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The English Patient (1996)
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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. AC
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| Contains violence, swearing, sex scenes. |
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Tell us what you think
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Running time
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155min
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Country of origin
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US
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Genre
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Second World War Romantic Drama
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Original language
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English
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Screenplay
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Anthony Minghella, from the novel by Michael Ondaatje
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Theatrical distributor
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Buena Vista International UK
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UK cinema certificate
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15
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| awards information |
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Award |
Category |
Name |
Nominee/Winner |
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| Academy 1996 |
Actor in a Leading Role |
Ralph Fiennes |
Nominee |
| Academy 1996 |
Actress in a Leading Role |
Kristin Scott Thomas |
Nominee |
| Academy 1996 |
Actress in a Supporting Role |
Juliette Binoche |
Winner |
| Academy 1996 |
Best Picture |
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Winner |
| Academy 1996 |
Directing |
Anthony Minghella |
Winner |
| Academy 1996 |
Writing (Screenplay Based on Material Previously Produced or Published) |
Anthony Minghella |
Nominee |
| BAFTA 1996 |
Best Actress in a Supporting Role |
Juliette Binoche |
Winner |
| BAFTA 1996 |
Best Film |
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Winner |
| BAFTA 1996 |
Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role |
Ralph Fiennes |
Nominee |
| BAFTA 1996 |
Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role |
Kristin Scott Thomas |
Nominee |
| BAFTA 1996 |
Best Screenplay (Adapted) |
Anthony Minghella |
Nominee |
| BAFTA 1996 |
The David Lean Award for the Best Achievement in Direction |
Anthony Minghella |
Nominee |
| Berlin 1997 |
Silver Berlin Bear for the Best Actress |
Juliette Binoche |
Winner |
| Golden Globe 1996 |
Best Motion Picture Drama |
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Winner |
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Film certification logos reproduced by kind permission of BBFC |
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