The English Patient (1996)

Oasis in the Desert

"The English Patient" is a curate's egg among the Academy Awards. It's an artistically beautiful,sensual film though at times it's slow and bogs down. It has a talented ensemble cast,and lush settings in the North African desert and the Tuscan countryside.

A nurse,Hana (Juliette Binoche) finds a terribly burnt Hungarian nobleman,Laszlo Almasy (Ralph Fiennes) At the same time,she is caring for a thumbless artist,Caravaggio (Willem Dafoe),and has met a handsome Sikh (Naveen Andrews) While she reveals Renaissance murals, she also gradually reveals connections among the men she cares for. On a mapmaking expedition,Almasy fell for a beautiful married woman (Kristin Scott Thomas,with Colin Firth as her husband) They carried on a brief,passionate affair. Like a mirage,it faded. Their affair was an oasis for their hearts. Soon, they are stranded in the desert. She is dying; he looks for help.

"The English Patient" shows the consequences of marital betrayal--not only does Almasy lead a woman to betray her husband (and he his friend&colleague),he also betrays his country by collaborating with the Germans. It comes at a great personal cost. He is horribly disfigured,his body reflecting his soul. His adultery isn't rewarded. Caravaggio realizes,to his horror,that Almasy's actions led to him being tortured by a German commandant (Jurgen Prochnow)

"The English Patient" is a masterpiece in its own way. It has spectacular settings, wonderful acting. In other ways,it's bland and forgettable. It's a Lifetime channel for women movie in Northern Africa and Tuscany. November 15, 2008

Technically it is still a master piece.

It is an interesting film, but not more than that. What does it shows? That the English were particularly sectarian during WW2 on the African front. Nothing new under the sun. Anyone who had a slightly different name or a slightly surprising or uncommon attitude was at once considered as a spy unworthy of any trust. This created myriads or even legions of misunderstandings and human errors along with cruelty, barbaric acts, violence, etc. The only interest of this film is the technical brilliance in the use of flashbacks that only happen in the head of this English patient who plays the loss of his memory to protect himself against his own name and his own ascendants. Yet his survival is not possible and the nurse who is looking after him is little by little led to being convinced by him that she has to overdose him with morphine, which she does. The sentimental elements along the way for the nurse or the Sikh bomb and mine technician are there only to provide a present time line onto which the flashbacks can be woven and attached. The acting is absolutely outstanding, even if the story is rather trite.

Dr Jacques COULARDEAU, University Paris Dauphine, University Paris 1 Pantheon Sorbonne & University Versailles Saint Quentin en Yvelines
September 19, 2008

This movie drove me to go out and devour the book & meet the characters whom the author truly intended to introduce.

At the risk of sounding snobbish, I won't typically invest my time on entertainment which is focused on adultery. It's just one of a variety of subjects which maybe I wish to distance myself from being emotionally involved in someone else's self-destructive behavior. That said, I don't shun the many artistic expressions which skirt about the intrigues of illicit romance to bring a viewer, a reader, a listener, a greater feeling for the dramatic effect of the story. No one contends that a prose or a poem or a lyric may not carry & deliver a story line. but even a still photo may reveal the aspect of a place and it's dramatic impact on the subject.

The 'great' paintings from Da Vinci to Vermeer convey an almost tangible envelope of drama into which a viewer may be invited to slip away. 'English Patient' the movie is 'great' cinematography. Glorious landscapes, passionate characters broken by war, and artful screen writing all combine through a series of flash-backs with powerful spiritual overtones. It's not just a sappy romance; although, it includes a Sapper (someone who explodes bombs) who falls in love with a Canadian Nurse in Italy. August 18, 2008

Honestly, a rather dull exercise....

I saw this film the year it came out, and I kept telling myself "everyone says it's a great film", and I tried to convince myself that it was, but it isn't. It's OK. It's another mediocre best picture Oscar winner.

I saw the film a few days after seeing Kenneth Branagh's film of Hamlet, which came out the same year (1996). I saw Hamlet in the theater. Kenneth shot the film in 70mm, and it was shimmeringly gorgeous, with some of the best cinematography I had seen that decade. Hamlet had a few stunt casting flaws, but I can recall vividly many scenes from it, and it's still a great film 12 years later. When I saw The English Patient, it seemed puny and forgettable. I attributed this to seeing Hamlet a few days earlier, so I decided then to rent Patient (letterboxed) when it came to laserdisc (DVD was not around, but the laser was letterboxed), and I still didn't like it. It's not a terrible film, but not a particularly memorable one, and a rather dull, lifeless one. I remember fragments from it, but overall, I don't remember feeling anything while watching it, and that's rather telling. Many critics foolishly compared it to Lawrence of Arabia (they should be smacked), but it's a soap opera in the desert, not an intellectual, thought provoking epic in the desert like Lean's film was. The film has good performances, some nice cinematography, but overall it's a disappointing film and not worthy of the accolades it received. It's not the worst best picture winner (Forrest Gump might win that title), but it's not a very good film.

August 8, 2008

Great epic film, and terrific DVD set.

The grand epic tale and love story, The English Patient, really requires multiple viewings to truly appreciate. When I watched it the first time it was the characters and their relationships that held my attention. The second time I was better able to understand the fairly complex plotline. And the third time I was able to admire the great look and cinematography of the film more than other viewings, as well as pay more attention to many small details within. I'm not going to go deep into the plot in this review. I'm just going to say it revolves around a man, Count Laszlo (Ralph Fiennes) who gets shot down in a plane during the Second World War, seriously burning just about all of his body. Hana (Juliette Binoche), a Canadian nurse makes a choice to stay behind her team and care for this English Patient (who isn't even English). The Count has lost quite a bit of his memory, but he regains it as she reads the book he had with him. Flashbacks then tell of his past story, mostly before the war, in North African and his relationship with the married Katherine Clifton (Christian Scott Thomas). Also in the present a stranger (William Dafoe) arrives and ads another layer of complexity to the story.

Now saying more that about the plot could diminish the experience for any seeing the film for the first time. I'll just add the performances of the four main leads are all terrific. Binoche won a supporting actress Oscar for it and deservingly so as really the heart of the film that connects the present to the past. Fiennes and Thomas have great chemistry in their relationship that builds itself piece by piece. Some complain this film is boring. Well it's builds itself slowly, but I have never found it boring. The relationships are fascinating and it takes the viewer from place to place with a superb beauty and detail in just about every shot. Seriously I doubt there's a bad shot in the entire film. The film could have trimmed itself down some, shortening or eliminating a scene or two, but honestly I don't have a problem with its length at all. I don't rank this film with the like of Lawrence of Arabia or Gone with the Wind, but it certainly stands as one of the great modern film epics. A must see for anyone who can appreciate a top quality art film.

The DVD is a 2 disk set, and the second disk has some fascination special features involving the making of the film, the film makers and cast, and the author of the book The English Patient. There are also some deleted scenes I found particularly fascinating. I haven't yet viewed the commentary, but look forward to it. The director, Anthony Minghella, died just March this year at the age of just 54. It was a great loss to film making (he also directed Cold Mountain and Truly Madly Deeply among other films). We lost a great film maker, and I dedicate this review in his behalf.
July 29, 2008

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