The English Patient (1996)

Director:

Anthony Minghella

Writers (WGA):

Michael Ondaatje (novel)
Anthony Minghella (screenplay)

Release Date:

15 November 1996 (USA)

Genre:

Romance | Drama | War

Tagline:

In love, there are no boundaries.

Plot:

At the close of WWII, a young nurse tends to a badly-burned plane crash victim. His past is shown in flashbacks, revealing an involvement in a fateful love affair.

Plot Keywords:

Sex Standing Up | Geneva Convention | Murder | Burn Injury | Melodrama

Awards:

Won 9 Oscars. Another 41 wins & 37 nominations

Cast

Ralph Fiennes	...	Count Laszlo de Almásy
Juliette Binoche	...	Hana
Willem Dafoe	...	David Caravaggio
Kristin Scott Thomas	...	Katharine Clifton
Naveen Andrews	...	Kip
Colin Firth	...	Geoffrey Clifton
Julian Wadham	...	Madox
Jürgen Prochnow	...	Major Muller
Kevin Whately	...	Hardy
Clive Merrison	...	Fenelon-Barnes
Nino Castelnuovo	...	D'Agostino
Hichem Rostom	...	Fouad
Peter Rühring	...	Bermann
Geordie Johnson	...	Oliver
Torri Higginson	...	Mary

MPAA:

Rated R for sexuality, some violence and language.

Runtime:

162 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English | German | Italian | Arabic

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Brazil:16 | Iceland:14 (original rating) | USA:R (certificate #34884) | Iceland:12 (video rating) | Denmark:15 | South Korea:18 | Philippines:PG-13 | Argentina:13 | Australia:M | Canada:14A | Chile:14 | Finland:K-12 | France:U | Germany:12 (bw) | Hong Kong:IIB | Netherlands:12 | Norway:15 | Peru:14 | Portugal:M/12 | Singapore:M18 (re-rating) | Singapore:R(A) (original rating) | Spain:13 | Sweden:15 | UK:15

Filming Locations:

Cinecittà Studios, Cinecittà, Rome, Lazio, Italy

Company:

Miramax Films

Trivia:

Ralph Fiennes' burn make-up took 5 hours to apply every day. Fiennes insisted that the full body make-up be applied even for the scenes where only his head would be filmed.

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: When an Egyptian worker hits his head on the overhanging wall of the cave, the rock flexes.

Quotes:

Almásy: What do you love?
Katharine Clifton: What do I love?
Almásy: Say everything.
Katharine Clifton: Water, with fish in it. Hedgehogs, I love hedgehogs. Marmite. Baths, but not with other people! Islands. I could go on all day.
Almásy: Go on all day.
Katharine Clifton: Your handwriting.
Almásy: And what else?
Katharine Clifton: A husband.
Almásy: What do you hate most?
Katharine Clifton: A lie. What do you hate most?
[...]

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Yossi & Jagger (2002)

Soundtrack:

Stille Nacht, Heilige Nacht (Silent Night, Holy Night)

One of the greatest achievements in all of cinema, peerlessly beautiful

Count Laszlo (Ralph Fiennes) has just been transferred to a hospital in Italy during World War II. He is horrifically burned from an ambush. His nurse Hana (Juliette Binoche) tends to him, body and mind, for she fears, quite rightly, that he may be a very troubled soul. In the course of his care, the Count starts to tell Hana of his recent past. It seems he worked in a government capacity in Africa, where he met a beautiful married lady named Katherine (Kristin Scott Thomas). Although they tried to avoid each other, they fell in love. After a brief affair, Katherine called it quits, leaving the Count desolate. Even so, the two would meet again, under heart-wrenching circumstances. Meanwhile, Hana herself falls for a Sihk man in the British bomb squad. Yet, the war is raging relentlessly. Can love exist when the world is in turmoil? This is a tremendous film, based on an equally fine but complex novel. The plot has many story lines that are woven together beautifully, each of them poignant beyond description. The script itself is elegant and contains many memorable lines. Fiennes is magnificent, both as the burn victim and as the man who thought love was a myth. Scott Thomas is also quite fine as the woman who fights against her passions. As for Binoche, she richly deserved the Oscar that she was presented, as her nurse is a shining example of hope in a hopeless situation. The scenery is utterly gorgeous, as are the costumes, the direction, and the production. If you have missed out on viewing this film, rectify that soon, very soon. The English Patient will remain one of the greatest achievements in film for centuries to come.