The English Patient (1996)

October 18, 2022 6:56 AM

A badly burned man, Laszlo de Almasy (Ralph Fiennes), is tended to by a nurse, Hana (Juliette Binoche), in an Italian monastery near the end of World War II. His past is revealed through flashbacks involving a married Englishwoman (Kristin Scott Thomas) and his work mapping the African landscape. Hana learns to heal her own scars as she helps the dying man.

Also starring Ralph Fiennes, Juliette Binoche, Willem Dafoe, Kristin Scott Thomas, Naveen Andrews, Colin Firth, Julian Wadham, Torri Higginson, Jürgen Prochnow.

Written and directed by Anthony Minghella, based on the novel by
Michael Ondaatje.

Currently streaming in the US on HBO Max. Also available for digital rental on multiple outlets. JustWatch listing.

posted by DirtyOldTown (8 comments total)

Never saw this, but doesn't this movie have sort of a reputation as the archetype of the highbrow movie? Like, someone's doing a crassly commercial film and the go-to snark is something like, "They didn't exactly set out to make The English Patient"?
posted by Halloween Jack at 7:17 AM on October 18, 2022

I recall enjoying it as a movie, has some intense moments. It is mainly an english cast so just the accents cast it as highbrow. Cool plane crash scene. Really intense gross burn makeup. Kinda lame love story element.
posted by sammyo at 7:53 AM on October 18, 2022

Minghella's two kids are both in the industry now, with Max a regular on The Handmaid's Tale and Hannah one of the heads of production at Bad Robot. She just produced Lou with Allison Janney and has both the Ta-Nehisi Coates-scripted Superman, Constantine 2, and an untitled Cloverfield sequel on her docket.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 8:03 AM on October 18, 2022

Never saw this, but doesn't this movie have sort of a reputation as the archetype of the highbrow movie? Like, someone's doing a crassly commercial film and the go-to snark is something like, "They didn't exactly set out to make The English Patient"?

It's no "Sack Lunch."
posted by AndrewInDC at 9:22 AM on October 18, 2022 [4 favorites]

I was with Elaine on this, yeeeeeeears in advance of the backlash.

Naveen Andrews's 'shower scene' was nice, though.
posted by praemunire at 9:37 AM on October 18, 2022 [2 favorites]

They certainly pulled punches compared to the book. Cutting out necrophilia, Imperial use of colonial troops, and a stinging indictment of racism as a decision point in the use of nuclear weapons.
posted by Abehammerb Lincoln at 10:04 AM on October 18, 2022 [3 favorites]

This is the movie that I think of whenever I want to point out that something is basically a highbrow soap opera.

I do hate this so much, despite loving all of the players in it.
posted by drewbage1847 at 1:12 PM on October 18, 2022

I've read the book and seen the movie. I love both of them.
posted by kingless at 3:29 PM on October 18, 2022