Detailed item info | Movie description | THE ENGLISH PATIENT is an epic, sweeping adaptation of Michael Ondaatje's richly layered, WWII-era novel chronicling two periods in the life of European explorer Count Laszlo Almasy (Ralph Fiennes), whose torrid affair with a colleague's wife (Kristin Scott Thomas) is countered by the beginning of the war, allegations of Nazi sympathies, and disfiguring injuries. The patient's stay at the ruins of an Italian monastery under the care of an emotionally injured French-Canadian nurse (Juliette Binoche, who won an Oscar for the role) serves as a framing device for his intriguing story. Academy Award winner Anthony Minghella directs this film that is at once incredibly modern and a well-crafted throwback to classic Hollywood epics of yesteryear.
| | Credits | | Producer: | Saul Zaentz | | Cast: | Abdellatif Hamrouni, Amanda Walker, Anthony Smee, Gregor Truter, Habib Chetoui, Julian Wadham, Lusa Repo-Martell, Paul Kant, Philip Whitchurch, Phillipa Day, Raymond Coulthard, Roger Morlidge, Salah Miled, Sebastian Rudolph, Sebastian Schipper, Sebastian Sherlock, Sondess Belhassen, Thoraya Sehill |
| | Notes | Released theatrically in the U.S. on November 15, 1996.
Filmed on location in Europe.
At the 1997 Academy Awards, THE ENGLISH PATIENT received 12 Academy Award Nominations, including Best Actor--Ralph Fiennes, Best Actress--Kristen Scott Thomas, and Best Screenplay (Adaptation)--Anthony Minghella. It won 9 Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Director--Anthony Minghella, and Best Supporting Actress--Juliette Binoche.
Michael Ondaatje's novel of the same name won Britain's prestigious Booker prize.
20th Century Fox withdrew their funding for the film when Minghella refused to replace Kristin Scott Thomas. The film was then picked up by Miramax.
Count Laszlo Almasy was a real person. He was, however, very different from the character in Ondaatje’s novel and Minghella’s film. The real Almasy was a German Air Force pilot and, based on his personal letters, was most likely homosexual.
Because there were no roads into the Sahara Desert, Minghella’s team built one. The day it was finished, it washed away in a rainstorm.
Kristin Scott Thomas’s first film was Prince’s UNDER THE CHERRY MOON.
It took 5½ hours to apply Ralph Fiennes’s makeup.
"A woman should never learn to sew, and if she can, she shouldn’t admit to it."--Katharine (Kristin Scott Thomas)
"You can’t kill me. I died years ago."--Almasy (Ralph Fiennes]
"Katharine, I just want you to know I’m not missing you yet."--Almasy
"You will. You will."--Katharine
| | Editorial reviews | "...Minghella proves that a movie love story can be smart, principled and provoking, and still sweep you away..."
Rolling Stone - p.142 - Peter Travers
"...Respectable, intelligent....With its exotic, tapestry-like backgrounds, this is a picture of resplendently textured, sensuous surfaces..."
Variety - Todd McCarthy
"...A mesmerizing romantic epic....THE ENGLISH PATIENT captivates as only the grandest and most consuming passions can..."
Los Angeles Times - Kenneth Turan (11/15/1996)
"...This poetic, evocative film version of the famous novel by Michael Ondaatje circles down through layers of mystery until all of the puzzle in the story have been solved..."
Chicago Sun-Times - Roger Ebert (11/22/1996)
| | Awards | 1996 Academy Awards, Best Cinematography: John Seale
1996 Academy Awards, Best Director: Anthony Minghella
1996 Academy Awards, Best Original Score: Gabriel Yared
1996 Academy Awards, Best Picture
1996 Academy Awards, Best Supporting Actress: Juliette Binoche
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