadfael helps Judith Perle perform a mercy-killing (conveniently, no priest is present). For Cadfael's true opinion on such use of the means of healing, read MONK'S HOOD and THE POTTER'S FIELD. A much smaller nitpick is that the abbot wouldn't have conducted Edred's funeral; that's the job of Holy Cross' parish priest, who at that time would've been old Father Adam.

Judith's character herein differs from the original, who let others see only one gesture of passion and grief: deeding away the house where she'd been happy to the abbey. The charter's wording (here presented when drawn up) is subtly different - rather than being an almost-free gift, prayers for "Edward's" soul are now added to the rose rent, making it a more ordinary transaction. A more persistent reminder of Judith's different characterization as a weaker, weepier woman is that she flinches from pushy suitors, not even meeting their eyes - no aura of calm self-possession here. I find the reinterpreted character exasperating in her own right, adaptation issues aside. Cadfael's remark that she's too strong to take her own life - which he didn't even have to make in the book - no longer seems justified.

In the book, the charter paid for the lighting of Mary's altar, so its impressionable young custodian delivered the rent, with predictable results from his first prolonged acquaintance with a still-young woman. The background of the rose rent was filled in by reviewing the charter, rather than with flashback. Now the monks of Shrewsbury (rather than their tenant Niall) care for the rosebush personally, with Eluric as one of Cadfael's helpers. Eluric's suffering over Judith receives much more play than other aspects of his character (granted, that was predominant anyway).

Each of Judith's suitors has undergone modification. Godfrey Fuller's proposal is more emotional appeal than straight business proposition; Judith's rejection is portrayed with cringing revulsion rather than polite, firm refusal of a long-time business associate. Vivian (now "Thomas") Hynde has lost both his name and his ominous sidekick. Bertred the weaver, paradoxically, is more ingenuous and less of a social climber - but his mother's character has been eliminated and his relationship with Judith's maid emphasized. Even Judith's cousin Miles is now a would-be suitor - although the blood relationship was too close without formal dispensation in those days.

Rather than 4 years - about the length of time Niall's been widowed - Judith's only been widowed for a year or so when murderous events are set in motion. Originally she sought out Sister Magdalen for advice on the cloister before any violence in the story, but now the events are reversed. The attack on the rosebush is now far more subtle - white lead poisoning - but this provides *less* of a motive for a murderer, being less traceable. Judith's thoughts of the convent now are driven by guilt, not only over the rose rent resulting in a death, but a reawakening interest in men.

Prior Robert replaces Anselm in the meet-the-corpse scene, and Radulfus is amazingly careless with the details of Eluric's confession in the hearing of even laypeople like Niall. Niall Bronzesmith's personality bears no resemblance to the original; here his late wife died not in childbirth, but in a suspicious accident with a lover. He's embittered, rather than being a quiet pillar of society.

After Cadfael takes a wax impression of the murderer's footprint in the garden, Cadfael actually objects to Oswin's suggestion of consulting the town cobblers, saying that the murderer would destroy all his footgear. However, Cadfael has more than once snared a killer who couldn't financially afford to destroy incriminating clothing - quite apart from being unable to launder or replace it easily in the 12th century. Even in the 15th century Dame Frevisse novels, the same scenario is plausible.

Last point: Eoin McCarthy (who played Thomas Pitt in the 1998 adaptation of THE CATER STREET HANGMAN) seems miscast as Hugh Beringar, being a big bluff blond type giving an easy-going impression. For Beringar, I prefer Sean Pertwee, the wiry clever-faced actor who first took the role.

THE ROSE RENT consists of a single rose the Abbey of Saint Peter must pay each year for the use of a cottage owned by a devout and beautiful young widow (she who played the wise-cracking leftist journalist Anne in THE ICE HOUSE). The young widow no longer wishes to live in the home she once shared with her beloved husband..much to the sorrow of her cousin who would like to marry her himself (he played Mr. Bingham in PRIDE AND PREJUDICE). Having received permission to use the cottage to generate revenue, the Abbey leases the property to a middle-age craftsman and newcomer who is given to strange midnight rides into the nearby forest.

A young novice from the Abbey is drafted to tend the rose bushes at the cottage and appropriately he is also given the task of snipping and delivering the single "rose rent" each year on the anniversary of the death of the husband. The novice, who was himself "given" to the Abby when he was a small boy finds himself attracted to the beautiful young widow. Others detect his interest and soon he is accused of "lusting after the flesh" by one of the more puritanical of the Abbey Fathers.

The plot thickens when an untimely death occurs, and the cause of the death seems "unnatural"...in fact Brother Cadfael (Derek Jacobi) suspects the death has been caused by arsenic the young novice has been using to dress the rose bushes. Has the novice taken leave of his senses and killed his accuser as Father Jerome insists, or are other forces at work? What of the craftsman? Where was he on the night of the murder which occurred in his own back yard? And the cousin? Has his desire for the young widow driven him to commit murder?

THE ROSE RENT is one of the most interesting and emotionally satisfying of the Cadfael stories. Those who have not read the books or who have difficulty following the machinations of the politics of the era will enjoy this film because it truly considers human emotions, desires, and character and is less reliant on some of the "historical" elements that drive the other stories (in other words one does not have to understand the civil war between Stephen and Maude to follow the storyline).

I love the Cadfael stories no matter what..but this is one of my favorites and the cast is steller.

I enjoy a good murder mystery of the classical type, and the Brother Cadfael series are particularly good. The film The Rose Rent, based upon the book of the same name by Ellis Peters, (Edith Pargiter, 1913-1995) is incredibly authentic and colorful. The different orders of society: nobleman, servant, military man, tradesman, artisan, abbott, monk, and priest are carefully wrought to produce a period piece with more detail and clearer dialogue than a Shakespearean play. It would be a wonderful way of introducing young people to history.

The setting is 12th Century England, a period of particular turmoil. Henry I had died without a legitimate male heir, and he had designated his daughter Matilda as his successor, binding his nobles by oath to support her. Although many of them did, including her very able half brother, an illegitimate son of Henry made an Earl by his father, many of them threw their support behind her cousin, Steven. The warfare that ensued turned most of England into a battle ground and life for everyone a matter of ceaseless uncertainty.

Cadfael, the central character of the series, is a Dominican monk and herbalist, and Dereck Jacobi is the perfect personification of him. He has a presence which suggests strength, wisdom, and compassion. Unlike most of the other brothers, Cadfael had spent most of his life in the secular world where he participated in the crusades, had adventures, fell in and out of love, and took his order after finding the ways of the world wanting. He comes from a different culture, that of Wales and sees that of England through an outsiders more objective eyes. His experience with life and the motives of men and his keen awareness of detail makes him the perfect sleuth, and when murder is committed, the civil authorities, often personified by Hugh Beringer (Eorin McCarthy), are often more than willing to have him clear things up for them.

In Rose Rent, a lovely widow has given the home and land that she shared with her beloved spouse to the Abbey for a single rose from its garden to be delivered to her yearly on the anniversary of his death. Unknown to her several of the men in the village have their eye on her and her wealth, and see her devotion to her deceased spouse as an obstacle to their designs. Murder is done, and it is left to Cadfael to discover the guilty party before another dies and before the pretty lady takes herself into holy orders because she considers herself a danger to others. The tableau created is a rich tapestry of loss, greed, lust, violence and love. An interesting way to spend an hour.

I will never really understand why the director of the Cadfael movies made some of them so faithful to the book, and the other totally off-course. This one, the Rose Rent, is definitely in the latter category. :-(

The basic plot is that a wealthy young widow, Judith Perle, deeds her spacious house in the Foregate to Cadfael's abbey after her husband died there; the rent she demands is simply one rose from the bush at the house, delivered annually. She is thereafter bothered by suiters hunting after her money, (she is the sole owner of a very large weaving business) and by a more deadly chain of events in connection with the rose bush and the house in the Foregate - culminating with Judith's own disappearance.

As others have mentioned, the biggest problem with this movie is that Judith performs a mercy killing on her husband while he is dying - aided and abetted by Cadfael. This is totally contrary to both their natures in the book, and is an absolutely unnecessary addition. This also brings me to the changes in Judith's character: in the book, she is kind, calm and strong, only occasionally showing passion or grief. In the movie, she is weepy and sarcastic, and instead of calmly turning down her suiters, she cries wildly and yells at them that she will never marry again. (?!)

Another problem that I have is that Brother Eluric (I'm assuming that you've read the book here :P) says truly, in the book, that Judith was absolutely unaware of his affection for her, and that it was all his fault; while in the movie she is constantly giving him long 'looks', and confesses to Cadfael afterwards that she was attracted to him. This leads to the third problem I have with the movie: that the reason Judith wants to enter a convent is guilt that she is beginning to feel attracted to men once again, while in the book, it was merely grief for her husband.

Point number four: the character of Niall Bronzesmith is not at all like it is in the book; he is rude, short tempered, and portrayed as a 'nomad' type that no one trusts - not even Cadfael. This is attributed to the fact that his wife drowned while running off with a lover years ago, while in the book she died in childbirth. So that is a big problem as far as I am concerned.

(Warning: spoilers from this point on!)

One of the things I have always appreciated in the book was the relationship between Judith and Vivian (in the movie "Thomas") Hynde while she is is his captor in the old counting house; he is simply weak and silly and vain, and after her first fright while he was taking her away, she is decidedly in control and the stronger of the two of them; he even begs her to help get him out of the mess he had made, after the first day or so. And this is one of the main reasons that Judith refuses to denounce him in the book; that he is "no great villain, only vain and foolish". In the movie, he is terribly rough with her, even going as far as gaging and binding her, and is on the point of attacking her when they both hear sounds outside...Bertred, of course. (The character of Bertred is also messed around with, but as he is not a very big part of either book or movie, I won't go into that.)

And the change that pervades the whole movie more than any other is Miles' motive for committing the crimes. (Miles is her cousin who helps her run the weaving business.) In the book, he coldly calculates how to turn things to his own gain, and does anything to get it that way - even murder. In the movie, his crimes are committed through an insane, maniacal love for Judith; though I don't see how the attack on the rose bush (done with white lead in the movie) and the murder of Bertred are supposed to tie in with *that* idea. Also, the crucial part where she is attacked by Miles in the forest and saved by Niall is left out, and replaced by Miles taking her to the garden when he burns the bush, and almost burning her and himself with it - in this scene he is definitely insane. So the element of cold, calculated crime is entirely absent from the movie, taking with it an important aspect of the story.

So, on the whole, this movie could have been much, much better. I guess I'll go watch a good Cadfael, like the Leper of Saint Giles, now!!! :)

The Rose rent is a great mystery and in the course of being solved leads people to evaluate what has worth in life. A young widow must now face the fact that she may have killed her husband and also plan the rest of her life.

Of course people die and Brother Cadfael uses forensics to determine who the murderer(s) are and the motive/s. You get more then sufficient clues on the way.

My favorite quote is in the morning as they are ringing the morning bell; someone asks Cadfael, "Are you awake?" and Cadfael staggering "No. But I am out of bed."

Cadfael - The Holy Thief

One of the best in Cadfael series and my wife's favorite. An excellent story based in the life long romance between the lord of the manor and his wife. The lord succumbs to a toturous illness and his wife bequeaths the estate to the Abby at Shewbury. In return for the manor and its lands, the Abby must provide lodging for the wife and a rather special rent.

The rent? Only a rose cut from the rose bush on the manor grounds. However, this isn't just any old rose bush, but rather the one her husband use to cut roses from for his love in life: a remembrance of the great love they shared.

Well this all sounds great deal for the Abby, so what's the problem? Get "The Rose Rent" and find out.