Even the unpatient may like this patient

Rating: 9/10 (30 September 2017)

People have made jokes about this film, like me. I saw it for the first time last night, in it's entirety. This near two three quarter hour movie, is one you become more engrossed in, the longer you watch. One reason, is to find the catalyst, responsible for a plane that goes down, where survivor Fiennes (yeah, the reputable guy on airlines) a lone author who becomes involved in a fatal affair, that claims beauty, Kristin Scott Thomas, never looking sexier, here. He's working with an archaeologist team, from what I can see, in the wide spanning desert of Cairo, not a place you want to brake down in, Summer or fall, where it's headed by Firth, Kristin Scott's Thomas's husband. The fatal affair intensifies, as we go back and forth with a bed ridden, skinless, Fiennes who has practically lost his face, and other features, burnt beyond recognition (think the sloth victim in Se7en) where he's nursed by army sister, (Binoche, a wonderful actress) who has her eyes on someone else. She plays a quite damned, if a little reserved nurse, whose time and dedication to her patients, where I'm really talking Fiennes here, is much admired. Willem Dafoe plays a bit of a shadowy character, out for revenge against Fiennes, where I could piece the whole following scenario, as experiencing this love triangle in other films, but there's a little bit more to it, which I liked, Dafoe's reasons for his black woolen mitts. Here's a great film, with great actors and characters, especially the ambiguous one of Fiennes, which should be viewed, by those who haven't seen it, even 20 years after it's release. It's ending is sad and memorable, if bleak too, especially if you consider Fienne's fate. Great film, that will stay with you, after seeing it.