the english patient movie reviews

The English Patient

Backward into memory, forward into loss and desire, “The English Patient” searches for answers that will answer nothing. This poetic, evocative film version of the famous novel by Michael Ondaatje circles down through layers of mystery until all of the puzzles in the story have been solved, and only the great wound of a doomed love remains. It is the kind of movie you can see twice–first for the questions, the second time for the answers.

The film opens with a pre-war biplane flying above the desert, carrying two passengers in its open cockpits. The film will tell us who these passengers are, why they are in the plane, and what happens next. All of the rest of the story is prologue and epilogue to the reasons for this flight. It is told with the sweep and visual richness of a film by David Lean , with an attention to fragments of memory that evoke feelings even before we understand what they mean.

The “present” action takes place in Italy, during the last days of World War II. A horribly burned man, the “English patient” of the title, is part of a hospital convoy. When he grows too ill to be moved, a nurse named Hana ( Juliette Binoche ) offers to stay behind to care for him in the ruins of an old monastery. Here she sets up a makeshift hospital, and soon she is joined by two bomb-disposal experts and a mysterious visitor named Caravaggio (Willem Dafoe).

The patient’s skin is so badly burned it looks like tortured leather. His face is a mask. He can remember nothing. Hana cares for him tenderly, perhaps because he reminds her of other men she has loved and lost during the war. (“I must be a curse. Anybody who loves me–who gets close to me–is killed.”) Caravaggio, who has an interest in the morphine Hana dispenses to her patient, is more cynical: “Ask your saint who he’s killed. I don’t think he’s forgotten anything.” The nurse is attracted to one of the bomb disposal men, a handsome, cheerful Sikh officer named Kip ( Naveen Andrews ). But as she watches him risk his life to disarm land mines, she fears her curse will doom him; if they fall in love, he will die. Meanwhile, the patient’s memories start to return in flashes of detail, spurred by the book that was found with his charred body–an old leather-bound volume of the histories of Herodotus, with drawings, notes and poems pasted or folded inside.

I will not disclose the crucial details of what he remembers. I will simply supply the outlines that become clear early on. He is not English, for one thing. He is a Hungarian count, named Laszlo de Almasy ( Ralph Fiennes ), who in Egypt before the war was attached to the Royal Geographic Society as a pilot who flew over the desert, making maps that could be used for their research–which was the cover story–but also used by English troops in case of war.

In the frantic social life of Cairo, where everyone is aware that war is coming, Almasy meets a newly married woman at a dance. She is Katharine Clifton ( Kristin Scott Thomas ). Her husband Geoffrey ( Colin Firth ) is a disappointment to her. Almasy follows her home one night, and she confronts him and says, “Why follow me? Escort me, by all means, but to follow me . . .” It is clear to both of them that they are in love. Eventually they find themselves in the desert, part of an expedition, and when Geoffrey is called away (for reasons which later are revealed as good ones), they draw closer together. In a stunning sequence, their camp is all but buried in a sandstorm, and their relief at surviving leads to a great romantic sequence.

These are the two people–the count and the British woman–who were in the plane in the first shot. But under what conditions that flight was taken remains a mystery until the closing scenes of the movie, as do a lot of other things, including actions by the count that Caravaggio, the strange visitor, may suspect. Actions that may have led to Caravaggio having his thumbs cut off by the Nazis.

All of this back-story (there is much more) is pieced together gradually by the dying man in the bed, while the nurse tends to him, sometimes kisses him, bathes his rotting skin, and tries to heal her own wounds from the long war. There are moments of great effect: One in which she plays hopscotch by herself. A scene involving the nurse, the Sikh, and a piano. Talks at dusk with the patient, and with Caravaggio. All at last becomes clear.

The performances are of great clarity, which is a help to us in finding our way through the story. Binoche is a woman whose heart has been so pounded by war that she seems drawn to its wounded, as a distraction from her own hurts. Fiennes, in what is essentially a dual role, plays a man who conceals as much as he can–at first because that is his nature, later because his injuries force him to. Thomas is one of those bright, energetic British women who seem perfectly groomed even in a sandstorm, and whose core is steel and courage.

Dafoe’s character must remain murkier, along with his motives, but it is clear he shelters a great anger. And Andrews, as the bomb-disposal man, lives the closest to daily death and seems the most grateful for life.

Ondaatje’s novel has become one of the most widely read and loved of recent years. Some of its readers may be disappointed that more is not made of the Andrews character; the love between the Sikh and the nurse could provide a balance to the doomed loves elsewhere. But the novel is so labyrinthine that it’s a miracle it was filmed at all, and the writer-director, Anthony Minghella , has done a creative job of finding visual ways to show how the rich language slowly unveils layers of the past.

Producers are not always creative contributors to films, but the producer of “The English Patient,” Saul Zaentz , is in a class by himself. Working independently, he buys important literary properties (“One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest,” “ Amadeus ,” “ The Unbearable Lightness of Being ,” “At Play in the Fields of the Lord”) and savors their difficulties. Here he has created with Minghella a film that does what a great novel can do: Hold your attention the first time through with its story, and then force you to think back through everything you thought you’d learned, after it is revealed what the story is *really* about.

Roger Ebert

Roger Ebert was the film critic of the Chicago Sun-Times from 1967 until his death in 2013. In 1975, he won the Pulitzer Prize for distinguished criticism.

• Juliette Binoche as Hana
• Willem Dafoe as Caravaggio
• Kristin Scott Thomas as Katharine Clifton
• Colin Firth as Geoffrey Clifton
• Naveen Andrews as Kip
• Ralph Fiennes as Almasy

Written and Directed by

• Anthony Minghella

Based On The Novel by

• Michael Ondaatje

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The english patient.

• Common Sense Says
• Parents Say 1 Review
• Kids Say 1 Review

Common Sense Media Review

By Sarah Orrick , based on child development research. How do we rate?

Stunning, complex mature emotional drama.

Parents Need to Know

Parents need to know that this film features its fair share of both gore and sex, although the slow pace of the film keeps either from being overwhelming. There is full-frontal female nudity, a case of adultery, a finger is sliced off, and a sandstorm temporarily strands people in the desert. In addition, there are…

Why Age 16+?

Characters get drunk to ease pain, many characters drink, morphine is abused.

Full frontal nudity (female), sex.

Guns shoot down a plane, wounded soldiers, burn victims, bombs, a sandstorm, exp

Any Positive Content?

There are excellent examples of heroism but there is also an adulterous relation

Drinking, Drugs & Smoking

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Drinking, Drugs & Smoking in your kid's entertainment guide.

Sex, Romance & Nudity

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Sex, Romance & Nudity in your kid's entertainment guide.

Violence & Scariness

Guns shoot down a plane, wounded soldiers, burn victims, bombs, a sandstorm, explosions, car crash, man is choked to death, suicides, a finger is cut off.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Violence & Scariness in your kid's entertainment guide.

Positive Messages

There are excellent examples of heroism but there is also an adulterous relationship..

Parents need to know that this film features its fair share of both gore and sex, although the slow pace of the film keeps either from being overwhelming. There is full-frontal female nudity, a case of adultery, a finger is sliced off, and a sandstorm temporarily strands people in the desert. In addition, there are bloody injuries, bombs, explosions, two plane crashes, and several deaths. There is also substance abuse of both alcohol and morphine. To stay in the loop on more movies like this, you can sign up for weekly Family Movie Night emails .

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Parent and Kid Reviews

• Parents say (1)
• Kids say (1)

Based on 1 parent review

English Patient

What's the story.

In the tradition of grand movie romances, THE ENGLISH PATIENT follows the story of an amnesic World War II burn victim (Ralph Fiennes) as his memories slowly return. In an Allied hospital, the heavily-bandaged patient (whose only identifier is his English accent) is cared for by nurse Hana (Juliette Binoche), who is drawn to the mystery man. Amidst the war-time violence, Hana tries to bring the man out of his catatonic state, and soon present events trigger the patient to recall his dangerous past, and the love he found and lost, in the North African desert.

Is It Any Good?

Despite Oscar wins and high praise, THE ENGLISH PATIENT requires a certain type of viewer to appreciate its plot. There are copious flashbacks, and the often dark story unfolds slowly. Based on a novel, the film suffers from a simultaneous lack and abundance of detail. Some scenes fail to further the plot, while others need more explanation. The film could go in a million directions, but it floats through the material to arrive at an unfulfilling ending. All of this, however, is easy to overlook because the film is so visually stunning.

The supporting cast is brilliant – Juliette Binoche and Kristin Scott Thomas in particular give excellent performances, and Colin Firth leaves an indelible mark. Ralph Fiennes imparts to his character a distinct emotional distance, which works well to establish the character, but makes it hard for him to gain the viewer's sympathy, or even explain how another character falls in love with him.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

Families can talk about issues surrounding the physical and emotional consequences of war. What are the different responses that the characters have to death, and how do they change? What happens when convictions are treated as the truth? How is adultery portrayed in the film? What are the ramifications of adultery in the film and what might they be in real life?

Movie Details

• In theaters : November 6, 1996
• On DVD or streaming : May 31, 1999
• Cast : Juliette Binoche , Kristin Scott Thomas , Ralph Fiennes
• Director : Anthony Minghella
• Inclusion Information : Female actors
• Studio : Miramax
• Genre : Drama
• Topics : Book Characters
• Run time : 160 minutes
• MPAA rating : R
• MPAA explanation : sexuality, some violence and language
• Last updated : May 30, 2024

Did we miss something on diversity?

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The English Patient Reviews

... a 'Casablanca' for the 90s, directed with sweep, elegance, and grand passions by Anthony Minghella from his screenplay adaptation of Michael Ondaatje’s novel.

Full Review | Nov 18, 2023

...from sweeping vistas, incredible performances, and one incredible score, Anthony Minghella’s The English Patient is one of the most beautiful films...

Full Review | Jun 14, 2023

Phantom of the Desert

Full Review | Original Score: 4.5/5 | May 5, 2022

The rich complexity of Minghella's approach finds an incomparable balance between classical storytelling and a modern formal treatment, and therein realizes one of the most enduring, beloved, and unique romances ever to come out of Hollywood.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/4 | Mar 21, 2022

Much like the patient's memories, The English Patient swirls around in your head, refusing to recede, its images lingering like snatches of a fragrance too sweet to be forgotten.

Full Review | Original Score: 3.5/4 | Aug 17, 2021

Epically romantic stuff, with a welcome dose of modernism mixed up in an intriguing mystery.

Full Review | Original Score: 10/10 | Sep 11, 2020

If Minghella's debut feature Truly, Madly, Deeply was overrated -- a Ghost for the NW3 set -- this movie is a quantum leap towards cinema's potential for magic.

Full Review | Feb 4, 2020

You can take your brain to The English Patient and you will not be insulted. Your eyes will not be offended either. This scarcely makes Minghella's film the best in the world; it just makes it loom large.

Whenever the movie's design seems too elaborate, too remote, it's the rare detail of these performances that redeems it.

Full Review | Feb 21, 2019

Minghella doesn't so much adapt the novel as he translates it wondrously to a different medium, with its mysteries and passions intact.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/4 | Feb 21, 2019

...a deliberate, lengthy but always fascinating film...

Full Review | Original Score: 3.5/4 | Feb 21, 2019

Its performances are finely crafted with loving care.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Feb 21, 2019

This is a radical adaptation which transposes, re-assembles and deletes key elements of the novel to achieve a pure cinematic reinvent ion that is admirably adroit - and as distinctive a work of art as the book remains in its own right.

Full Review | Feb 19, 2019

Its wit, sophistication and artistry never are at odds with the fundamental pull of a powerful love story that out-Zhivagos Doctor Zhivago because it respects love's mysteries, admits it doesn't know the heart's boundaries.

Full Review | Apr 27, 2018

...a beautiful film. [Full Review in Spanish]

Full Review | Mar 2, 2018

Relentlessly beautiful, but not quite stupifyingly so

Full Review | Mar 1, 2018

Probably untranslatable to the screen. The English Patient is a noble try. But still a bore.

Full Review | Original Score: 2.5/5 | Mar 1, 2018

It is, after all, quite a lot of movie, two hours and 42 minutes' worth, and the more movie you have, the greater the chances that not all of it will work equally well.

Full Review | Original Score: 7/10 | Jun 4, 2015

It took a filmmaker with Anthony Minghella's vision to even attempt an adaptation of Michael Ondaatje's The English Patient. And it took a filmmaker with Minghella's talent to pull it off.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/4 | Feb 22, 2015

Anthony Minghella believes in ghosts -- and, at his best, makes believers out of viewers, too.

Full Review | Feb 22, 2015

The English Patient

By Todd McCarthy

Todd McCarthy

• Remember Me 15 years ago
• Shutter Island 15 years ago
• Green Zone 15 years ago

Long, involving and rather parched emotionally, “The English Patient” is a respectable, intelligent but less than stirring adaptation of an imposingly dense and layered novel. Set against the stunning backdrops of pre-war North Africa and the end of hostilities in Italy, this detailed, time-jumping study of the intertwined fates of several of battle’s victims carries the prestige to be a strong attraction for upscale audiences, and Miramax can be counted upon to try to push it as far into the mainstream as possible.

A story about loyalty, personal betrayal, healing and unexpected passion and attachments, among many other things, Michael Ondaatje’s Booker Prize-winning 1992 novel has to be one of the most difficult books undertaken for screen translation in recent years. All the artistic elements have been assembled with great care by producer Saul Zaentz in an attempt to give the film its best shot, with a result that commands serious consideration.

All the same, film has been nudged in the direction of fairly conventional adulterous melodrama, even as the characters’ British reserve keeps the central romance somewhat emotionally restrained. Predominant impression is one of a highly cerebral yarn fraught with ironies, a drama of exceptional people whose fates are played out as a sideshow to sweeping historical events.

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Popular on variety.

Action begins with a spectacular, fiery plane crash in the desert, after which the scorched survivor and title character ( Ralph Fiennes ) is tended to by Canadian nurse Hana ( Juliette Binoche ) in the ruins of a Tuscan monastery. Having lost her closest friend and seen so many others die during World War II, Hana insists upon remaining behind with her one hopelessly impaired patient even as the Allies head north, needing to channel her attentions into one person and possibly find some solace in the process.

But they don’t remain alone for long, as another Canadian, Caravaggio (Willem Dafoe), turns up and shortly displays an interest both in the morphine with which Hana regularly injects her patient and in the latter’s mysterious activities in North Africa, where something horrible has happened to Caravaggio. Subsequent tenants at the monastery come to include two bomb-disposal experts: Kip (Naveen Andrews), a Sikh serving in the British Army, and his partner, Sgt. Hardy (Kevin Whately), who must contend with the many mines left in the area by Germans.

In intriguing flashbacks that unfurl slowly like the opening of a scroll, the English patient’s strange and ultimately traumatic tale is revealed. In fact, he is not English at all, but a Hungarian named Count Laszlo de Almasy, a dashingly attractive but detached young man based in Cairo in 1938 helping make maps of uncharted desert areas for the British. His aloofness is broken, however, by the arrival of two young Brits, newlyweds Geoffrey and Katharine Clifton (Colin Firth and Kristin Scott Thomas).

Resist their mutual attraction as they may, Almasy and Katharine are ultimately stranded together in the desert in a way that makes their affair inevitable, and it becomes reckless, all-consuming and destructive to themselves and others in their circle. As their liaison carries over into wartime and Geoffrey’s jealousy moves him to strike back in a shocking way, Almasy and Katharine once again are left alone in the Sahara, triggering the final desperate phase of their doomed liaison.

Through it all are interlaced Caravaggio’s inquiry into what he suspects was Almasy’s responsibility for his capture and torture by the Nazis at Tobruk, as well as Hana’s life-brightening fling with Kip, the lightness and innocence of which contrasts markedly with the paralleled passion of Almasy and Katharine.

In adapting the novel, writer-director Anthony Minghella has understandably moved the major romance much more to the center in an attempt to give the tale a more emotional core. In movie terms, this is correct in theory, but the film is nonetheless stymied by the extreme recessiveness of Almasy, who is meant to be a mystery man but remains all but impossible to connect with as a romantic lead.

This puts enormous pressure on Fiennes, whose looks and demeanor give the strangely motivated man a definite allure but who can’t reveal Almasy’s heart. While Fiennes’ performance is clearly operating on the notion of less is more, his character remains at a remove, making the film come across more as a clinical study of a complicated life and romance rather than a deeply felt expression of it.

As his partner, Scott Thomas gets the chance to be more outgoing, and the actress’s customary sharp intelligence and provocatively direct manner are in full working order in her portrayal of a bold woman whose foolish fearlessness trips her up.

It is in the Italian end of the story that some of the characters are rather shortchanged. The novel’s Hana is a considerably more haunted figure than the one here, but Binoche’s warm, inviting presence represents fair exchange and provides the picture with its most accessible characterization. Dafoe’s embittered ex-thief is a strong, if fairly one-dimensional, force. But by far the most reduced character is Kip, a fascinating and highly complex personage in the novel but here shoved to the side in a way that seems almost insulting.

With its exotic, tapestry-like backgrounds, this is a picture of resplendently textured, sensuous surfaces, beginning with the sunbaked Tunisian desert and filled out by many striking locations, sets by production designer Stuart Craig and costumes by Ann Roth. John Seale’s lensing handsomely captures these physical attributes, as well as those of the terribly good-looking actors, although he often places the thesps’ faces in annoying shadows and darkness when rich light lies just behind, creating an unduly soft look.

Pic feels, and is, long, but Walter Murch’s editing keeps the story’s diverse elements in admirably judged balance. Minghella has decided to reveal certain key story elements early on, thereby reducing some suspense and intrigue, and has made most of the characters’ motivations more straightforward than they were on the page, and these moves are certainly open to debate by critics and audiences. Motive for doing so was obviously increased clarity and accessibility; while this has been achieved, up to a point, the story still remains somewhat obscured by the desert’s shifting sands and the character’s hard-to-reach hearts.

• Production: A Miramax release of a Saul Zaentz production. Produced by Zaentz. Executive producers, Bob Weinstein, Harvey Weinstein, Scott Greenstein. Directed, written by Anthony Minghella, based on the novel by Michael Ondaatje.
• Crew: Camera (Deluxe color), John Seale; editor, Walter Murch; music, Gabriel Yared; production design, Stuart Craig; art direction, Aurelio Crugnola; set decoration, Crugnola, Stephenie McMillan; costume design, Ann Roth; sound (Dolby digital), Chris Newman, Ivan Sharrock; makeup, Fabrizio Sforza; prosthetics, Jim Henson's Creature Shop; associate producers, Paul Zaentz, Steve Andrews; line producer, Alessandro von Normann; assistant director, Andrews; second unit director, Peter Markham; second unit camera, Remi Adefarasin; casting, Michelle Guish. Reviewed at Sony Studios, Culver City, Oct. 21, 1996. MPAA Rating: R. Running time: 162 MIN. Original review text from 1996.
• With: Count Laszlo Almasy - Ralph Fiennes Hana - Juliette Binoche Caravaggio - Willem Dafoe Katharine Clifton - Kristin Scott Thomas Kip - Naveen Andrews Geoffrey Clifton - Colin Firth Madox - Julian Wadham German Officer - Jurgen Prochnow Sgt. Hardy - Kevin Whately Fenelon-Barnes - Clive Merrison D'Agostino - Nino Castelnuovo Fouad - Hichem Rostom Bermann - Peter Ruhring

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The English Patient

At the close of World War II, 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. At the close of World War II, 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. At the close of World War II, 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.

• Anthony Minghella
• Michael Ondaatje
• Ralph Fiennes
• Juliette Binoche
• Willem Dafoe
• 578 User reviews
• 82 Critic reviews
• 86 Metascore
• 62 wins & 78 nominations total

Top cast 41

• Katharine Clifton

• Geoffrey Clifton

• Major Muller

• Fenelon-Barnes

• D'Agostino

• Rupert Douglas

• Corporal Dade
• All cast & crew
• Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

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Did you know

• Trivia The Germans who shoot at Almásy's plane at the beginning were actually tourists roped into the production because they couldn't afford any more extras.
• Goofs Katharine Clifton (Scott-Thomas) explains to Count László Almásy (Fiennes), that her husband is map making in Ethiopia. The year at this point is 1939, and the country was known as Abyssinia until 1945.

Katharine Clifton : My darling. I'm waiting for you. How long is the day in the dark? Or a week? The fire is gone, and I'm horribly cold. I really should drag myself outside but then there'd be the sun. I'm afraid I waste the light on the paintings, not writing these words. We die. We die rich with lovers and tribes, tastes we have swallowed, bodies we've entered and swum up like rivers. Fears we've hidden in - like this wretched cave. I want all this marked on my body. We are the real countries. Not boundaries drawn on maps with the names of powerful men. I know you'll come carry me out to the Palace of Winds. That's what I've wanted: to walk in such a place with you. With friends, on an earth without maps. The lamp has gone out and I'm writing in the darkness.

• Crazy credits Disclaimer in end credits: "While a number of the characters who appear in this film are based on historical figures, and while many of the areas described - such as the Cave of Swimmers and its surrounding desert - exist and were explored in the 1930s, it is important to stress that this story is a fiction and that the portraits of the characters who appear in it are fictional, as are some of the events and journeys."
• Connections Featured in Siskel & Ebert: Space Jam/The Mirror Has Two Faces/The English Patient/Breaking the Waves (1996)
• Soundtracks Yes! We Have No Bananas Words and Music by Frank Silver and Irving Cohn (as Irving Conn) Published by Skidmore Music Co., Inc.

User reviews 578

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• December 6, 1996 (United States)
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• Nov 17, 1996
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Rapture In The Dunes

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From their green, damp, congested homelands, Europeans come to the North African desert and fall in love–as if into quicksand–with the dry vastness. Like T.E. Lawrence, they are awed by the womanly contours of the great desert dunes. Soon their faces are bronzed, their limbs burnished, their hair bleached, until they are the color of sand. These nomads-by-choice have become the Sahara.

The English Patient , the keenly rapturous film that Anthony Minghella has made of Michael Ondaatje’s novel, burrows into these feelings even as it flies above them like a plane full of surveyors. This is a big film, serious and voluptuous. It hopscotches through time, from 1937 to 1944, and over two continents. It probes issues of betrayal and forgiveness. It borrows Lawrence of Arabia’s epic intellect for a tale of potent romance. But its sophistication never obscures the story, which is as charged as the North African adulteries in Casablanca and The Sheltering Sky . Here is an Englishwoman who tells her man, “I’ve always loved you.” And here is a Hungarian count who vows, “I promise I’ll never leave you.”

He is not English, this Count Laszlo de Almasy (Ralph Fiennes), nor is he at all patient. But those are the words on his medical papers when, scorched and disfigured, he comes under the care of a Canadian nurse named Hana (Juliette Binoche) in Italy at the end of World War II. To the wounded, Hana is a guardian angel, listening like a doting mother to their plaints, caressing them like the chaste lovers they left back home. Setting Almasy up in a ruined monastery, she swathes his parchment skin and reads to him from his precious volume of Herodotus, while Caravaggio (Willem Dafoe), another veteran of the African campaign, urgently quizzes the patient on his mysterious wartime past.

Through flashbacks we see what Almasy is trying to remember–or trying to keep others from discovering. Brilliant and aloof, commanding many languages, he was part of a British cartography expedition in the Sahara. There he meets Katharine (Kristin Scott Thomas), the cool, sure wife of a member of the team. Almasy is aroused and troubled by Katharine; even dancing, he stalks her furtively, as if she’s not supposed to know she’s in his arms. Almasy, a hoarder of his own secrets, may want to possess but not be known; Katharine may be tired of her cheery husband (Colin Firth), and she’s itchy to return to her seaside home. None of this matters when they fall in love.

Most films, as they ravel their stories, narrow their focus to two or three central characters. The English Patient, though, expands its field of vision to embrace the impromptu communities around Almasy–notably Hana and her Sikh lover Kip (Naveen Andrews). They re-enact, with less melodrama, the arc of Almasy and Katharine’s desperate affair. Almasy wants his love to flee in a plane; Kip sends Hana soaring on pulleys into the clerestory of the monastery chapel. Up there with the heavenly murals: Kip knows that’s where this pensive angel belongs.

The English Patient is up there with Hana. Minghella, a British playwright whose first film ( Truly Madly Deeply ) was also about love beyond death, gives care to the segue of image and sound from one scene to the next, to the performers’ intonations and gazes, to snatches of dialogue–say, a phrase as glancing as “Yes. Absolutely”–that may echo an hour later to haunt the characters.

The film is, in an old phrase, beyond gorgeous: a feast whose splendor serves Almasy complex passions. The cast is superb: Binoche, with her thin, seraphic smile; Scott Thomas, aware of the spell she casts but not flaunting it; Fiennes, especially, radiating sexy mystery, threat shrouded in hauteur. Doom and drive rarely have so much stately star quality.

All year we’ve seen mirages of good films. Here is the real thing. To transport picturegoers to a unique place in the glare of the earth, in the darkness of the heart–this, you realize with a gasp of joy, is what movies can do.

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'The English Patient': EW review

Love and doom have always made dramatic bedfellows, but even those who gorge on romantic tragedies like A Farewell to Arms or Vertigo may find their appetite for fatal rapture duly tested by The English Patient . For this is a movie in which romance is saturated in catastrophe, like an episode of The Love Boat set aboard the Titanic . Liberally adapted from Michael Ondaatje’s Booker Prize-winning poetic novel, The English Patient , a brooding, elliptical, mosaically structured love-and-war epic (it runs 2 hours and 39 minutes), shows us the most fervid stirrings of passion being ripped apart by disaster. Planes are shot out of the sky, a woman is blown to bits by a land mine, and a globe-trotting loner, having found the love of his life (they bond while getting buried in a sandstorm), loses not only that love but his face — he’s burned beyond recognition, turned into a scarred husk of a man who can only dream of what was. The source of most of this darkness is, literally speaking, World War II. Yet there’s also a greater metaphysic at work. In The English Patient , romance does more than dance with tragedy — it crashes on the rocky shoals of Fate.

From its opening vistas of a propeller plane cruising over rippled sand dunes, which are photographed to suggest the curves of a woman’s body (the images are so honey-rich they make Lawrence of Arabia look shabby), The English Patient is an elegant, accomplished piece of high modernist filmmaking. In scene after scene, you can feel the writer-director, Anthony Minghella ( Truly, Madly, Deeply ), straining for a masterpiece, a swank literary Casablanca . Minghella stakes his claim on the audience by inviting us to piece together the film’s jigsaw-puzzle design, which meticulously straddles time and place: the prewar desert of North Africa, where a crew of British cartographers, accompanied by the Hungarian Count Almásy (Ralph Fiennes), wander among the natives; and the Italian countryside near the end of the war, when Almásy, now an incinerated phantom (he looks like Freddy Krueger on sedatives), lies in a morphine haze inside an abandoned monastery, dreaming back over the affair that led him to this living death.

In the desert, Almásy developed a cautious attraction for Katharine Clifton (Kristin Scott Thomas), the aristocratic wife of one of the cartographers; their passion then erupted into full-blown forbidden love. Fiennes, who disappeared inside the shells of his characters in Schindler’s List and Quiz Show , now comes on as a sexily severe matinee idol. The acerbic, fine-boned Scott Thomas matches him swoon for swoon, though what binds these two most is the ferocious glimmers of rage and pride that pepper their romance. Fiennes projects the agony of ecstasy — a man hungrily letting obsession get the better of him.

The English Patient is most compelling when it’s most conventional. But the film’s intricate structure has an unintended effect: Whenever we flash-forward to Fiennes’ scarred victim coming to terms with memory, the movie goes slack. (It’s as if the drama were being engulfed by its own framing device.) Some of the characters in this section don’t fully translate to the screen, such as Almásy’s nurse, Hana (Juliette Binoche), a beaming ingenue who seems inexplicably devoted to him, or the Canadian thief Caravaggio (Willem Dafoe), whose secret vendetta against Almásy stems from his own scorched memory. By the end, we understand how these characters fit the movie’s grand collage of love and betrayal, but it’s the very overelaborateness of that collage that makes The English Patient a remote and, at times, faintly oppressive experience. It’s a movie that lusts for catharsis yet never quite gets there, because, for all of its bitter romantic anguish, it ultimately coalesces in your head rather than your heart. B

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November 15, 1996 The English Patient By JANET MASLIN hristmas in Cairo, 1938: an exquisite sequence in "The English Patient," one of so many in this fiercely romantic, mesmerizing tour de force. In the courtyard of the British Embassy, soldiers sit at tables baking in the sun while a bagpipe plays "Silent Night." The heat is overwhelming. And the effect is one of dizzying incongruity, as if all the conventions of ordinary life had been suspended. The world has palpably been turned upside down. Even more torrid than the weather is the erotic pull that draws Katharine Clifton, an elegant Englishwoman who is helping to preside over this party, to the ornate window behind which her handsome, obsessed lover hides. He longs to lure her away for one of the trysts that fill this haunting film with its intricate array of memories. "Swoon," he whispers ardently. "I'll catch you." She does swoon. No wonder. "The English Patient," a stunning feat of literary adaptation as well as a purely cinematic triumph, begins long after this love affair has come to a terrible end. The man of the title, who once pursued Katharine with such intensity, has been literally consumed by fire. Scarred beyond recognition, he lies in a bombed-out Tuscan monastery in the waning days of World War II and is tended by Hana, a luminous nurse. Hana performs near-miracles. So does Anthony Minghella's film as it weaves extravagant beauty around a central character whose condition is so grotesque. The same was true for Michael Ondaatje's poetic and oblique 1992 novel, a winner of the Booker Prize. From the standpoint of film adaptation the book is hugely daunting, and not merely because its hero is disfigured and confined to his bed. "There are stories the man recites quietly into the room which slip from level to level like a hawk," Ondaatje wrote of the injured man sifting through his memories. This dreamlike, nonlinear tale moves in much the same way, swooping gracefully from past to present, from one set of lovers to another, from the contours of the body to the topography of the desert sands. In love with the mystery of far-flung places, the book invokes geography, wartime espionage and consuming physical passion as it evocatively spans the globe. Minghella (whose "Truly, Madly, Deeply" and "Mr. Wonderful" are no preparation for this) manages to be astonishingly faithful to the spirit of this exotic material while giving it more shape and explicitness, virtually reinventing it from the ground up. He has described what he aspires to here as "epic cinema of a personal nature." With its immense seductiveness, heady romance and glorious desert vistas at the "Lawrence of Arabia" level, "The English Patient" imaginatively lives up to that description. Like T.E. Lawrence, the English patient -- actually the Hungarian Count Laszlo Almasy -- comes to the desert as a cartographer and stays to find himself caught up in war. And Ralph Fiennes, as Almasy, makes himself the most dashing British actor to brood in such settings since the young Peter O'Toole. Though Fiennes plays the film's Tuscan scenes from beneath pale, bristly stubble and a mask of weblike scars (courtesy of Jim Henson's Creature Shop), he is often seen as a dazzling, elusive figure working with the Royal Geographical Society in remote corners of North Africa. The film's debonair side is so highly developed that the actors playing these adventurers wear dinner clothes from a tailor who dressed the Duke of Windsor. As the burn victim confides in Hana (played with radiant simplicity by Juliette Binoche, as a woman recovering her own equilibrium), the details of this earlier life unfold. And the film, like Almasy himself, is most alive in the tempestuous past. "The English Patient" sets off sparks with the grand entrance of Katharine, played by Kristin Scott Thomas in a great career-altering change of pace. Ms. Scott Thomas' more restrained roles anticipate nothing of her sensual allure and glittering sophistication here. Katharine descends grandly from the skies with an airplane and a husband (Colin Firth) at her disposal. "She was always crying on my shoulder for somebody," Geoffrey Clinton confides, without realizing that his wife and Almasy have become feverishly involved. "Finally persuaded her to settle for my shoulder. Stroke of genius." Meanwhile, Almasy's obsession does not escape the notice of Madox (Julian Wadham), his worldly friend and colleague. "Madox knows, I think," he tells Katharine. "He keeps talking about Anna Karenina. It's his idea of a man-to-man chat." There is no time, while being swept away by the sheer magnetism of "The English Patient," to complain that this kind of treachery is not earthshaking or new. The film has so many facets, and combines them in such fascinating and fluid style (with great polish from John Seale's cinematography, Stuart Craig's production design, Gabriel Yared's insinuating score and Walter Murch's adroit editing), that its cumulative effect is much stronger than the sum of its parts. So in exchange for a sharp central story -- or even one that is easily described -- the film offers such indelible images as cave paintings of swimmers in the desert, a sandstorm of mysterious (and prophetic) fury as Almasy and Katharine are thrown together, and the English patient's great treasure, a well-worn, memento-filled volume of Herodotus. Even without that book, the film's reverence for history and literature would be very clear. The film's parallels and layers also incorporate Caravaggio (Willem Dafoe), a wily Canadian thief whose fate is linked to Almasy's and whose name, like every other detail here, has been chosen with intriguing care. A more captivating character who receives shorter shrift is Kip (Naveen Andrews), the voluptuously handsome Sikh who defuses land mines and becomes gently involved with Hana. The spareness with which Ondaatje describes this liaison has a piercing loveliness that Minghella's film mirrors: "She walks towards his night tent without a false step or any hesitation. The trees make a sieve of moonlight, as if she is caught within the light of a dance hall's globe. She enters his tent and puts an ear to his sleeping chest and listens to his beating heart, the way he will listen to a clock on a mine. Two a.m. Everyone is asleep but her." "The English Patient" sees the eloquent delicacy in that passage and brings it to every frame. "The English Patient" is rated R (under 17 requires accompanying parent or adult gurdian). It includes violence, nudity, sexual situations, and one terrifying scene involving torture. NOTES The English Patient. Directed by Anthony Minghella; written by Minghella, based on the novel by Michael Ondaatje; director of photography, John Seale; edited by Walter Murch; music by Gabriel Yared; production designer, Stuart Craig; produced by Saul Zaentz; released by Miramax Films. Running time: 160 minutes. This film is rated R. With: Ralph Fiennes (Almasy), Juliette Binoche (Hana), Willem Dafoe (Caravaggio), Kristin Scott Thomas (Katharine Clifton), Naveen Andrews (Kip), Colin Firth (Geoffrey Clifton) and Julian Wadham (Madox). Showtimes and tickets from 777-FILM Online

The English Patient Review

01 Jan 1996

160 minutes

English Patient, The

The ingredients most likely to give a critic indigestion are fatty emotions and over-ripened sentimentality. And so it was that The English Patient succeeded so magnificently, both critically and to the tune of £12 million at the UK box office. And yet, in its ambition to underplay every emotional nuance (except for Ralph Fiennes' visceral outburst late in the film), it ultimately under-performs.

While the film offers understatement, the critics have preferred to overstate its merits. The story recounts the journey of the mysterious Count Almasy (Fiennes), a cartographer of uncertain nationality who is dragged, badly burned and half-dead, from the wreckage of his bi-plane at the tail end of World War II. As he is placed under the care of Canadian army nurse Hana (Oscar-winner Binoche) to live out the final days of the war in a dilapidated Italian villa, a magnificent story unravels (in flashback) of his illicit love for a married woman, Katharine Clifton (Scott-Thomas).

Simultaneously, Hana is completing her own emotional journey with the help of a bomb disposal officer (Naveen Andrews — with whom she shares one of the truly classic scenes in the film), and occupational thief Caravaggio (Willem Dafoe) appears out of nowhere to question the elusive Almasy, suspecting him of being the spy who helped the Germans to get their men into the Sahara.

There is a compelling lack of emotional involvement here: the brief flashes of unbridled feeling certainly hit home, and when they come, they excise quickly any doubt about the effectiveness of Fiennes, but still we care little for this underwhelming Count Almasy and his flighty, faintly irritating, inamorata Katharine Clifton. Some might argue that this is deliberate and is true to an "unfilmable" novel (Booker Prize-winner by Michael Ondaatje) but on the small screen, the majestic vistas of vanilla deserts and blistering sunsets are mere Discovery Channel fodder and do not make up for the low-fat epic romance.

Here is passion that merely blisters the heart rather than blasts it asunder. After a heart-stopping, nine Academy Award-winning, six Bafta scooping and two Golden Globe-grabbing journey to classic status, there is an unthinking consensus about The English Patient which belies its true quality.

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The English Patient Movie Review: When Were You Most Happy?

Anthony Minghella’s The English Patient is an epic war drama with two romances thrown in for spice. All three parts: the war drama, the romance in the past, and the romance in the present, will keep you on the edge of your seat. Ralph Fiennes plays the English Patient (a highly fictionalized László Almásy –  a famous Hungarian cartographer). 

László has been shot down in his plane and received life-threatening burns all over his body. Hana (Juliette Binoche) is his French-Canadian nurse who has decided to leave her convoy and tend to her dying patient in a peaceful, though ransacked, building along the way.

Katherine Clifton (Kristin Scott Thomas) was László’s lover during World War II. She was married to Geoffrey Clifton (Colin Firth) at the time, who assists various governments with aerial photographs of the landscape. So begins more than 40 amazing transitions between the present and the past. In the present, while Hana takes care of the English Patient, she is falling in love with Lieutenant Kip, a Sihk in the British Indian Army who is in the area defusing bombs.

Last, László must contend with a visitor, Caravaggio (Willem DaFoe), who was tortured during the war, including having his thumbs cut off. He has already killed two of the people involved in his torture, but now he is looking for the last person responsible – whomever gave the Germans maps of Cairo, and Caravaggio believes László may be the man he is after.

The direction and editing are absolutely seamless when they come to wending their way through several plots that all lead to the same spot in the present. There is no surprise this film won Best Picture. You deserve to have a copy of The English Patient on your shelf, and you deserve to watch it while hopelessly in love.

Greg Hammond

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The English Patient Reviews

• 87   Metascore
• 2 hr 42 mins
• Drama, Comedy, Action & Adventure
• Watchlist Where to Watch

Nine Oscars---including Best Picture---went to this superb romantic WWII drama starring Ralph Fiennes. Juliette Binoche plays a compassionate nurse who takes her horribly injured, amnesiac patient (Fiennes) to a monastery to die in peace. A book the man carries reveals the story of his life before the war and explains the chain of events that brought him to his fate, including his affair with a married woman (Kristin Scott Thomas). Willem Dafoe, Naveen Andrews, Colin Firth.

Anthony Minghella's lavish adaptation of Michael Ondaatje's novel is the sort of movie that people lament isn't made anymore: a sweeping romantic adventure in the tradition of DOCTOR ZHIVAGO and OUT OF AFRICA. Set mostly during World War II, but moving skillfully between related narratives in North Africa and Italy, it tells the story of the great love of Almasy (Ralph Fiennes), a Hungarian explorer, and a recently married painter, Katharine (Kristin Scott Thomas). Interwoven with flashbacks of the couple's increasingly passionate and ill-fated affair are scenes in which Hana (Juliette Binoche), a French-Canadian nurse in a ruined monastery in Tuscany, cares for an enigmatic, badly burned man known only as "The English Patient." The narrative surprises are often telegraphed in advance, but the intelligence and scope of Minghella's robust and attentive direction go a long way toward maintaining viewer interest. Fiennes is solid, if occasionally a little remote, as the dashing man of action. But Kristin Scott Thomas is the film's revelation: Consigned to supporting roles in films like FOUR WEDDINGS AND A FUNERAL and BITTER MOON, she takes center stage as a smart, fearless woman who's utterly irresistible.

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The English Patient

Written and directed by Anthony Minghella, based on the novel by Michael Ondaatje, this long and searching movie, from 1996, brings together many stories. First, there is an adulterous love affair between Almásy (Ralph Fiennes) and Katherine (Kristin Scott Thomas), which unfolds in North Africa before the outbreak of the Second World War. Then, as the war winds down, the badly burned Almásy is cared for in an abandoned Italian monastery by a French-Canadian nurse (Juliette Binoche), who has an affair with a Sikh soldier (Naveen Andrews). Then the mysterious Caravaggio (Willem Dafoe), a scavenging thief who appears to know the secrets of Almásy’s past, shows up. All these plotlines interweave and tauten right up to the unbearable romantic tension of the climax. The triumph of the film lies not just in the force and the range of the performances—the crisp sweetness of Scott Thomas, say, versus the raw volatility of Binoche—but in Minghella’s creation of an intimate epic: vast landscapes mingle with the minute details of desire, and the combination is transfixing. (Streaming on Amazon, Hulu, and other services.)

The English Patient

By Peter Travers

Peter Travers

Get ready for the great romance of the movie year. It’s clear from the shimmering, startling opening shot: Almasy (Ralph Fiennes), a Hungarian count, desert explorer and pilot, is flying Katharine Clifton (Kristin Scott Thomas), the married Englishwoman he loves, over the Sahara in a small plane during World War II. German fire sends them parachuting to the desert in flames, his body clinging to hers in a paradigm of love and death. Admirers of the 1992 novel by Michael Ondaatje won’t remember things beginning that way because they didn’t. Writer and director Anthony Minghella ( Truly, Madly, Deeply ) has altered the novel. I said altered, not mutilated. Ondaatje, a Canadian citizen born in Sri Lanka, told his story in lyrical bursts. Minghella, born in England to Italian parents, imposes a more linear structure, maximizes Almasy and Katharine at the expense of other characters, and sacrifices some of the book’s mystery for cinematic coherence. Yet Ondaatje’s poetic spirit flares brightly onscreen.

Granted, The English Patient runs nearly three hours and sounds like the self-important froufrou ( Out of Africa ) that wins Oscars and bores most of us brainless. But the gifted Minghella has distilled the novel with rare grace and incendiary feeling. Almasy, burned beyond recognition and ripped from the dead Katharine by Bedouins, is cared for at an army hospital where he is known only as “the English patient.” When the Allies move on, Hana (Juliette Binoche), a Canadian nurse, cares for her patient alone at an abandoned Italian monastery, where she comforts him with reading and morphine. The two aren’t alone for long. Kip (Naveen Andrews), a Sikh officer in the British Army, arrives to defuse bombs and stays to quicken a passion in Hana that she had long thought dead. Caravaggio (Willem Dafoe in full, flinty vigor), a crafty thief who had his thumbs cut off by the Nazis, comes to find out whether the English patient is really the German spy who betrayed him.

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This hypnotic epic, impeccably produced by Saul Zaentz ( Amadous ) and stunningly shot by John Seale ( Witness ), moves across time and the borders of Italy, Egypt and North Africa to link its two love stories. Binoche and Andrews are vibrant and moving, though the back story of Hana and Kip’s interracial affair has been truncated for the screen. It’s the memories of the English patient, filtered through pain and drug-induced delirium, that provide the focus for Minghella, whose artful script and direction mark him as a master of intimate emotion.

Fiennes, in or out of disfiguring makeup, gives a performance of probing intelligence and passionate heart. And Scott Thomas, mistaken as chilly by those who know her only from Four Weddings and a Funeral , is an incandescent revelation in her first full-out romantic role. Katharine betrays her husband (a superb, touching Colin Firth) in scenes of sizzling eroticism with Almasy that lead to scalding guilt. On first seeing Katharine, Almasy is told by a friend: “She’s charming, and she’s read everything,” Intellect and carnality fuse combustibly in the rhapsodically sexy Scott Thomas. Flashbacks reveal how the cool, cynical Almasy becomes drunk on Katharine, forging his honor through a commitment that prevails over the conflicting loyalties of war. With The English Patient, Minghella proves that a movie love story can be smart, principled and provoking, and still sweep you away.

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English Patient, The (United States, 1996)

For those who have forgotten the depth of romance and passion that the movies are capable of conveying, Anthony Minghella's The English Patient can remedy the situation. This is one of the year's most unabashed and powerful love stories, using flawless performances, intelligent dialogue, crisp camera work, and loaded glances to attain a level of eroticism and emotional connection that many similar films miss.

Is The English Patient melodramatic? Of course, but it's the sort of finely-honed melodrama that embraces viewers rather than smothering them. And the movie never resorts to cheap, manipulative tactics. This well-crafted story, brought to the screen with great care by British playwright and director Anthony Minghella ( Truly, Madly, Deeply ) and based on the prize-winning novel by Michael Ondaatje, serves up the love of Almasy (Ralph Fiennes) and Katharine (Kristin Scott Thomas) in a way that is simultaneously epic and intimate.

The English Patient has an elliptical structure, beginning with the same scene that it ends with. In between, it moves several years into the future, and even further into the past. The opening sequence, which takes place during World War II, shows a British plane being shot down over the North African desert. The pilot, a Hungarian count named Laszlo Almasy, is badly burned in the ensuing crash. Years later, in 1944 Italy, we meet him again. Although his outward injuries have healed, leaving his features scarred beyond recognition, he is dying. He has also supposedly lost his memory. Hana (Juliette Binoche), the Canadian nurse who cares for him, takes him to an isolated, abandoned church to allow him to die in peace. There, injecting him with morphine and reading to him from his beloved volume of Herodotus, Hana seeks to seeks to stimulate his memories. Meanwhile, others arrive at the church -- a mysterious, crippled war veteran named Caravaggio (Willem Dafoe), who has a hidden agenda, and a pair of bomb experts, the British Sgt. Hardy (Kevin Whately) and his Sikh superior, Kip (Naveen Andrews), who becomes Hana's lover.

Eventually, through dreams and waking flashbacks, Almasy's memories come flooding back, although Caravaggio asserts that he hasn't really forgotten anything -- he just wants to forget. The story then flip-flops between the present and a period during the late-'30s and early- '40s, when Almasy is part of a British map-making effort surveying the Sahara. It's then that he meets Katharine Clifton, the wife of a good-natured pilot (Colin Firth) who is helping with the project. Almasy and Katharine fall for each other, and the stage is set for a classic exploration of love and betrayal set against the dangerous background of Nazi aggression.

The one flaw in The English Patient is related to an aspect of the structure. The "modern-day" scenes with Almasy awaiting death aren't as nearly as involving as the flashback sequences. The relationship between Hana and Kip lacks the intensity of the central romance, primarily because neither of them is a fully-realized character. As a result, the scenes that take place in this time frame, some of which are quite lengthy, can be seen as unwanted interruptions.

As is necessary for a movie of this tone and style, the acting is strong. Ralph Fiennes gives us an Almasy who seems loosely based on Casablanca 's Rick -- strong and silent until the right woman releases all of his pent-up passion. Fiennes is the kind of actor who likes challenging himself with each new role (he has essayed vastly different personalities in Schindler's List , Quiz Show , and Strange Days ), and his work in The English Patient represents a continuation of that trend. Kristen Scott Thomas ( Four Weddings and a Funeral ), sporting faux blonde hair, is luminous as Katharine, effortlessly conveying to the audience the energy and zest for life that Almasy finds irresistible. Together, these two are hotter than the desert heat that simmers around them.

Juliette Binoche ( Blue ) is delightful as Hana, although her character is frustratingly ill-developed. Willem Dafoe ( Tom and Viv ), the only American in the cast, plays the kind of mysterious role he has become accustomed to (primarily because he does it so well). Solid supporting performances are turned in by Naveen Andrews as Kip, Colin Firth ( Pride and Prejudice ), as Katharine's husband, and Julian Wadham ( The Madness of King George ) as Almasy's best friend, Madox.

The English Patient is the sort of intelligent, epic love story that seems so rare these days. There's something about this film that lingers long after the end credits have rolled -- a desire to re- experience all the feelings generated by the movie, perhaps. One of the reasons for The English Patient 's power is that it strikes universal chords. This motion picture is yet another example of how the patience of movie-goers, after being sorely tried during the first eight mediocre months of 1996, is being rewarded by a surge of excellent end-of-the-year releases.

Comments Add Comment

• Pride & Prejudice (1996)
• Horse Whisperer, The (1998)
• Gone with the Wind (1969)
• Nights in Rodanthe (2008)
• Sweet November (2001)
• Longest Ride, The (2015)
• Schindler's List (1993)
• Quiz Show (1994)
• Strange Days (1995)
• Duchess, The (2008)
• Wrath of the Titans (2012)
• Bigger Splash, A (2016)
• Four Weddings and a Funeral (1994)
• Other Boleyn Girl, The (2008)
• Bel Ami (2012)
• Tomb Raider (2018)
• Rebecca (2020)
• Certified Copy (2011)
• Three Colors: Blue (1969)
• Summer Hours (L'Heure d'ete) (2009)
• Cosmopolis (2012)
• Dan in Real Life (2007)
• Breaking and Entering (2006)

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The english patient.

Directed by Anthony Minghella

In love, there are no boundaries.

In the 1930s, Count Almásy is a Hungarian map maker employed by the Royal Geographical Society to chart the vast expanses of the Sahara Desert along with several other prominent explorers. As World War II unfolds, Almásy enters into a world of love, betrayal, and politics.

Ralph Fiennes Juliette Binoche Willem Dafoe Kristin Scott Thomas Naveen Andrews Colin Firth Julian Wadham Torri Higginson Jürgen Prochnow Kevin Whately Clive Merrison Nino Castelnuovo Hichem Rostom Peter Rühring Geordie Johnson Liisa Repo-Martell Raymond Coulthard Philip Whitchurch Jason Done Roger Morlidge Simon Sherlock Sebastian Schipper Fritz Eggert Sonia Mankaï Rim Turkhi Sebastian Rudolph Thoraya Sehill Sondos Belhassen Gregor Truter Show All… Salah Miled Abdellatif Hamrouni Samy Azaiez Habib Chetoui Philippa Day Amanda Walker Paul Kant Matthew Ferguson Anthony Smee Lee Ross Dominic Mafham

Director Director

Anthony Minghella

Producers Producers

Saul Zaentz Paul Zaentz Steve E. Andrews

Writer Writer

Original writer original writer.

Michael Ondaatje

Casting Casting

David Rubin Michelle Guish

Editor Editor

Walter Murch

Cinematography Cinematography

Assistant directors asst. directors.

Steve E. Andrews Emma Schofield

Executive Producers Exec. Producers

Bob Weinstein Scott Greenstein Harvey Weinstein

Lighting Lighting

Morris Flam

Camera Operator Camera Operator

Production design production design.

Stuart Craig

Art Direction Art Direction

Aurelio Crugnola Franco Fumagalli Neil Lamont

Set Decoration Set Decoration

Aurelio Crugnola Stephenie McMillan

Title Design Title Design

Deborah Ross

Choreography Choreography

Carolyn Choa

Composer Composer

Gabriel Yared

Sound Sound

Chris Newman Malcolm Fife Walter Murch Ivan Sharrock Pat Jackson Mark Berger Richard Duarte David Parker

Costume Design Costume Design

Ann Roth Gary Jones

Makeup Makeup

Fabrizio Sforza Antonio Maltempo Alessandra Sampaolo Louise Constad Giuseppe Desiato

Miramax The Saul Zaentz Company Tiger Moth Productions

Primary Language

Spoken languages.

German Italian Arabic English

Releases by Date

14 nov 1996, 22 nov 1996, 26 feb 1997, 28 feb 1997, 06 mar 1997, 12 mar 1997, 14 mar 1997, 15 mar 1997, 20 mar 1997, 27 mar 1997, 26 apr 1997, 30 nov 2016, 31 aug 2006, 12 nov 2018, releases by country.

• Theatrical M
• Theatrical 16
• TV 14 mj.gov.br
• Theatrical U
• Physical DVD, FilmX
• Theatrical 12
• Theatrical 15
• Theatrical G
• Theatrical M/12

South Korea

• Theatrical 19
• Theatrical Re-released
• Theatrical R

162 mins   More at IMDb TMDb Report this page

Popular reviews

Review by Varghese 16

ELAINE: Ugh. You wouldn't believe it. My boyfriend dumped me. My friends, who I don't even like, they won't talk to me. (face-pulling) All because I don't like that stupid English Patient movie.

WAITRESS: Really? I thought it was pretty good.

ELAINE: Oh, come on. Good? What was good about it? (scoffs) Those sex scenes!I mean, please! Gimme something I can use!

WAITRESS: (sour) Well, I liked it.

The waitress takes the coffee pot and walks away into the back.

ELAINE: (calling after) Hey. You forgot about my piece of pie. Hello? (irritated) You know, sex in a tub. That doesn't work!

---------------------------------------------------------

CAROL: Elaine. Elaine, did you just see The English Patient?

GAIL: (tearful) Didn't you love it?

Review by cinéfila... 🕯️ ★★★★ 4

This review may contain spoilers. I can handle the truth.

i would let 90's ralph fiennes carry my dead body through the desert

Review by anthony ★★★ 4

ralph fiennes? more like ralph FINE oh boy he can get it anytime anywhere

Review by Sean Baker 7

First time watch for me. 1996 was a bit of a mess for me so that's probably why I missed it.

I found it engaging yet I wasn't swept away... perhaps because of the film's formality. And John Seale's cinematography is of course delicious.

Budget was 27 million. Even for 23 years ago, that's impressive.

Watched on Blu-ray

Review by john ★★★ 1

Is Colin Firth just available to play a role in every English movie on Earth?

Review by SARAH🦕 ★★★½ 2

Willem DaFOXY and Ralph FINE damn 

Sorry this is another thirst review I am a simple woman sometimes

Review by Dr. Cat in the Brain ½ 10

The English Patient is a story about a Canadian nurse in World War 2 who looks after a disabled, dying burn victim in a broken down Italian monastery. The patient cannot remember his name and his life is revealed slowly (very slowly) via flashbacks while the nurse reads him his copy of Herodotus' Histories.

Believe me, it only sounds thrilling on paper.

I originally saw this film on the big screen in 1996. I thought it was mediocre but I enjoyed some of the performances. I thought Juliette Binoche and Naveen Andrews had great chemistry and I kinda wished the film was about them. Ralph Fiennes and Willem Dafoe are always a welcome addition to any movie. The problem was…

Review by Aaron Michael ★★★★½

These straights had my heart racing!

Review by PTA ★★★★★ 14

The more that I watch this film, the more it creeps up my top 100 film's of all time list. This film is an overlooked gem nowadays, even though it won a lot of awards back in 96.

An undeniable masterpiece and it almost puts every other film ever made to shame. Seriously give it another try if you don't believe me and if you have watched it more than once and you still aren't a fan then what can I say.

The direction and storytelling are impeccable and the cast all around are outstanding! Especially Juliette Binoche! And Ralph Fiennes, Kristin Scott Thomas, Willem Dafoe, Naveen Andrews (brilliant) and Colin Firth and freaking amazing.

Yep, I like this movie just as much as Taxi Driver, 2001 A Space Odyssey, Magnolia and Pulp Fiction...rounding out my top 5 film's.

Review by Bobby Finger ★★★★ 2

What if you were so insanely hot that you ruined a whole bunch of lives.

Review by Jizzmonkey ★★★★★ 1

The lines in this, they do read like poetry. They're so good, I think I could've written them myself. "Mrs Clifton, I believe you still have my book. Now on your back!" "You still have sand in your hair. Now fuck me!" A beautiful film, full of love, compassion, and poetry.

Review by theriverjordan ★★★ 40

“The English Patient” is a nearly three hour-long film; which - somehow - still, does its characters an injustice in lack of time devoted to each of their stories. 

Anthony Minghella’s wartime drama is a complex, interweaving tapestry of three romances. Each of which, would have rights for its own epic retelling. It is to “Patient’s” credit of ambition, though not its cohesion as a narrative, that an attempt to relate the trio of relationships simultaneously, amounts to a dizzying cacophony of tragedy and longing. 

Based on a novel that is structured as a quartet of stories set in the Italian Campaign, “Patient” the film suffers from unfortunate favoritism for one particular portion of the book; that of the affair…

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