In the final days of the Second World War, a young nurse (Juliette Binoche) tends to a man dying of horrific burns in a crumbling Italian villa. The doomed patient cannot remember anything about who he is or how he got there, until he sees a battered copy of Herodotus that was found with him. Slowly, through flashbacks, the pieces of his life come together.
He is Count Almasy (Ralph Fiennes), a mapmaker and adventurer, who entered into a fiercely passionate affair with a married woman (Kristin Scott Thomas) before the war. Their romance plays out against the dusty backdrop of the Sahara, but soon spirals into unimaginable tragedy.
Fantastic performances, spectacular cinematography and flawless directing by the late Anthony Minghella are just a few of the reasons why The English Patient scored an impressive nine Oscars. One of cinema's greatest romantic dramas, it's a real weepie.
Highly recommended.
Did you know? Ralph Fiennes's burns make-up took five hours to apply every day. Fiennes insisted that the full body make-up be applied even for the scenes where only his head would be filmed.
(1996) 
(5 Star)
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