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The English Patient

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The English Patient

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• Drama
• Romance

• 1996
• Anthony Minghella
• 155 mins
• 15

Summary

Oscar-winning Second World War romantic drama, starring Ralph Fiennes, Juliette Binoche, Willem Dafoe and Kristin Scott Thomas. During the final days of the conflict, the mystery behind the identity of a badly burned pilot is slowly unravelled by a compassionate nurse.

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IMDB

Review

A star rating of 5 out of 5.

Andrew Collins

Inevitably recalling Lawrence of Arabia with its desert setting and epic sweep, this skilful adaptation of Michael Ondaatje's difficult novel is at heart two love stories, one in the present, the other told in flashback. Ralph Fiennes plays the hideously burned "English patient" tended to by Juliette Binoche's nurse in an Italian monastery at the end of the Second World War. His story, torrid and dangerous, is pieced together gradually, while Binoche falls in love with a bomb disposal officer (Naveen Andrews). Fiennes is in fact a Hungarian, a mapmaker charting the Sahara who got caught up in the war and in an affair with the unhappily married Kristin Scott Thomas. It's an ambitious film and director Anthony Minghella's skill lies equally in his screenplay, which delivers explanation only in fragments but keeps us involved for what is an epic running time.

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7.4/10

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• Sky Store

Credits

Cast

rolenameCount Laszlo AlmasyRalph FiennesHanaJuliette BinocheCaravaggioWillem DafoeKatharine CliftonKristin Scott ThomasKipNaveen AndrewsGeoffrey CliftonColin FirthMadoxJulian WadhamMajor MüllerJürgen ProchnowHardyKevin WhatelyFenelon-BarnesClive MerrisonD'AgostinoNino CastelnuovoFouadHichem RostomOliverGeordie JohnsonMaryTorri HigginsonJanLisa Repo-MartellRupert DouglasRaymond Coulthard

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Crew

rolenameDirectorAnthony Minghella

Details

Theatrical distributor

Buena Vista International UK

Released on

1997-03-14

Languages

English | Arabic | German | Italian

Guidance

Contains violence, swearing, drug abuse and sex scenes.

Available on

video, DVD and Blu-ray

Formats

Colour

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