The English Patient
(Miramax)Director: Anthony Minghella
Producer: Saul Zaentz
Executive Producers: Bob Weinstein, Harvey Weinstein, Scott Greenstein
Screenwriter: Anthony Minghella, from a novel by Michael Ondaatje
Director of Photography: John Seale
Cast: Ralph Fiennes, Juliette Binoche, Willem Dafoe, Kristin Scott Thomas, Naveen Andrews, Colin Firth, Julian Wadham, Jurgen Prochnow
Quick Review: THE ENGLISH PATIENT is sort of like LAWRENCE OF ARABIA meets DOCTOR ZHIVAGO and HAMLET. It's an epic in its sense of scope and look. It's a romance in both its main plot and subplot. And it's lyrically poetic in its language and imagery. It's also long and slow, and that makes it hard for people conditioned to studio films filled with car chases and special effects. It's a character study that doesn't give you typical resolutions and easy answers. It's also one of the few films that seems to understand the power of lust -- not the indifferent lust of casual encounters, but rather the obsessive lust of romance. It's not for those who must have constant external conflict, but it is for those who prefer the more involved conflict of the inner being.
Rating (on a four-star scale): Academy Award for Best Picture
Interview with Ralph Fiennes.
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