The English Patient (film)

The English Patient
File:The English Patient Poster.jpg Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Anthony Minghella
Produced by	Saul Zaentz
Screenplay by	Anthony Minghella
Based on	The English Patient by Michael Ondaatje
Starring	Ralph Fiennes Juliette Binoche Willem Dafoe Kristin Scott Thomas
Music by	Gabriel Yared
Cinematography	John Seale
Edited by	Walter Murch
Production company	Tiger Moth Productions
Distributed by	Miramax Films
Release dates	November 15, 1996 (1996-11-15)
Running time	162 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English German Italian Arabic
Budget	$27 million
Box office	$232 million

The English Patient is a 1996 American romantic drama directed by Anthony Minghella from his own script based on the novel of the same name by Michael Ondaatje and produced by Saul Zaentz.

The film was released to critical acclaim, and received 12 nominations at the 69th Academy Awards, eventually winning nine, including Best Picture, Best Director for Minghella and Best Supporting Actress for Juliette Binoche.

Plot

In the final days of the Italian Campaign of World War II, Hana, a French-Canadian nurse working and living in a bombed Italian monastery, looks after a critically burned man who speaks English but cannot remember his name. They are joined by Kip, a Sikh sapper in the British Army who defuses bombs and has a love affair with Hana before leaving, and David Caravaggio, a Canadian Intelligence Corps operative who was questioned by Germans and has had his thumbs cut off during a German interrogation. He questions the patient, who gradually reveals his past.

The patient tells Hana and Caravaggio that in the late 1930s he was exploring the desert of Libya. He is revealed to be Hungarian cartographer Count László de Almásy, who was mapping the Sahara as part of a Royal Geographical Society archeological and surveying expedition in Egypt and Libya with Englishman Peter Madox and others. Their expedition is joined by a British couple, Geoffrey and Katherine Clifton. Katherine and Almásy have an affair, which she abruptly ends. The explorers find and document the Cave of Swimmers and the surrounding area until they are stopped due to the onset of the war. Madox leaves his Tiger Moth at Kufra oasis before returning to England.

While Almásy is packing up their base camp, Clifton, in attempted murder-suicide, deliberately crashes his plane, narrowly missing Almásy. Clifton is killed instantly, Katherine is seriously injured. Almásy carries her to the cave, leaving her with provisions, and begins a three-day walk to get help. At British-held El Tag he attempts to explain the situation, but is detained as a possible German spy and transported on a train. He escapes the train and trades the Geographical Society maps to the Germans for gasoline. He finds Madox's Tiger Moth and flies back to the cave, but Katherine has died. As he flies himself and Katherine's body away, they are shot down by German anti-aircraft guns. Her body is not recovered; he is badly burned but is rescued by Bedouin.

After he has related the story he asks Hana for a lethal dose of morphine; she complies, and reads Katherine's final journal entries to him as he dies. She and Caravaggio leave the monastery for Florence.

Cast

• Ralph Fiennes as Count László Almásy
• Kristin Scott Thomas as Katharine Clifton
• Willem Dafoe as David Caravaggio
• Juliette Binoche as Hana
• Naveen Andrews as Kip
• Colin Firth as Geoffrey Clifton
• Julian Wadham as Peter Madox
• Jürgen Prochnow as Major Muller
• Kevin Whately as Sgt. Hardy
• Clive Merrison as Fenelon-Barnes
• Nino Castelnuovo as D'Agostino
• Hichem Rostom as Fouad
• Peter Rühring as Bermann
• Geordie Johnson as Oliver
• Torri Higginson as Mary
• Liisa Repo-Martell as Jan
• Raymond Coulthard as Rupert Douglas
• Philip Whitchurch as Corporal Dade
• Lee Ross as Spalding
• Anthony Smee as Beach Interrogation Officer
• Matthew Ferguson as Young Canadian Soldier
• Jason Done as Kiss Me soldier
• Roger Morlidge as Desert Train Sergeant

Production

Triumph 3HW 350cc motorcycle specified in the novel as Kip's choice of transport and used in the film

Saul Zaentz was interested in working with Anthony Minghella after he saw the director's film Truly, Madly, Deeply (1990); Minghella brought this project to the producer's attention. Michael Ondaatje, the Sri Lankan-born Canadian author of the novel, worked closely with the filmmakers. During the development of the project with 20th Century Fox, according to Minghella, the "studio wanted the insurance policy of so-called bigger" actors. Zaentz recalled, "they’d look at you and say, ‘Could we cast Demi Moore in the role?" Not until Miramax Films took over was the director's preference for Scott Thomas accepted.

The film was shot on location in Tunisia and Italy. with a production budget of $31 million.

The Conversations: Walter Murch and the Art of Editing Film (2002) by Michael Ondaatje is based on the conversations between the author and film editor. Murch, with a career that already included complex works like the Godfather trilogy, The Conversation, and Apocalypse Now, dreaded the task of editing the film with multiple flashbacks and time frames. Once he began, the possibilities became apparent, some of which took him away from the order of the original script. A reel without sound was made so scene change visuals would be consistent with the quality of the aural aspect between the two. The final cut features over 40 temporal transitions. It was during this time that Murch met Ondaatje and they were able to exchange thoughts about editing the film.

Two types of aircraft are used in the film, a De Havilland D.H.82 Tiger Moth and a Boeing-Stearman Model 75. Both are biplanes. The camp crash scene was made with a ½-size scale model.

Reception

The film received widespread critical acclaim, was a box office success and a major award winner: victorious in 9 out of 12 nominated Academy Awards categories; 2 out of 7 nominated Golden Globe Awards categories; and 6 out of 13 nominated BAFTA Award categories.

The film has a "Certified Fresh" rating of 84% on Rotten Tomatoes based on 75 reviews, concluding. "Though it suffers from excessive length and ambition, director Minghella's adaptation of the Michael Ondaatje novel is complex, powerful, and moving." The film also has a rating of 87% on Metacritic, indicating "universal acclaim". Chicago Sun Times critic Roger Ebert gave the film a 4/4 rating, saying "it's the kind of movie you can see twice – first for the questions, the second time for the answers." In his movie guide, Leonard Maltin rated the film 3½ out of 4, calling it "A mesmerizing adaptation" of Ondaatje's novel, saying "Fiennes and Scott Thomas are perfectly matched", and he concluded by calling the film "An exceptional achievement all around".

Awards

Organization/Association	Award	Actor/Crew	Outcome	Remarks
69th Academy Awards	Best Picture	Saul Zaentz	Won
	Best Actress in a Supporting Role	Juliette Binoche	Won	In her acceptance speech, Binoche said she had expected Lauren Bacall to win for The Mirror Has Two Faces, which would have been her first Oscar.
	Best Art Direction	Stuart Craig and Stephanie McMillan	Won
	Best Cinematography	John Seale	Won
	Best Costume Design	Ann Roth	Won
	Best Director	Anthony Minghella	Won
	Best Film Editing	Walter Murch	Won
	Best Original Score	Gabriel Yared	Won	See The English Patient (soundtrack). Andrew Lloyd Webber joked, "Thank goodness there wasn't a song in The English Patient." since it had such a strong presence.
	Best Sound Mixing	Walter Murch, Mark Berger, David Parker, and Christopher Newman	Won
	Best Actor in a Leading Role	Ralph Fiennes	Nominated
	Best Actress in a Leading Role	Kristin Scott Thomas	Nominated
	Best Adapted Screenplay	Anthony Minghella	Nominated
54th Golden Globe Awards	Best Motion Picture – Drama	Saul Zaentz	Won
	Best Original Score	Gabriel Yared	Won
	Best Director	Anthony Minghella	Nominated
	Best Actor in a Motion Picture – Drama	Ralph Fiennes	Nominated
	Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama	Kristin Scott Thomas	Nominated
	Best Supporting Actress – Motion Picture	Juliette Binoche	Nominated
	Best Screenplay	Anthony Minghella	Nominated
50th British Academy Film Awards	Best Film	Saul Zaentz	Won
	Best Cinematography	John Seale	Won
	Best Editing	Walter Murch	Won
	Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role	Juliette Binoche	Won
	Best Screenplay – Adapted	Anthony Minghella	Won
	Best Music	Gabriel Yared	Won
	Best Direction	Anthony Minghella	Nominated
	Best Actor in a Leading Role	Ralph Fiennes	Nominated
	Best Actress in a Leading Role	Kristin Scott Thomas	Nominated
	Best Costume Design	Ann Roth	Nominated
	Best Production Design	Stuart Craig	Nominated
	Best Sound		Nominated
	Best Makeup/Hair	Nigel Booth	Nominated
47th Berlin International Film Festival (1997)	Silver Bear for Best Actress	Juliette Binoche	Won
	Golden Bear	Anthony Minghella	Nominated

Year	Category	Distinction	Date Checked	Remarks
1998	AFI's 100 Years...100 Movies	Nominated
2002	AFI's 100 Years...100 Passions	#56
2005	AFI's 100 Years of Film Scores	Nominated
2007	AFI's 100 Years...100 Movies (10th Anniversary Edition)	Nominated
1999	BFI Top 100 British films	#55

External links

• Official website
• The English Patient at IMDb
• The English Patient at Box Office Mojo
• The English Patient at Rotten Tomatoes
• The English Patient at Metacritic
• Laszlo Almásy: the real English patient