Wonderful movie...

Rating: 5/10 (11 August 2000)

...to sleep to.
Even though I absolutely hated this movie it does have a few good things about it.
1) Excellent music - I personally believe Marta Sebestyn has a beautiful voice.
2) The scenes shot in the desert were beautiful (but overdone)
3) One of my favorite actors, Ralph Fiennes, is in it (but I do forgive him for that)
But even though those things were good, I hate this film with a passion and I give kudos to the Seinfeld episode where Elaine doesn't understand why people love this movie. And like the character Elaine, I do not understand why people and The Academy Awards liked this movie.
1) Juliette Binoche's character was very bland to me and her dialogue seemed unrealistic.
2) The beginning needs a lot more coal in the fire. With all the energy in it, you might tune out before the real action hits. And even then the action is next to nothing.
3) I don't feel any passion or love between Ralph Fiennes and Kristin Scott Thomas. Their "love" scenes are more comedic than passionate. Couldn't they kiss like normal human beings??
4) I never feel that Colin Firth is a jealous husband until the very end.
5) And the line "You can't kill me. I died long ago." didn't make sense to me. Wouldn't that mean his love for Katherine was nothing? He was dead during that relationship? Wow. What a powerful love story.
6) Isn't the movie "Fargo" on the top 100 movies of all time? So why didn't it win the Academy Award for Best Picture? Maybe it wasn't commercial enough.
So don't waste practically 3 hours of your time with this movie. Not unless you want an almost 3 hour nap. If you want to see Fiennes as a cynical lover see "The End of the Affair". An excellent movie with all the good things about the "The English Patient" with an exception of the desert. If you want to see the REAL best movie of 1996 see "Fargo". And if you want to see a good movie directed by Anthony Minghella see "The Talented Mr. Ripley" (even though its adaptation was far from faithful to the book.) Or you could watch a slug race because it has the same pace of "The English Patient" and just about as much excitement.