The English Patient (1996)
TOMATOMETER
AUDIENCE SCORE
Critic Consensus: Though it suffers from excessive length and ambition, director Minghella's adaptation of the Michael Ondaatje novel is complex, powerful, and moving.
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Cast
as Count Almaszy
as Hana
as David Caravaggio
as Katherine Clifton
as Geoffrey Clifton
as Madox
as Kip
as German Officer
as Sgt. Hardy
as Fenelon-Barnes
as D'Agostino
as Fouad
as Fouad
as Bermann
as Oliver
as Jan
as Mary
as Jan
as Fenelon-Barnes
as Rupert Douglas
as Cpl. Dade
as Spalding
as Beach Interrogation Officer
as young Canadian soldier
as kiss me soldier
as sergeant, desert train
as private, desert train
as interrogation room soldier
as interrogation room soldier
as Arab nurse
as Aicha
as officer in square
as interpreter in square
as woman with baby in square
as officer, El Taj
as Corporal, El Taj
as Bedouin doctor
as ancient arab
as Kamal
as Al Auf
as Officer's Wife
as Lady Hampton
as officer's wife
as Sir Ronnie Hampton
News & Interviews for The English Patient
Critic Reviews for The English Patient
All Critics (76) | Top Critics (26) | Fresh (64) | Rotten (12) | DVD (8)
It took a filmmaker with Anthony Minghella's vision to even attempt an adaptation of Michael Ondaatje's The English Patient. And it took a filmmaker with Minghella's talent to pull it off.
Could this possibly be the Casablanca of the late 20th century?
It's the sort of solemn production that is often mentioned as an Academy Award contender.This says less about the quality of the film than it does about its self-consciously lofty tone and its sense of self-importance.
It's a tragically lovely story about the cruel devastation of selfish and ungoverned love. It's also one of the best movies in a long, long time.
The film is a smashing success on its own terms, though as a transcendent love story it lacks the firm foundation in human reality that characterizes Lars Von Trier's superior Breaking the Waves.
With its fine acting, sumptuous visuals and levels of intrigue, The English Patient boasts the elements of something greater than a love story. Too bad it devotes them to something less than a great love story.
Audience Reviews for The English Patient
The kind of overlong and self-important epic-scale drama that seems tailor-made to win every award for its outstanding visuals, performances, make-up and editing, but which suffers from an excess of characters and subplots while lacking in focus and meaning.
Super Reviewer
Excellent, moving film. Fiennes can do no wrong. This is one of the few films in which I appreciated Willen Defoe's acting.
Super Reviewer
The English Patient is a film that I really want to enjoy. Unfortunately, I really couldn't get into the story. I do enjoy a good drama/romance, but Unfortunately this one simply just didn't do it for me. I applaud the acting, as I thought there was good performances here. Unfortunately I didn't very much enjoy the film. I didn't see what the hype was about. I thought the film was quite boring with good acting. I really wanted to get into this, but simply couldn't. For me the greatest romance of all is Casablanca. Everything else seems to be derivative. The English Patient is pretty boring, don't get me wrong, I love films that take time to develop its story, but this film could be much shorter. I felt that the film dragged on, and took far too long to get to the point. Unfortunately this films performances can't save this turkey. Sure people will say this is a sweeping romantic epic, but I thought it was a dud. Like I previously stated, there is only one true romance film, Casablanca. That film is a real classic. However I can't say the same for this film. This film tried too hard at manipulating your emotions and it just didn't work, at least not for me. I felt that The English Patient was a film too wrapped up in its romantic storyline, and it simply jerked your chain to try an sweep you off your feet. I wasn't impressed with this and felt this was a mediocre film with great acting.
Super Reviewer
The English Patient Quotes
| Katharine Clifton: | New lovers are nervous and tender, but smash everything. For the heart is an organ of fire. |
| Count Almaszy: | New lovers are nervous and tender, but smash everything. For the heart is an organ of fire. |
| Count Laszlo Almasy: | The thimble, you are wearing the thimble... |
| Katharine Clifton: | We die containing a richness of lovers and tribes, tastes we have swallowed, bodies we have plunged into and swum up as if rivers of wisdom, characters we have climbed into as if trees, fears we have hidden in as if caves. I wish for all this to be marked on my body when I am dead. I believe in such cartography - to be marked by nature, not just to label ourselves on a map like the names of rich men and women on buildings. We are communal histories, communal books. We are not owned or monogamous in our taste or experience. |
| Count Laszlo Almasy: | Every night.. I cut out my heart... But in the morning it was full again. |
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