1338 The English Patient

[Finch]

Anthony Minghella transforms Michael Ondaatje’s prizewinning novel into one of the most breathtaking romances ever put on-screen, a film that captured both the cultural imagination and the Academy Awards (winning nine Oscars, including Best Picture). Rescued from a crashed plane in the Sahara during World War II, a badly burned, unidentified man (Ralph Fiennes) comes under the care of a compassionate nurse (Juliette Binoche), as he pieces together the memories of an affair that led him to a life-shaking reckoning. The English Patient is epic filmmaking of rare intelligence and delicacy, and a piercing reflection on the barriers that war creates and love transcends.

Film Info
United States, United Kingdom
1996
162 minutes
Color
1.85:1
English
Spine #1338
4K UHD SPECIAL EDITION FEATURES
New 4K digital restoration, supervised and approved by director of photography John Seale, with 5.1 surround DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack
One 4K UHD disc of the film presented in Dolby Vision HDR and one Blu-ray with the special features
New program featuring Seale and script supervisor Dianne Dreyer
Two audio commentaries, featuring director Anthony Minghella, producer Saul Zaentz, and author Michael Ondaatje
Documentary on the making of the film
Interviews with Minghella, Ondaatje, Zaentz, editor Walter Murch, production designer Stuart Craig, stills photographer Phil Bray, and historians Robert Collins and David Hall
Deleted scenes with commentary by Minghella
English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
PLUS: An essay by critic Bilal Qureshi

New cover by Robert Hunt

[therewillbeblus]

A lot of people seem to dislike this film, but I've always thought it to be one of the better epics to come out of the 90s. It's got surprising narrative agility, the romance is given the right amount of space to feel authentic, and Binoche's present-day arc is involving and her role quite moving

[lazarus]

I’ve been saying this for decades, but I always maintained this was too artsy for the normies and too classic Hollywood for the 90s indie kids, and despite the Oscar sweep it was never fully loved by either faction.

As a huge fan of the book, I thought Minghella really pulled off a magic trick from an impossible task turning stream of consciousness into something tangible. Having a brilliant editor in Walter Murch didn’t hurt but he’s a beautiful writer and visualist.

Thankfully the tide has turned over the years and a lot of cinephiles have been showing up for this and The Talented Mr. Ripley, which I hope gets a similar Criterion treatment one day.

[cdnchris]

My wife loves this film. She saw it in theaters multiple times and watched it endlessly on video, though I don't think we've watched it in years, not since I picked up the Blu-ray at any rate. I think it's fine and my only annoyance with it really is that I thought Fargo should have won.

[Brian C]

I’ve always liked it too, from when I went to see it opening week as a college freshman, feeling like it was basically going to be a homework assignment.

If nothing else, it’s a really great movie-star movie, with all of the major characters being really well cast and the actors giving really great performances.

Historically, it also feels now like the end of a Hollywood era. Afterwards, for better or worse, they mostly stopped making historical epics like this at all. I guess you had stuff like Titanic and Gladiator after, but it still feels like the last of its particular kind.

[LastMinit]

I've seen this a lot. It buys into the old romantic view of exotic locales, which will always appeal to me, with really atmospheric moments like the native healer emerging from the dark with a rack full of ointments balanced across his shoulders, setting down to tend to the face burns of our tragic character. The mains are cast well and it's easy to get caught up in their passion.

[Lowry_Sam]

Thankfully the tide has turned over the years and a lot of cinephiles have been showing up for this and The Talented Mr. Ripley, which I hope gets a similar Criterion treatment one day.

It's been featured heavily on the channel both for Ripley itself & for Patricia Highsmith. It's probably only a matter of time now.

[artfilmfan]

I love this film and its soundtrack. Ralph and Juliette were at the Criterion closet not too long ago. I was hoping they were at the Criterion office to do interviews for this release. Oh well … I’m glad Criterion is releasing this. Here’s hoping for a Criterion re-release/upgrade of the other book-to-film adaptation starring Juliette.

[colinr0380]

One great factoid associated with this film that is mentioned on the commentary track is that the luxurious hotel used for the consummation of the illicit passion between Fiennes and Scott-Thomas, meant to be set in Cairo, is actually the Grand Hotel des Bains in Venice, as most famously used as the setting for Visconti's Death In Venice!

(Though Criterion really should have added the Adam & Joe The Toy Patient (major spoilers!) segment to the extras for completeness!)

[feihong]

I was a senior in high school when The English Patient came out. I watched it obsessively, seeing it 8 times at the very uncomfortable old Rialto theater in my home town. I think the Seinfeld bit about it sort of cemented an unfair reputation for the movie as sort of pretentious and intellectual. Whereas I think most audiences respond to the romanticism and the beauty of the film first. I have always liked David Thomson's writing on the film, where he describes the movie as working from small details, building out to an epic scope, rather than a film that slams you right into the spectacle. The opening sequence, with layer-upon-layer of visual elements that seem like they come from one place and are actually from another place entirely, is a really superb way of introducing us to the way the film's themes will work.

[artfilmfan]

Colin: I am sure the characters played by Ralph and Kristin always have Cairo.

feigning: I also saw The English Patient in a movie theater when it first came out, around Thanksgiving. I was so mesmerized by it. I went on to buy the laserdisc (never played it because I never eventually bought a player), the DVD, the special edition DVD and the Blu-ray. I’ve seen this film probably a dozen times.

[jbeall]

Perhaps it's because the 25th anniversary of 9/11 was four days ago, but I've noticed a number of comments (so far, anyway) remarking on the first time members watched this film. This suggests to me that perhaps it made a stronger impression than even its fans realized at the time. I don't know that Hollywood stopped funding these epics--see the LOTR trilogy, for starters--but this definitely had a nostalgic-yet-realistic feel, both in terms of the subject matter and in terms of that era of Hollywood filmmaking, so I'm looking forward to revisiting this one.

[Peter McM]

Juliette Binoche is that one actress who, even to this day, could stand in front of a camera reading from the English or French language phone book, and I will probably buy it on blu ray. While The English Patient is not exactly my favorite film she's ever done, I do own the original studio blu, even though the PQ is a little lackluster. I'm hopeful the fresh 4K will renew my enthusiasm.

[Walter Kurtz]

Here's the thing. I've had my heart ripped out by the death of a married woman.

Here's another thing. I thought Scott-Thomas's character was intelligent and sexy and if I were in the desert I'd have fallen head over heels for her. And the ending of The English Patient was the loudest I ever screamed in a movie theater even though no sounds came out of my mouth.