Film Excess - Free Ukraine - Stop Putin - End the war NOW!!: The English Patient (1996) - Minghella's oppulent, beautifully produced and shot, but nevertheless boring classic

5/14/2017

The English Patient (1996) - Minghella's oppulent, beautifully produced and shot, but nevertheless boring classic

♥♥♥

+ Most Profitable Movie of the Year: 65.76 mil. $ range

Ralph Fiennes squints back at us serenely in the sandy colors that permeate much of Anthony Minghella's The English Patient

A mysterious count, who is in bad condition following a plane crash, gets treated by a kind nurse, while his own story gradually returns to him.

The English Patient is an adaptation of Michael Ondaatje's (Anil's Ghost (2000)) same-titled 1992 novel by great English, Oscar-winning writer-director Anthony Minghella (The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999)) It is an epic war romance that mixes airy dialog with a plot that swells in every direction. Its core romance is not unlike the kind you'd expect to meet a much briefer summation of in a women's magazine. Attractive actors and grand, Oscar-winning production values make this peculiar, overrated mega-hit worth watching. For me its most distinguishing trait is the beauty of many of its images; the remarkable, Oscar-winning cinematography is by John Seale (The Tourist (2010)).
In the end the reason I only award 3 hearts to the film is that despite these qualities, it still thoroughly bores me.

1996 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess

Watch 3 of the first minutes of the film here

Cost: 27 mil. $
Box office: 231.9 mil. $
= Mega-hit
[The English Patient premiered 6 November (LA) and runs 162 minutes. Studio Fox wanted bigger star actors in the leads, but Minghella and producer Saul Zaents were adamant about their choices, and eventually Miramax took over for Fox and allowed them their cast. Filming took place in Siena, Pisa, Tuscany, Venice and Rome, Italy, including in the Cinecittà Studios of Rome, and in Tunesia from September 1995 - January 1996. The film opened limited in 10 theaters to a 278k $ first weekend in North America, where it peaked at #7 and in 1,409 theaters (different weeks) and grossed 78.6 mil. $ (33.9 % of the total gross). Roger Ebert awarded it 4/4 stars. It was nominated for 12 Oscars and won 9: For Best Picture, Supporting Actress (Juliette Binoche), Art Direction, Cinematography, Costume Design, Director, Editing, Score (Gabriel Yared) and Sound Mixing. It lost Best Lead Actor (Ralph Fiennes) to Geoffrey Rush in the great Shine; Lead Actress (Kristin Scott Thomas) to Frances McDormand in masterpiece Fargo, and Adapted Screenplay to Billy Bob Thornton for Sling Blade. The film also won 2 Golden Globes out of 7 nominations, 6 BAFTAs out of 13 nominations, a César award nomination (France's Oscar), 2 European Film Awards out of 3 nominations, 3 National Board of Review awards and many more. The English Patient is certified fresh at 84 % with a 7.6 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

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Donald Sutherland has passed away

Born in Canada, Sutherland battled polio as a child. His first credit was in Suspense (1963, TV-series) and his first film was The Castle of the Living Dead (1964). Later credits in his remarkable career include The Saint (1965-66), The Dirty Dozen (1967), M*A*S*H (1970), Kelly's Heroes (1970), Klute (1971), Don't Look Now (1973), 1900 (1976), Casanova (1976), The Eagle Has Landed (1976), Ordinary People (1980), A Dry White Season (1989), JFK (1991), Outbreak (1995), Fallen (1998), Virus (1999), Fierce People (2005), Pride & Prejudice (2005), Lord of War (2005), The Hunger Games (2012), The Undoing (2020, miniseries) and many more. He passed away at age 88. R.I.P.

Roger Corman has passed away

Born in Detroit, Michigan, Corman had a sprawling, intellectually hungry life as a youth and young man before arriving with his first film in 1955, Five Guns West. He would follow that with titles such as Apache Woman, It Conquered the World, Attack of the Crab Monsters, Teenage Cave Man, A Bucket of Blood, House of Usher, The Little Shop of Horrors, The Pit and the Pendulum, The Intruder, The Raven, The Terror, The Masque of Red Death, The Tomb of Ligeia, The Wild Angels, The Trip, Bloody Mama and many more. As a producer he was behind almost 500 films. Arguably among the most important filmmakers of the 20th century, Corman passed away at age 98. R.I.P.

William Friedkin has died

Born in Chicago, Friedkin accrued TV credits prior to his advance to the big screen as the director of Good TImes (1967), The Birthday Party (1968), The Night They Raided Minsky's (1968) and The Boys in the Band (1970) before his major breakthrough, The French Connection (1971), for which he won his only Oscar. He followed it up with the even bigger smash, The Exorcist (1973), arguably the best horror film of all time, for which he was Oscar-nominated. Later credits include Sorcerer (1977), Cruising (1980), To Live and Die in L.A. (1985), Rampage (1987), Rules of Engagement (2000), Killer Joe (2011) and The Devil and Father Amorth (2017, documentary). Friedkin passed away at age 87. R.I.P.

Louise Fletcher has passed away

Born in Alabama to deaf parents, Fletcher got her first credits in late-1950s TV-series.She took a 10 year-long sabbatical to devote her time to motherhood after the release of A Gathering of Eagles, but then came back and soon saw her career's most important part, as Nurse Ratched in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975), for which she won her sole Oscar. Later credits include Exorcist II: The Heretic (1977), The Lucky Star (1980), Brainstorm (1983), Two Moon Junction (1988), Cruel Intentions (1999), A Perfect Man (2013) and many more. Fletcher passed away at age 88. R.I.P.

Jean-Luc Godard has passed away

Born in Paris, France, Godard lived much of his life in Switzerland. He wrote for French film criticism magazine Cahiers du Cinema and became foundational for the New French Wave that inspired new waves in scores of other countries across the world with his Breathless (1960). Later credits include A Woman Is A Woman (1961), Vivre Sa Vie (1962), Le Petit Soldat (1962), Contempt (1963), Alphaville (1965), Pierrot le Fou (1965), 2 or 3 Things I Know About Her (1967), Weekend (1967), Every Man for Himself (1980), King Lear (1987), Century of Cinema (1995, documentary), Goodbye to Language (2014) and many more. Godard died of assisted suicide at age 91. R.I.P.

Wolfgang Petersen has died

James Caan has died

Caan was born the son of Jewish immigrants from Germany in New York. He got his start on TV in the early 1960s. His credits include El Dorado (1966), The Rain People (1969), Brian's Song (1971, TV movie), The Godfather (1972), - for which he earned his only Oscar nomination, - Slither (1973), The Gambler (1974), Funny Lady (1975), Rollerball (1975), Silent Movie (1976), Hide in Plain Sight (1980), - the only film he also directed, - Thief (1981), Misery (1990), Honeymoon in Vegas (1992), Bottle Rocket (1996), Eraser (1996), Dogville (2003), Elf (2003), Las Vegas (2003-07), Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs (2009) and many more. Caan passed away at age 82. R.I.P.

Jean-Louis Trintignant has died

Born in Vaucluse, France, Trintignant's theatrical debut as an actor was in If All the Guys in the World... (1955). Later credits include ...And God Created Woman (1956), The Seven Deadly Sins (1961), Inferno (1964), A Man and A Woman (1966), My Love, My Love (1967), A Man to Kill (1967), The Great Silence (1968), Z (1969), The Assassination (1972), Three Colors: Red (1994), Amour (2012), Happy End (2017) and many more. He also wrote and directed two films in the 1970s. Trintignant passed away at age 91. R.I.P.

Ray Liotta has died

Adopted from an orphenage at a young age, Liotta got hooked on acting in high school. He had various TV credits in the late 1970s and early 80s, with his film debut in The Lonely Lady (1983). Later credits include Something Wild (1986), Field of Dreams (1989), Goodfellas (1990), Cop Land (1997), Hannibal (2001), Blow (2001), Narc (2002), John Q (2002), Identity (2003), Observe and Report (2009), Youth in Revolt (2009), The Details (2011), Killing THem Softly (2012), The Place Beyond the Pines (2012), Shades of Blue (2016-18), The Simpsons (2018, TV-series), Marriage Story (2019), The Many Saints of Newark (2021), Black Bird (2022, TV-series) and many more. Liotta passed away at age 67 in his sleep while on production in the Dominican Republic. R.I.P.

Philip Baker Hall has died

Born in Ohio, Hall didn't start acting until he was 30. His long list of credits include Zabriskie Point (1970), Miami Vice (1987, TV-series), Midnight Run (1988), Ghostbusters II (1989), Cheers (1993, TV-series), Hard Eight (1996), The Rock (1996), Air Force One (1997), Boogie Nights (1997), Seinfeld (1991-98), Rush Hour (1998), The Insider (1999), Magnolia (1999), The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999), Bruce Almighty (2003), Dogville (2003), The Zodiac (2005), Zodiac (2007), Curb Your Enthusiasm (2004-09), Mr. Popper's Penguins (2011), Modern Family (2011-12) and many more. Hall passed away at age 90. R.I.P.

Film Excess - Free Ukraine - Stop Putin - End the war NOW!!

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5/14/2017

The English Patient (1996) - Minghella's oppulent, beautifully produced and shot, but nevertheless boring classic

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