The English Patient (film)

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The English Patient
Film poster
Directed by	Anthony Minghella
Produced by	Saul Zaentz
Written by	Anthony Minghella (screenplay) Michael Ondaatje (novel)
Starring	Ralph Fiennes Kristin Scott Thomas Willem Dafoe Juliette Binoche Colin Firth Naveen Andrews
Music by	Gabriel Yared
Cinematography	John Seale
Distributed by	Miramax Films
Release date(s)	November 6, 1996 (USA)
Running time	160 min.
Language	English German Italian Arabic
Budget	$27,000,000 US (est.)
All Movie Guide profile
IMDb profile

The English Patient is a 1996 film adaptation of the novel by Michael Ondaatje. The film, directed by Anthony Minghella, won nine Academy Awards, including Best Picture. Ondaatje worked closely with the filmmakers to preserve his artistic vision, and has stated that he is happy with the film as an adaptation.

Contents 1 Plot 2 Themes 2.1 Nationality 2.2 Ownership 2.3 Fluidity of Time and Memory 3 Symbols 3.1 The Thimble 4 Post-Production 5 Responses 6 Cast and crew 6.1 Actors 7 Awards and Nominations 7.1 1997 Academy Awards 7.2 1997 Golden Globes, USA 8 Trivia 9 See also 10 External link

[edit] Plot

The story deals with the gradually revealed histories of a critically burned man, his Canadian nurse, a Canadian thief, and an Indian sapper in the British Army as they live out the end of World War II in an Italian monastery.

One of the main characters, the burned man, is Count László de Almásy, a famous Austro-Hungarian researcher of the Sahara Desert, disciple of Herodotus, and discoverer of the Ain Doua prehistoric rock painting sites in the western Jebel Uweinat mountain. In the film, the character of Count de Almásy, played by Ralph Fiennes, is heavily fictionalised. A factual overview of his life is provided in the 2002 Saul Kelly book, The Hunt for Zerzura: The Lost Oases and the Desert War.

[edit] Themes

[edit] Nationality

Issues of nationality pervade almost every facet of the story and ensnare the movement toward fulfillment and liberation. The crushing irony of the film--namely, that Almásy is Hungarian, not English--is profoundly invested in the impossibility of transcending barriers of nationality. Although love operates as a universal and unifying force, it cannot alter the inexorable forces of nationalism that send the plot spiraling into high tragedy. When Almásy emerges from three days of walking through the desert, he blurts out to the British officers his name: Count László de Almásy. Branded a German, he is knocked unconscious and shackled, leaving Katharine to suffer a lingering death in the cave. At its core, the tragedy of Katharine's death stems from the ill-luck of his German-sounding surname.

Dying in the cave, Katharine writes, "I know someday you will carry me out into the palace of winds. That's all I've wanted, to walk in such a place with you, with friends, an earth without maps." Katharine's final thoughts linger on her aversion to the political boundaries which divide the world. Her death becomes an escape from these distinctions as she is swept into the liberating vastness of the winds, immersed in the sublime love of Almásy. The camera fades into a sweeping pan of the desert landscape, unmarred by the political boundaries constructed by man.

[edit] Ownership

The English Patient probes the nature of ownership while remaining deeply ambivalent to its implications. In the opening sequences with Almasy, he exudes a stalwart resistance to ownership within the context of inter-human relations. All the members of The Royal Geographical Society are married except Almasy, who deems marriage a form of bondage. When Katharine asks him what he hates most, he replies, "Ownership. Being owned. When you leave you should forget me." Almasy attempts to maintain his freedom even as the passion of their love forges an enduring connection. Katharine, dismayed, shoves his head off her and leaves him alone in the bathtub. Later, when Madox yells that owning the maps means owning the desert, Almasy scoffs that the desert cannot be owned. In a sense, Almasy is correct: The Cave of the Swimmers is a testament to the transience of human possession over a landscape that has endured all attempts at political appropriation.

Nevertheless, Almasy's obsession with Katharine subverts his antipathy toward ownership. He claims Katharine's suprasternal notch as his own, and Katharine forces him to acknowledge this shift. Later, in a crazed desperation to regain his relationship with Katharine, "I want to touch you. I want the things which are mine, which belong to me." Almasy insists that his love for Katharine entitles him to ownership of her, but she denies his demands. The thematic conflict of these forces suggests that the passion of their love cannot exist independently of the thorny, pragmatic issues of ownership and control.

[edit] Fluidity of Time and Memory

The English Patient is an assemblage of methodically-crafted fragments of memory recalled by Almásy after being burnt in the plane crash of the opening sequence. These memories blend seamlessly into the contemporary events, allowing for a steady escalation of mystery and tension until the revelations of tragedy. Memories are just as palpable and emotionally-charged as the present setting, suggesting that the faculty of memory can erase the limitations of time. Almásy says he cannot bear to lie in the light of the window, but does not miss the view because vivid memories of the landscape remain ensconced in his mind.

Left alone in the cave, Katharine writes, "How long is a day in the dark?--or a week?" Although a linear conception of time denies the characteristic of changeability, Katharine insists that the contextual atmosphere in which time is experienced alters, and in this case obscures, one's perception of its passage. Through memory and through the context in which time is experienced, she and Almásy succeed in negating the conventional limitations of time.

[edit] Symbols

[edit] The Thimble

In order to unpack much of the symbolism in The English Patient, one must investigate and consider the historical implications of the symbolic objects. The thimble is a recognizable symbol for female work within the domestic sphere. From a modern perspective, the thimble has decidedly anti-feminist implications, both as a symbol of female confinement within the household and as a symbol of female weakness. The thimble implies confinement by the nature of sewing, a task performed exclusively within the domestic sphere. Weakness is implied by virtue of the thimble's function--protection--suggesting that the protective armor of a thimble is necessary to shelter the weak or fragile feminine finger within.

However, The English Patient subverts the notion of the thimble as a symbol of subservience to patriarchal control. The thimble is first seen in a characteristically subtle shot in which it is lifted from the sand after the plane crash at the beginning of the film. Rather than confined in the domestic sphere, the thimble is tossed through the unfettered endlessness of the sand. In addition, the thimble is discovered and pocketed by a man. These details subvert the typical associations of the thimble and foreshadow the theme of female empowerment which unfolds throughout the course of the film.

Following the initial explosive liaison between Katharine and Almásy, Almásy is seen sewing up the dress he tore off her shoulders. The following exchange occurs:

Katharine: I'm impressed you can sew. [...] You sew very badly.

Almásy: Well, you can't sew at all.

Katharine: A woman should never learn to sew, and if she can she should never admit to it.

In this scene, Almásy performs the duties of the domestic sphere, skewing traditional conceptions of the dichotomized roles between husband and wife. Katharine affirms that sewing has been historically employed to rigidify female duties, and in effect disempower women. Her refusal to learn how to sew suggests a deliberate effort to dismantle her obligation to abide by traditional gender roles.

In the market, Almásy buys the thimble for Katharine on the same day as her wedding anniversary to her husband. The gift is accompanied by the assurance that it is filled with saffron (dried stigmas of plants used as a dye). Almásy's statement affirms that the thimble has no utilitarian value, and therefore insists on a broader symbolic value. Thus, the thimble becomes a symbol for their raging but illicit love.

After Katharine has ended the affair and Geoffrey has killed himself by crashing the plane, Almásy says, "You're wearing the thimble." She replies, "Of course. You idiot. I always wear it. I've always worn it. I've always loved you." With this line, Katharine affirms that she has never relinquished her love for him, though she was obligated by her matrimonial vows to break their physical ties. The thimble comes to symbolize the enduring quality of their love to transcend all earthly obstacles.

When Almásy returns to the cave to recover Katharine's body, he opens the thimble and rubs the saffron across her face and neck. Her death, of course, has made her pale, and by rubbing the dye across her face, he engages in a symbolic re-animation of her life and their love. The thimble is the source for this metaphoric resurrection, and because the thimble symbolizes their love, the interpretive implication is that their love enables them to transcend the boundaries of death and corporeal limitations.

[edit] Post-Production

In his book, The Conversations: Walter Murch and the Art of Editing Film (2002), Ondaatje describes how the different layers of the filmmaking process come together. A special focus is placed on the work of the editor of the film, Walter Murch. With over a 40 time transitions, the movie was a puzzle that was put together again and again over the course of one year. Walter Murch won an Academy award for his editing and another one for his contribution to the film's sound.

[edit] Responses

The film garnered widespread critical acclaim and was a major award winner as well as a box office success; its awards included the Academy Award for Best Picture, the Golden Globe Award and the BAFTA Award for Best Film. Juliette Binoche won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress, nosing out Lauren Bacall for The Mirror Has Two Faces. It would have been Bacall's first Oscar win, and in her acceptance speech Binoche graciously commented that Bacall ought to have won. Anthony Minghella took home the Oscar for Best Director. Kristin Scott Thomas and Ralph Fiennes were nominated for Best Actress and Best Actor. Thomas's nomination came as a gratifying affirmation of her success after having received the dubious honor of being nominated for "Worst New Star" in the 1986 Golden Raspberry Awards. In all, The English Patient was nominated for an impressive eleven awards and ultimately walked away with nine.

Despite its accolades from critics, the film received an extremely polarized response from audiences. Many viewers enjoyed the romantic theme of unrequited love, the sweeping scope and cinematography of its World War II North African desert setting, and its seamlessly crafted temporal shifts. Nevertheless, the film's detractors charge that its character-driven center results in a lethargic pace. In addition, some audiences have pointed to its inclusion of infidelity, treason, and euthanasia as glorifications of characters who fail to comport themselves in accordance with a modern moral sensibility. The dissatisfaction among some moviegoers was so great that an episode of Seinfeld was devoted to lampooning the film's fervent supporters. In it, Elaine gets dumped by her boyfriend because of her tepid response to the film. Her criticism culminates with the outburst, "Quit telling your stupid story, about the stupid desert, and just die already! Die!!".

Some film critics have pointed to The English Patient as a classic example of the disconnect between the aesthetic tastes of film critics and the broader movie audience. Professional critics were largely enamored by the subtle undertow of thematic tensions and the enigmatic power resonating beneath the surface of its characters. However, the popular audience seemed to desire a more overt exposition of motivations and desires.

Some of the most trenchant criticisms of the film have focused on Minghella's decision to concentrate on the love affair of Almásy and Katharine, whereas in Ondaatje's book Hana and Kip's is the more central romance. In particular, the depiction in the Egyptian scenes of a love that mitigates the moral obligations of all transgressions—even selling military information to the Nazis—has been seized upon as unpardonable. Yet this claim fails to take into account the film's thematic Greco-Roman origins expressed in Homer's The Iliad, in which Helen betrays her Spartan husband Menelaus to marry Paris of Troy. Importantly to the Iliad's relation to The English Patient, the love of Helen and Paris operates as a fated, inexorable force, wreaking havoc, destruction, and moral violation. Their love neither excuses nor justifies this destruction; it only explains that love's explosive power is such that cannot be circumscribed by moral constraints.

[edit] Cast and crew

[edit] Actors

• Ralph Fiennes - Count Laszlo de Almásy
• Kristin Scott Thomas - Katharine Clifton
• Juliette Binoche - Hana
• Willem Dafoe - David Caravaggio
• Naveen Andrews - Lt. Kip Singh
• Colin Firth - Geoffrey Clifton
• Kevin Whately - Sgt. Hardy
• Jürgen Prochnow - Major Müller

[edit] Awards and Nominations

[edit] 1997 Academy Awards

• Won, Best Picture
• Won, Best Actress in a Supporting Role: Juliette Binoche
• Won, Best Art Direction-Set Decoration (Stuart Craig and Stephanie McMillan)
• Won, Best Cinematography (John Seale)
• Won, Best Costume Design (Ann Roth)
• Won, Best Director (Anthony Minghella)
• Won, Best Film Editing (Walter Murch)
• Won, Best Music, Original Dramatic Score (Gabriel Yared)
• Won, Best Sound (Walter Murch, Mark Berger, David Parker, and Christopher Newman)
• Nominated, Best Actor in a Leading Role: Ralph Fiennes
• Nominated, Best Actress in a Leading Role: Kristin Scott Thomas
• Nominated, Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium (Anthony Minghella)

[edit] 1997 Golden Globes, USA

• Won, Best Motion Picture - Drama
• Won, Best Director - Motion Picture (Anthony Minghella)
• Won, Best Original Score - Motion Picture (Gabriel Yared)
• Nominated, Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture - Drama: Ralph Fiennes
• Nominated, Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture - Drama: Kristin Scott Thomas
• Nominated, Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture: Juliette Binoche
• Nominated, Best Screenplay - Motion Picture (Anthony Minghella)

[edit] Trivia

• In a 1997 episode of the NBC sitcom Seinfeld, Elaine Benes continually ridicules The English Patient, eventually alienating her from everyone.

• In his commentary track on the film's British DVD release, director Anthony Minghella reveals that he had originally intended to cast Judge Reinhold in the part of Count Laszlo de Almasy. Reinhold declined the part in order to pursue the starring role an intended sequel to Vice Versa.

• When Madonna released the album Ray of Light in 1998, she confessed that her favorite film was The English Patient, and she stated that it was one of the rare films that could move her to tears. The music video for "Frozen", a single from the album, was heavily influenced by the film.

[edit] See also

• List of movies that have won eight or more Academy Awards

[edit] External link

• The English Patient at the Internet Movie Database