The English Patient (1996)
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A burned man with an English accent recounts his past and a forbidden love affair in the desert during World War II.
The story
In 1944 Italy, a French-Canadian nurse named Hana cares for a severely burned man who speaks with an English accent but cannot remember his name. As she cares for him in a bombed-out monastery, she is joined by a Sikh sapper and a Canadian intelligence operative. While the soldier's identity remains a mystery, the presence of a mysterious book containing his notes and mementos provides a window into his past. Meanwhile, the narrative shifts back to the late 1930s, revealing the history of a Hungarian cartographer and his complicated relationships in the Sahara desert before the onset of the war.
Full plot (contains spoilers)
In 1944 Italy, Hana, a nurse, cares for a severely burned man who cannot remember his name but speaks with an English accent. He is joined by Kip Singh and David Caravaggio. Caravaggio interrogates the patient, while Hana and Kip begin a romance. The film intercuts with the 1930s, where the man—revealed as László Almásy—was a Hungarian cartographer. He had a passionate affair with Katharine Clifton, a British woman. After a tragic incident involving her husband, Almásy took her to a desert cave. He was later shot down and left for dead, eventually being found and burned. The film reveals the truth of his past: he was betrayed by a friend and spent years in the desert. In the end, Almásy chooses to die peacefully, and Hana reads Katharine's final letter to him as he passes away.
- First release year
- 1996
- Runtime (minutes)
- 162
- Production countries
- United States; United Kingdom
- Original languages
- English
- Directors
- Anthony Minghella
- Writers
- Anthony Minghella · screenplay
- Cast and characters
- Ralph Fiennes · the titular character; Kristin Scott Thomas · Katharine; Juliette Binoche · Hana; Willem Dafoe · Caravaggio; Naveen Andrews · Kip Singh; Colin Firth · not specified; Julian Wadham · not specified; Jürgen Prochnow · not specified
- Genres
- epic romantic war drama; historical romance; war drama
- Themes
- identity; forbidden love; war; memory
- Tone and mood
- epic; intimate; poignant
- Setting
- Italy and the Sahara Desert during the 1930s and 1940s.
- Premise and plot tags
- World War II; Historical Drama; Romance; Survival
- Source material / true-story basis
- 1992 novel by Michael Ondaatje
- Reception
- The film received widespread critical acclaim and was a major commercial success, winning several major awards including nine Academy Awards.
- Reported review scores
- Rotten Tomatoes · score: 86% · scale: percentage · review count: 91; Metacritic · score: 87 · scale: 100 · review count: 31
- Awards and nominations
- Academy Award · Best Picture · Win; Academy Award · Best Director · Win; Academy Award · Best Supporting Actress · Win; Academy Award · Best Editing · Win
- Production trivia
- The film was shot on location in Tunisia and Italy.; The film is referred to in the Seinfeld episode 'The English Patient'.; The film was the first to receive a Best Editing Oscar for a digitally edited film.
Film metadata comes from the open sources listed in Credits & Contact. Catalogue details may be incomplete.
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