1996 Academy Awards® Winners and History Shine (1996, Australia/UK) Actor: GEOFFREY RUSH in "Shine", Tom Cruise in "Jerry Maguire", Ralph Fiennes in "The English Patient", Woody Harrelson in "The People vs. Larry Flynt", Billy Bob Thornton in "Sling Blade" Actress: FRANCES MCDORMAND in "Fargo" , Brenda Blethyn in "Secrets & Lies", Diane Keaton in "Marvin's Room", Kristin Scott Thomas in "The English Patient", Emily Watson in "Breaking the Waves" Supporting Actor: CUBA GOODING, JR. in "Jerry Maguire", William H.

Macy in "Fargo" , Armin Mueller-Stahl in "Shine", Edward Norton in "Primal Fear", James Woods in "Ghosts of Mississippi" Supporting Actress: JULIETTE BINOCHE in "The English Patient", Joan Allen in "The Crucible", Lauren Bacall in "The Mirror Has Two Faces", Barbara Hershey in "Portrait of a Lady", Marianne Jean-Baptiste in "Secrets & Lies" Director: ANTHONY MINGHELLA for "The English Patient", Joel Coen for "Fargo" , Milos Forman for "The People vs. Larry Flynt", Scott Hicks for "Shine", Mike Leigh for "Secrets & Lies" In the 1996 awards race, four of the five Best Picture nominees were from independent studios - and financed outside of mainstream Hollywood. 1996 was therefore dubbed "The Year of the Independents," plus films from abroad. For the first time in Oscar history, none of the major Hollywood studios (including Paramount, MGM, Warner Bros., UA, Fox, Columbia, Universal, or Disney's Buena Vista) were represented among the Best Picture-nominated films for 1996.

All the pictures nominated for Best Picture were low-budget, independent films - with the sole exception possibly being Tri-Star's Jerry Maguire, the closest nominee to a major, mainstream Hollywood studio. [The surge for independent films wouldn't last long - in 1997, the big-studio, big-budget Titanic (1997) swept the Oscars.] The big winner of the year was writer/director Anthony Minghella's The English Patient (a Saul Zaentz/Miramax film). [20th Century Fox studios dropped its support during pre-production, letting it go to the independent Miramax.] It was a prestigious, three hour long World War II saga/romance composed of flashbacks, conspiracies, and ambiguities and based on an adaptation of Michael Ondaatje's novel, about a French-Canadian nurse who cares for a mysterious, dying burn patient ('The English Patient') in a ruined, abandoned monastery in Italy's Tuscany, after he was wounded in a WWII plane crash in the African desert.

It had twelve nominations and nine Oscar wins - Best Picture, Best Director, Best Supporting Actress, Best Art Direction, Best Cinematography, Best Sound, Best Original Dramatic Score, Best Costume Design, and Best Film Editing. It lost its nominations for Best Adapted Screenplay (Minghella), Best Actor (Fiennes) and Best Actress (Scott Thomas). Its nine Oscar wins made it the third most-awarded film in Academy history - and tied it with two other films with nine wins: Gigi (1958), and The Last Emperor (1987). Previously, only two other films had more wins: Ben-Hur (1959) (with eleven). With its Best Picture win for the expensively-made film, producer Saul Zaentz became a multiple Oscar-winning producer over a span of twenty years with over twenty Oscars for his films: One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest (1975) (5), Amadeus (1984) (8), and The English Patient (9).

With his win, Zaentz became a three-time Best Picture producer (his first and second wins were for One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest (1975) and Amadeus (1984)). He became the second person to have produced three Best Picture winners since 1951. Only two others were three-time Best Picture producer-winners: Darryl F. Zanuck and Sam Spiegel.

The other Best Picture nominees were: the Coen Brothers' violent, black, film-noirish comedy Fargo (a Working Title Films/PolyGram/Gramercy Pictures film with seven nominations and two wins - Best Actress and Best Original Screenplay), about a Minnesota car salesman whose kidnap/ransom plan goes awry, and who was investigated by a no-nonsense, heavy-accented Minnesota police officer (Frances McDormand), known for saying: "Oh, you betcha, yah." This film was the quirky Coen Brothers' most conventional film to date, thereby accounting for its critical and commercial success writer/director Cameron Crowe's romantic sports comedy Jerry Maguire (a Gracie Films/TriStar film with five nominations and one win - Best Supporting Actor) about an ultra-slick sports agent (Tom Cruise) who becomes morally transformed director Mike Leigh's soap-opera-ish British film Secrets & Lies (a CiBy 2000/Thin Man Films/October Films production with five nominations and no wins), a socially-realistic film about an adopted, black London optometrist who seeks out her biological mother director Scott Hicks' Australian/UK arthouse tearjerker film Shine (a Momentum Films/Fine Line Features film

 with seven nominations and one win - Best Actor) - a biopic about the adversities faced by disabled, musical pianist genius David Helfgott Anthony Minghella won the Best Director award for The English Patient, following the pattern that the Best Director Oscar is often awarded to the Best Picture director.

The only one of the five directors of Best Picture nominees who wasn't nominated for Best Director was Cameron Crowe. His replacement in the category was director Milos Forman for The People vs. Larry Flynt (a Phoenix Pictures/Ixtlan Productions film with two nominations and no wins) about the infamous, unrepentant pornographer and Hustler Magazine publisher. Three out of the four winners in the acting categories were first-time nominees. Australian actor Geoffrey Rush (with his first nomination) won the Best Actor Oscar for his star-making performance as talented but agonizingly-troubled, mentally-disabled Australian concert pianist David Helfgott who suffers a crippling nervous breakdown when pushed to the breaking point in Shine. The other Best Actor nominees included: Tom Cruise (with his second unsuccessful nomination) as sports agent Jerry Maguire in Jerry Maguire Ralph Fiennes (with his second unsuccessful nomination) as the title character - mortally-burned Hungarian Count Laszlo Almasy who flashbacks on his tragically-doomed love affair as a debonair romantic with married mistress (Scott Thomas) in The English Patient Woody Harrelson (with his first nomination) as First Amendment-protected, crippled, pornography publisher Larry Flynt in The People vs.

Larry Flynt director/star/writer Billy Bob Thornton (with his first nomination) as mildly-retarded, convicted murderer Karl Childers in the moving drama Sling Blade, Thornton's directorial debut film (with two nominations and one win - Best Adapted Screenplay for actor/director/writer Billy Bob Thornton) Frances McDormand (with her second nomination and first Oscar win) won the Best Actress award for her role as Marge Gunderson - a chatty, largely-pregnant, intrepid local police chief and homicide detective in a small-town in Minnesota, in Fargo . [Note: McDormand won the Academy Award for a performance directed by her nominated husband - Joel Coen. She became the second star to win Best Actress in a film directed by her nominated director-husband.

Some argue that she was the first, however, since Sarandon and Robbins, nominated in the previous year for Dead Man Walking (1995), were unofficial, live-in marital partners.] They were the fourth married couple to be nominated for the same film: (1) John Cassavetes and Gena Rowlands were nominated together (but neither won) for A Woman Under the Influence (1974), (2) Susan Sarandon and nominated-director Tim Robbins (her unofficial live-in husband) were nominated for Dead Man Walking (1995) (Sarandon won Best Actress), and (3) both Jules Dassin and Melina Mercouri were nominated (but neither won) for Never on Sunday (1960).

Note: Julie Andrews was nominated as Best Actress (without a win) for Victor, Victoria (1982) but her husband-director Blake Edwards wasn't nominated as director.] The other Best Actress nominees were: Brenda Blethyn (with her first nomination) as lonely, unmarried, self-pitying white factory worker Cynthia - the biological mother of a black daughter in Secrets & Lies Diane Keaton (with her third nomination) as sensitive, self-sacrificing, leukemia-stricken spinster Bessie in director Jerry Zaks' film of Scott McPherson's 1991 off-Broadway play Marvin's Room (the film's sole nomination) Kristin Scott Thomas (with her first nomination) as beautiful English newlywed Katharine Clifton - a cartographer's wife involved in a torrid, adulterous affair with 'the pre-English patient' in the unfolding story of The English Patient Emily Watson (with her first nomination) in her film debut as shy, religious Bess McNeill who sexually degrades herself for her paralyzed, oil-rigger husband's sake in writer/director Lars von Trier's Breaking the Waves (the film's sole nomination) In a surprise win, Cuba Gooding, Jr.

(with his first nomination) won the Best Supporting Actor Oscar for his performance as Cruise's faithful client with a memorable line of dialogue ("Show me the money") - a black football player for the Arizona Cardinals named Rod Tidwell in Jerry Maguire. [Gooding's award made him the third black actor to win the Best Supporting Actor award - the others honored before him were Louis Gossett, Jr. for An Officer and a Gentleman (1982), and Denzel Washington for Glory (1989).] The other four Best Supporting Actor nominees included: William H.

Macy (with his first nomination) as hapless, indebted, dim-witted car salesman and failed blackmailer Jerry Lundegaard in Fargo Armin Mueller-Stahl (with his first nomination) as Geoffrey Rush's domineering, Holocaust-surviving father Peter Helfgott in Shine Edward Norton (with his first nomination) as altar boy - accused murderer Aaron/Roy in director Gregory Hoblit's feature film debut and thriller Primal Fear (the film's sole nomination) James Woods (with his second nomination) as evil Southern racist Byron De la Beckwith in director Rob Reiner's story of the 1963 murder of civil rights leader Medgar Evars and its subsequent trials, Ghosts of Mississippi (with two nominations and no wins) In another surprise win, Juliette Binoche (with her first nomination) won the Best Supporting Actress Oscar - she was the only nominated actor or actress in The English Patient to win the Oscar - for her performance as Hana, the fragile, good-hearted, and sympathetic Canadian nurse who cares for the dying, burn victim WWII patient (Ralph Fiennes).

The four other Best Supporting Actress nominees were: Joan Allen (with her second nomination) as a prim Puritan wife named Elizabeth Proctor who is a wrongly-accused witch in a film version of Arthur Miller's 1953 stage play The Crucible (with two nominations and no wins), about late 17th century witchcraft hunts and trials by director Nicholas Hytner the acknowledged and favored nominee - Lauren Bacall (with her first nomination) as Streisand's vain and narcissistic mother and faded glamour queen Rose in producer/star/director Barbra Streisand's romantic comedy The Mirror Has Two Faces (with two nominations and no wins) Barbara Hershey (with her first nomination) as manipulative and opportunistic Madame Serena Merle who manages to steer co-star Nicole Kidman into a disastrous marriage in director Jane Campion's Portrait of a Lady (with two nominations and no wins) Marianne Jean-Baptiste (in a lead role) as young Yuppie Londoner Hortense who seeks out her birth parents after the death of her adopted parents in Secrets & Lies.

[Marianne Jean-Baptiste was the first black British actress to be nominated for an Oscar.] The Best Documentary this year was When We Were Kings, a chronicling of the 1974 world heavyweight championship bout ("Rumble in the Jungle") in Zaire between Muhammad Ali and George Forman. Oscar Snubs and Omissions: Black actor Eddie Murphy was denied a nomination for his role as shy, overweight professor Sherman Klump (and many others) in The Nutty Professor. In a comeback supporting role, Debbie Reynolds was neglected as Beatrice in Mother. Ron Shelton's sports romantic comedy Tin Cup with Kevin Costner and Renee Russo was completely unnominated, and Baz Luhrmann's William Shakespeare's Romeo + Juliet had only one nomination (unsuccessful) - Best Art Direction.

One of the greatest nature documentaries ever made, MicroCosmos, was puzzlingly completely overlooked for Best Documentary, Best Editing and Best Cinematography (for its revolutionary lensing of microscopic point-of-view of insects.) Kenneth Branagh's Hamlet (with four unsuccessful nominations, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Art Direction, Best Costume Design, and Best Dramatic Score) was lacking nominations for Best Director, and performance nominations for Kenneth Branagh as Hamlet, Julie Christie as Gertrude, Kate Winslet as Ophelia, and Derek Jacobi as Claudius. John Sayles' Lone Star (with a great performance by Kris Kristofferson as a Satanic border-town sheriff) was recognized with only one nomination, Best Original Screenplay (losing to Fargo ), and Doug Liman's Swingers went nomination-less. Courtney Love's supporting role as Althea Leasure Flynt was bypassed in the recognition given to The People Vs. Larry Flynt. William Macy might have fared better if nominated for Best Actor instead of for a supporting role, when compared to co-star Frances McDormand, who won for a leading role.

Danny Boyle's UK film Trainspotting about a heroin addict was able to garner only a single nomination for Best Adapted Screenplay (losing to Sling Blade), and Mel Gibson was unnominated for his performance as ex-fighter pilot Tom Mullen in search of his kidnapped son in Ron Howard's crime thriller Ransom. Joe Pantoliano was neglected for his role as Jennifer Tilly's psychotic mobster consort Caesar in the lesbian noir Bound. Kate Winslet was un-nominated for her role as ostracized Sue Bridehead for expressing her forbidden love for her cousin Jude in Thomas Hardy's adaptation, Jude. Noah Taylor was under-rated for his performance as teenaged, emotionally-damaged pianist David Helfgott (also played as an adult by Oscar-winning Geoffrey Rush) in the biopic Shine. Tony Shalhoub was unrecognized for his role as mid-50s Italian chef and restaurant co-owner Primo in Big Night, and Harry Belafonte was un-nominated for his supporting role as Depression-era black mobster Seldom Seen, memorable in a scene in which he disagreed with Marcus Garvey's 'Back-to-Africa' movement, in Robert Altman's Kansas City (with no nominations).

And Meg Ryan was bypassed for her role as tough Gulf War Captain Karen Walden in Courage Under Fire, as was Catherine Keener for her role as a neurotic 30-yr. old single New Yorker struggling with loneliness in Walking and Talking. The English Patient (1996) Author: bduguay from canada I can understand why some people think this movie is boring. I think it appeals much more to people who are used to the pacing of classic books. I'm sure many of those who hated it are much like a co-worker of mine who said "Books? I haven't a book since I had to in high school." I checked some of the names of the people who reviled this movie and sure enough it seems many of them think Armaggedon was an "awesome" movie and Chris Farley was a "Comic genius". And that's O.K. Taste is an individual thing. My sensibilities tell me that the english patient is a very good movie that takes effort to appreciate. Much in this movie is very subtle. It is not a vacation for the brain.(Hey, sometimes the brain NEEDS a vacation, and stupid movies provide that!) Also, it is not a cynic's movie.

It's about idealism, tragedy and regret. About how people can want the best but have it all fall apart because of bad choices, and have to go on with the regret of never being able to remedy the situation. Not so much a love story as a tragic one. So many people destroyed because of the selfishness of two people couldn't(wouldn't?) control themselves. I would ask those who thought the movie boring to watch it again when you feel able to pay full attention to what's going on in the film and how different bits of dialogue dovetail into subtle suggestions of how the characters are feeling and thinking. This movie takes an investment of time, thought and emotion. If this investment is made, I think most people who watch it will feel rewarded. Was the above review useful to you? Oscar-winning director Anthony Minghella dies - TODAY.com Oscar-winning director Anthony Minghella dies 2008-03-18T21:16:29.000Z comment () Anthony Minghella, a screenwriter, opera director and the Oscar-winning filmmaker of “The English Patient,” died of a hemorrhage Tuesday at age 54.

Minghella’s death came five days before the British TV premiere of his final film, “The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency.” Spokesman Jonathan Rutter said Minghella died early Tuesday at London’s Charing Cross Hospital. Rutter said Minghella underwent surgery last week for a growth in his neck. He said the operation “seemed to have gone well. At 5 a.m. today he had a fatal hemorrhage.” Britain’s arts community reacted with shock to the loss of one of its best-known and best-liked figures. Tributes poured in from people as diverse as movie star Jude Law, former British Prime Minister Tony Blair and the president of Botswana. Law, who appeared in three of Minghella’s films, said he was “deeply shocked and saddened.” “He was a sweet, warm, bright and funny man who was interested in everything from football to opera, films, music, literature, people and most of all his family whom he adored and to whom I send my thoughts and love,” said Law, who appeared in Minghella’s films “The Talented Mr.

Ripley,” “Cold Mountain” and “Breaking and Entering.” “I shall miss him hugely.” Blair, who became friends with Minghella after the filmmaker directed a Labour Party election commercial in 2005, said Minghella was “a wonderful human being, creative and brilliant, but still humble, gentle and a joy to be with.” Prime Minister Gordon Brown said Minghella was “one of Britain’s greatest creative talents, one of our finest screenwriters and directors, a great champion of the British film industry and an expert on literature and opera.” Minghella was in Botswana recently filming an adaptation of Alexander McCall Smith’s novel “The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency,” which the BBC plans to broadcast Sunday. A spokesman for Botswana’s President Festus Mogae said Minghella’s death was a “shock and an utter loss.” The project was the latest of Minghella’s literary adaptations, which also included the Italy-set thriller “The Talented Mr. Ripley,” the U.S.

Civil War saga “Cold Mountain” and the World War II-era story “The English Patient,” which came out in 1996 and earned the Academy Award for best picture, with Minghella winning an Oscar for best director. But Minghella, who began his career as a writer, confessed he was not sure of his place as a director. “I am a writer who was able to direct the films that I write,” he said recently. “It is a naked thing to admit, but I feel very strongly that I want people to appreciate that I am not just a flash in the pan.” Minghella also turned his talents to opera. In 2005, he directed a highly successful staging of Puccini’s “Madama Butterfly” at the English National Opera in London — choreographed by Minghella’s wife, Carolyn Choa. The following year, he staged it as the season opener of New York’s Metropolitan Opera. Minghella was working with composer Osvaldo Golijov on a new opera titled “Daedalus,” for which he was to write the libretto and direct. It was to have premiered in the Metropolitan Opera’s 2011-12 season.

Met general manager Peter Gelb remembered how the chorus invented its own award to present to Minghella during “Madama Butterfly.” “He was a brilliant renaissance man. This wasn’t just a gifted filmmaker,” Gelb said. “He was a musician, played the piano, was a playwright. It’s a tremendous loss. It’s very sad for me and the Met. He was deeply loved by everybody he came into contact with at the Met, from the performers to the stage crew. They respected him and his clarity of thinking and his kindness.” Born in 1954, Minghella grew up on the Isle of Wight, a holiday island off England’s southern coast where his Italian parents ran an ice cream factory, and studied at the University of Hull in northern England. Minghella came to moviemaking from a playwrighting career on the London “fringe” and, in 1986, on the West End with the play, “Made in Bangkok,” a hard-hitting look at the sexual mores of a British tour group in Thailand.

He also wrote for radio and television, penning episodes of the BBC kids’ drama “Grange Hill” and the popular detective series “Inspector Morse.” Film was a natural progression. “I was never happy writing plays just set in rooms,” Minghella told The Associated Press in a 1996 interview. “I wanted the plays to move and for time to shift — a more liquid way of storytelling.” His biggest hit was “The English Patient,” a romantic epic set against the backdrop of World War II that won nine Oscars and became such a part of pop culture, it inspired an entire “Seinfeld” episode. The success of the film, which also starred Ralph Fiennes and Kristin Scott Thomas, was evidence of Minghella’s strengths. It was adapted from a poetic, multi-stranded novel by Canadian writer Michael Ondaatje that many considered unfilmable. In Minghella’s hands it was lush, evocative and epic. Minghella typically wrote and directed his films — to acclaim, in the cases of “The English Patient” and “The Talented Mr.

Ripley,” less successfully with “Breaking and Entering,” an underpowered 2006 drama set in London’s gritty King’s Cross district. The 1999 movie “The Talented Mr. Ripley,” starring Matt Damon as a murderous social climber, was based on a novel by Patricia Highsmith and earned five Oscar nominations, including best screenplay for Minghella. His 2003 “Cold Mountain,” based on Charles Frazier’s novel of the U.S. Civil War, brought a best supporting actress Oscar for Renee Zellweger. “The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency” was based on the first in a series of novels about the adventures of Botswanan private eye Precious Ramotswe. HBO recently commissioned a 13-part TV series. Minghella is survived by his wife, his actor-son Max Minghella and his daughter Hannah, who recently was named president of production at Sony Pictures Animation. The English Patient The English Patient Certificate: 15 Synopsis Director Anthony Minghella's multi-Oscar-winning romantic drama starring Ralph Fiennes and Kristin Scott Thomas as a desert explorer and a married Englishwomen who are drawn into a passionate but doomed affair.

Based on Michael Ondaatje's bestselling novel, it's epic duration may daunt but it's never less than compelling. Juliette Binoche won Best Supporting Actress as burn victim Fiennes' firm but understanding nurse. Director Colin Firth Review No wonder this epic of the Egyptian desert just before and during World War Two took so many acting awards around the world. Its performances are finely crafted with loving care. Ralph Fiennes, as the horrifying burnt 'patient' around whom the story revolves, Juliette Binoche and Kristin Scott Thomas are first-rate, but then so is the whole cast. At three hours, though, it does go on a bit. Debut director Anthony Minghella here; he's absolutely marvellous with actors, but his screenplay never uses one word where several will do. So the film's flawless performances, stunning use of desert scenery and perfectly serviceable romantic tragedy are constantly undercut by a lack of pace and rhythm. People are made to enter and exit as if in a play - but the scene rarely moves forward fluidly after they do. Still, Minghella does write one memorable line for Fiennes surely destined for screen immortality.

Remorseful over their affair, he tells married Scott Thomas: 'Every night, I cut out my heart. But in the morning, it was full again.' Aaah. The film won nine Oscars, including Best Film, Best Director, Best Supporting Actress (Binoche) and Best Cinematography. Anthony Minghella - Literature Literature Biography Anthony Minghella was born in 1954 on the Isle of Wight. He studied at the University of Hull, and lectured in drama there up to 1981, when he started to write for BBC Television during the 1980s, including episodes of Boon and Grange Hill. Other television work included three episodes of Inspector Morse and in the late 1980s he wrote The Storyteller series (published as Jim Henson's 'The Storyteller' in 1988) and Living with Dinosaurs.

He also wrote plays for theatre, television and radio, and these included Cigarettes and Chocolates (1988), broadcast on Radio 4, Two Planks and a Passion (1985), Made in Bangkok (1986) and Whale Music (published in Plays 1, 1992). In 1991, he wrote Truly, Madly, Deeply (1991), which first appeared on television, then moved to the cinema where it was very well-received. Since then, Anthony Minghella became known for his film work as writer and director. He wrote and directed the highly successful film, The English Patient (1997), based on the novel by Michael Ondaatje and starring Ralph Fiennes and Kristen Scott-Thomas. In 1999, he wrote and directed The Talented Mr. Ripley (2000), starring Matt Damon, Jude Law and Gwyneth Paltrow, and Cold Mountain (2003), based on the novel by Charles Frazier, was released in 2003.

He also wrote the original screenplay for Breaking and Entering (2006), starring Juliette Binoche and Jude Law. Most recently he co-wrote and directed the film, The No 1 Ladies Detective Agency. Anthony Minghella died in March 2008. Awards Critical perspective Anthony Minghella spent the 1980s writing and directing stage plays and television scripts, including episodes for Grange Hill, Eastenders, Boon and Inspector Morse. He also worked with Jim Henson on The Storyteller Series (1988) and Living With Dinosaurs (1989). In these areas he was steadily successful, but his big breakthrough came in 1991, with the film Truly, Madly, Deeply. Minghella originally wrote and directed it for BBC’s Screen Two, but its reception was so outstanding that it was given a cinema release. Minghella’s film has been compared with the US film, Ghost, though the similarities are only superficial. In Truly, Madly, Deeply, a young woman, Nina (Juliet Stevenson) is devastated by the death of her lover, Jamie (Alan Rickman).

When she discovers that Jamie has ‘returned’ in ghost form and taken up residence in her flat, the audience can regard this either as a supernatural occurrence, or as Nina’s imagination helping her to work through this excruciating stage of her grief. This ‘reunion’, whether actual or imagined, is part of her healing process - at the very least, it emphasises the way in which grief (and loss in general) often creates nostalgic and rose-tinted images of the lost loved one which may not always be entirely accurate, and which often prevent the bereaved from moving on. Jamie’s return, though it initially brings joy and enables Nina to function again, soon brings (somewhat amusing) problems of its own: he requires the central heating to be turned up to an unbearable heat, and invites his ghost-friends to come round and watch videos together. Gradually, the relationship between Nina and Jamie’s ghost deteriorates or, rather, Nina is getting to a stage where she is ready to let go. This coincides with her becoming attracted to someone new - Jamie must therefore return to the afterlife in order to enable Nina to move on and begin a new relationship.

The film’s quirky comic elements enable it to be heart-rending without being sentimental. It also avoids special effects (in contrast to Ghost), concentrating on the emotions of grief and the idiosyncrasies of human nature rather than clichéd melodrama. Minghella often said in interviews that he wrote the part of Nina specifically for Juliet Stevenson, for he felt she had a multi-layered talent (in particular, a ‘quirky’ quality) that her roles in period dramas did not give her scope to express. He valued the qualities that each individual actor brings to a role and often had particular actors in mind when writing a script. Unlike some directors, Minghella enjoyed the interaction with the actors and other members of the crew as his scripts began to come alive on stage or set. Those who worked with Minghella often commented on his warm personality and the way in which he valued others’ contributions. Editor Walter Murch worked with Minghella on several occasions: '[Minghella] is the infra-red end of the spectrum of collaboration. Ultra-violet is someone like Milos Forman, who has a team of editors and tells them how to make every cut.

But [Minghella] asks advice from everyone on the picture […] He listens to everyone, and when people really think you’re listening they’ll give you strange and valuable ideas.' (David Thomson, The New York Times, 19 December 1999) Truly, Madly, Deeply was highly acclaimed, winning a BAFTA and several other major awards, as well as being commercially successful. It was followed by Mr Wonderful (1993), about an electrician who tries to match-make his ex-wife with a ‘Mr Wonderful’ so that his alimony payments will stop. Mr Wonderful was less popular with critics. Minghella’s next film was the first of several in which he adapted novels to the screen, working as both scriptwriter and director. The English Patient (1997) adapted from the Booker Prize winning novel by Michael Ondaatje, was an ambitious project and an outstanding success - the film won nine Oscars, several BAFTAs and other prestigious awards. The English Patient is a dramatic film.

Like other Minghella films, it focuses on the intensity and acuteness of human emotions and relationships, but its serious tone, along with the vast, epic nature of its background setting, ensure that it is very different from the quirky comedy of Truly, Madly, Deeply. Set during the final days of WWII, its central character is Laszlo Almásy (Ralph Fiennes), a formerly handsome and aristocratic soldier who has been seriously wounded and horribly disfigured by burns. As he lies in a war-damaged Tuscan monastery, cared for by a nurse, Hana (Juliette Binoche), the film moves back and forth between his static confinement in the present and scenes of the action and adventure that he experienced in North Africa. The extremes of complete inaction and intense, passionate activity emphasise each other in their acute contrast. As such, we gain some understanding of the protagonist’s state of mind, as he has been hurled from one extreme to the other - from action to inertia, and from glamour, wealth and beauty to desecration and disfigurement.

Janet Maslin’s review in The New York Times praises the way in which Minghella’s adaptation maintains the novel’s ‘eloquent delicacy’ while also bringing its own originality to the screen, combining epic drama with raw and piercing personal emotion: 'Minghella manages to be astonishingly faithful to the spirit of [the novel’s] exotic material while giving it more shape and explicitness, virtually reinventing it from the ground up. He has described what he aspires to here as “epic cinema of a personal nature”. With its immense seductiveness, heady romance and glorious desert vistas at the Lawrence of Arabia level, The English Patient imaginatively lives up that description.' In The Talented Mr Ripley (2000), another highly successful and award-winning film, Minghella again showed his versatility in the many different types of material and subject-matter he was able to turn his hand to. Adapted from the novel by Patricia Highsmith, The Talented Mr Ripley explores the sociopathic mind of an outsider who longs to be part of the affluent ‘in crowd’, and will even commit cold-blooded murder in order to attain the lifestyle and identity he craves.

Tom Ripley (Matt Damon) is asked by wealthy businessman Herbert Greenleaf to travel to Italy in an attempt to persuade Greenleaf’s hedonistic son, Dickie (Jude Law) to return to the US. However, working-class Tom, who has always felt excluded and inferior, develops a disturbing obsession with Dickie. Both Dickie and his girlfriend Marge (Gwyneth Paltrow) represent the glamorous world that Tom both despises and desires, and Law and Paltrow play their parts convincingly, radiating the sense of privilege and entitlement that can trigger both adoration and hatred in those who are less fortunate. Eventually, Tom murders Dickie with cold detachment and attempts to assume his identity. Ripley was followed in 2003 by another adaptation, Cold Mountain, from the novel by Charles Frazier, set during the US Civil War in the 1860s. It was as successful as its predecessors, and once again starred Jude Law, along with Nicole Kidman, Ray Winstone and Donald Sutherland. It has similarities with The English Patient, depicting war and its aftermath, and, again, it explores both physical and psychological journeys.

A Confederate soldier, Inman (Law), walks from a hospital in Virginia to his home in Cold Mountain, North Carolina: ‘His physical odyssey is mirrored by the internal journey faced back in Cold Mountain by Ada, the woman he loves’ (David Aaronvitch, The Observer, 19 Jan 2003). Minghella’s greatest challenge, in this and other projects, was in keeping the film to a reasonable length: ‘ “Walter [Murch] lectures me because too many things happen in the script. But you can’t have an Odyssey in which Odysseus only faces one or two challenges. He has to face several” ’ (Minghella in The Observer, cited above). After several adaptations from novels, Breaking and Entering (2006) was Minghella’s first original screenplay and first British-made film since Truly, Madly, Deeply. Jude Law stars yet again, this time as Will, a wealthy London architect who becomes involved with Amira (Juliette Binoche), an immigrant Bosnian woman whose son is stealing from Will’s offices.

The film contrasts the affluent lifestyle of Will, his partner and stepdaughter, with the poverty and oppression experienced by Amira and her son. However, neither lifestyle is superior, for both children are shown to be psychologically troubled. In 2005, Minghella directed his first opera, Madam Butterfly, with his wife, choreographer Carolyn Choa, at the English National Opera. The English Patient Reviews & Ratings - IMDb IMDb 171 out of 235 people found the following review useful: A Magnificent Motion Picture from Salem, Oregon 29 July 2002 In a style reminiscent of the best of David Lean, this romantic love story sweeps across the screen with epic proportions equal to the vast desert regions against which it is set. It's a film which purports that one does not choose love, but rather that it's love that does the choosing, regardless of who, where or when; and furthermore, that it's a matter of the heart often contingent upon prevailing conditions and circumstances.

And thus is the situation in `The English Patient,' directed by Anthony Minghella, the story of two people who discover passion and true love in the most inopportune of places and times, proving that when it is predestined, love will find a way. It's WWII; flying above the African desert, Hungarian Count Laszlo de Almasy (Ralph Fiennes) is shot down, his biplane mistaken for an enemy aircraft. And though he survives the crash, he is severely burned. To his great good fortune, however, he is rescued by a tribe of nomads and winds up in a hospital. But existing conditions are governed by circumstances of war, and Almasy soon becomes one of many patients being transported via convoy to a different facility. Upon reaching Italy, he is too weak and ill to continue on, and a Canadian nurse, Hana (Juliette Binoche), volunteers to stay behind with him at an abandoned monastery. Hana soon discovers that her charge is something of a man of mystery, as Almasy remembers nothing of his past, and not even his own name.

Thought to be English, the only clues pointing to who he is are contained in a book found in his possession after the crash, but even they are as cryptic as Hana's patient. Slowly, however, under prompting from Hana, Almasy begins to remember bits and pieces of his life, and his story begins to unfold. And his memory is helped along even more by the appearance of a mysterious stranger named Caravaggio (Willem Dafoe), who suspects that Almasy is the man he's been looking for-- a man with whom he wants to settle a score. But, burned beyond recognition, Almasy may or may not be that man. Meanwhile, Almasy's memories continue to surface; memories of a woman he loved, Katherine Clifton (Kristin Scott Thomas)-- as well as memories of Katherine's husband, Geoffrey (Colin Firth). And, crippled in mind and body as he is, those memories become the only thing left to which he can cling with any hope at all, even as his life seems to be slipping farther away with each passing moment. In addition to directing, Anthony Minghella also wrote the screenplay for this film, which he adapted from the novel by Michael Ondaatje.

The result is an epic saga presented in the tradition of Lean's `Doctor Zhivago' and `Lawrence of Arabia'; a magnificent film that fills the screen and the senses with unprecedented grandeur and beauty. Simply put, Minghella's film is genius realized; crafted and delivered with a poetic perfection, watching it is like watching a Monet come to life. From the opening frames, Minghella casts a hypnotic spell over his audience that is binding and transporting, with a story that has an emotional beauty that equals the engagingly stunning and vibrant images brought to life by John Seale's remarkable cinematography; images that virtually fill the screen as well as the soul of the viewer. In every sense, this is a film of rare eloquence, with a striking emotional capacity that facilitates an experience that is truly transcendental. Nominated in twelve categories, it deservedly received a total of nine Oscars, including Best Picture, Director, Supporting Actress (Binoche) and Cinematography.

If one had to choose a single word to describe the `essence' of this film, it would be `excellence.' Even an extraordinary film, however, does not receive nine Oscars without performances that are extraordinary in kind; and the performances given by Ralph Fiennes and Kristin Scott Thomas here transcend the term `Oscar worthy.' Nominated for Best Actor for his portrayal of Almasy (Geoffrey Rush was awarded the gold for `Shine'), Fiennes has never been better, achieving an emotional depth with his character that is nearly palpable. Private and introspective, Almasy is not by his very nature an individual to whom the audience will be able to form an intimate connection; Fiennes, however, finds a way to open that emotional door just enough to let you in, enough so that you taste the honest passion welling up within him. And it works. Almasy does not seek your friendship; he will, however, gain your compassion.

Kristen Scott Thomas, too, received an Oscar nomination for Best Actress (Frances McDormand received the award for `Fargo') for her portrayal of Katherine, a woman whose stoic countenance masks the emotional conflict raging within her, born of the forbidden passion that enslaves her and yet to which she gives herself willingly, casting off her shackles of repression to embrace a love so strong it threatens to consume her. The reserve Katherine must maintain evokes the empathy of the audience, as Scott Thomas successfully mines the emotional depths of her character to the greatest possible effect. It's the kind of performance that draws you in and holds you fast, taking you as it does beyond that curtain of hypocrisy that dictates what must be if only for the sake of appearances, and allows you to experience a true sense of unbridled passion. Understated and shaded with subtlety, it's terrific work by Kristin Scott Thomas. Binoche gives a stunning, affecting performance, as well, as the kindhearted nurse, Hana; it is her humanity, in fact, which defines love in it's purest sense and offers a balanced perspective of it within the context of the film.

Her relationship with Kip (Naveen Andrews) affords us a glimpse of passion of another kind, which contrasts effectively with the intensity of that between Almasy and Katherine. `The English Patient' is a film that will move you and fill you emotionally; one you will not want to see end. 10/10. Was the above review useful to you? 143 out of 196 people found the following review useful: A reader's movie. from canada 7 September 2003 I can understand why some people think this movie is boring. I think it appeals much more to people who are used to the pacing of classic books. I'm sure many of those who hated it are much like a co-worker of mine who said "Books? I haven't a book since I had to in high school." I checked some of the names of the people who reviled this movie and sure enough it seems many of them think Armaggedon was an "awesome" movie and Chris Farley was a "Comic genius". And that's O.K. Taste is an individual thing. My sensibilities tell me that the english patient is a very good movie that takes effort to appreciate. Much in this movie is very subtle.

It is not a vacation for the brain.(Hey, sometimes the brain NEEDS a vacation, and stupid movies provide that!) Also, it is not a cynic's movie. It's about idealism, tragedy and regret. About how people can want the best but have it all fall apart because of bad choices, and have to go on with the regret of never being able to remedy the situation. Not so much a love story as a tragic one. So many people destroyed because of the selfishness of two people couldn't(wouldn't?) control themselves. I would ask those who thought the movie boring to watch it again when you feel able to pay full attention to what's going on in the film and how different bits of dialogue dovetail into subtle suggestions of how the characters are feeling and thinking. This movie takes an investment of time, thought and emotion. If this investment is made, I think most people who watch it will feel rewarded. Was the above review useful to you? 105 out of 139 people found the following review useful: A masterpiece of intimate moment and spectacular largesse...

28 May 2001 *** This review may contain spoilers *** 'The English Patient' is a love story set in Europe as World War II ends... It is a wartime romance mystery epic, like 'Hiroshima, Mon Amour,' 'The Sweet Hereafter,' and 'After Life.' Anthony Minghella weaves extravagant beauty around a central character whose condition is grotesque, and puts emotional barriers between the characters and the audience... This adult love story is an intimate portrait in the tradition of 'Casablanca' and 'Dr. Zhivago.' The film sweeps gracefully attaining a level of eroticism and emotional connection that many similar films had missed... Told in flashback, it is a masterpiece of intimate moment and spectacular largesse... Ralph Fiennes plays the English patient, Count Laszlo de Almasy, a Hungarian cartographer of few words, who works for the British government, and is stationed in the North African desert...

Count Laszlo is the unidentified survivor of a plane crash turned over to the Allies, taken into custody by a medical convoy in Italy, and essentially left to die in peace, in an isolated monastery in Tuscany, under the care of an inspiring pretty nurse who injects him with morphine, and reads to him a book, considered his great treasure, and his one surviving possession... Hana seeks to stimulate his touching memories, wrapped up in his head, released in lost pieces from his disturbed mind... Fiennes gives a haunted, pained performance, playing the young man whose veneer of charm cannot plainly cover his heart's capacity for passion... He makes us sympathize with the character in showing self-doubt and weakness... As a badly burned man, he has only cherished memories... His joy and heartbreak are completely clear and visible in his eyes... He remembers falling under the spell of an attractive English married woman... He remembers the way this turns him from a harsh abrupt wanderer into a man willing to betray everything for love... His tragic love affair forms the heart of the motion picture... Kristin Scott Thomas matches Fiennes' work with a radiant sensuality...

She is captivating as the married European woman, conveying the audience with the energy and enthusiasm for life that the Count finds irresistible... Their different world, despairing and hopeful, menacing and resilient, is simply beautiful... With intense passion and intelligence, this attractive blonde burns the screen as the different wife... Juliette Binoche seems to shine as the French-Canadian nurse full of life and energy... This vibrant young woman has a heart of gold, kissing wounded soldiers, but she thinks that she is a curse as anybody she ever loved tends to die on her... Colin Firth is good as Katherine's husband... He is a British spy flying into the tough desert in a yellow biplane to take aerial maps of the whole North African continent... He quickly becomes friend of the Count, yet when he realizes that his wife has committed adultery, his face reflected a peaceful fury... William Dafoe plays a double-agent spy who covers his anger with a strange charm... He is a crippled war veteran who has a hidden agenda... This cunning Canadian man seems to know of some dark secret in Almasy's past... He believes the 'English patient' is partially responsible for the mutilation of his hands, and is busy seeking revenge on everyone even remotely involved...

Naveen Andrews is Hana's ardent lover He is a handsome Sikh, and an explosives expert with a dangerous job There's a scene that is stuck in my head because it literally had me on the edge of my seat for what seemed an eternity In this particular scene, the military sapper has to cut the wires on a bomb that has been hidden on a bridge It's on a timer and he only has a few minutes left The scene cuts back and forth between his tense face, the wires and his dirty fingers as they try madly to figure out how to untangle and cut the wires without detonating the bomb All the conventional elements of the genre are at peaks of excellence in "The English Patient." John Seale's cinematography is breathtaking, and Gabriel Yared's majestic music is dreamy, and romantic This is a rich motion picture with ambition and style, a fever dream, lyrical and complex We are almost able to feel the heat of the desert, the pain of the burnings, the intimate flush of humanity that becomes the most haunting element of this epic love story... Was the above review useful to you? 143 out of 216 people found the following review useful: The greatest romance movie of all time? Probably...

from London, England 7 May 2001 I've seen a few movies in my time, but this one is exceptional. You'll have to watch it more than once to truly appreciate it, it is emotionally very complex, it explores love and passion at it's most extreme and it's cinematography is just breathtaking. The character of the Count is intensely passionate and tragic without him having to raise his voice or indeed leave his bed, the film is perfectly cast and perfectly acted. The film has a sort of mathematical precision and perfection to it which is rare these days. It combines action, love, tragedy, drama and politics all in one. This movie is unmissable, all the hype surrounding it and all the awards cannot begin to do it any justice. Hats off to Michael Ondaatje for writing the incredible book on which it is based. Was the above review useful to you? 88 out of 120 people found the following review useful: as below from Australia 20 January 2005 I like this movie above all others. It is "multi-layered"; there is so much to see and appreciate. Every viewing brings a new appreciation of the story-line, the plot and the characters.

Faultlessly acted and extremely enjoyable if you take the time to watch it and appreciate it. I love the interaction between the players; the subtle relationships; the period atmosphere. Ralph Fiennes is perfectly cast as the brooding lover and Geoffrey the wronged husband is beautifully underplayed by Colin Firth. The scene in the sand storm where Catherine & El-masy are discussing the different types of sand storms is one of the high-lights of the film and where the affair really starts. The other relationship between Hanna & El-masy is yet another "layer" of the movie which is totally enchanting (and heart-rending). A worthy winner of so many awards. Was the above review useful to you? 86 out of 119 people found the following review useful: a patience taking movie.. ;) from Den Haag 8 November 2004 as can be read in many reviews here it is a movie you love or hate - apparently not so much space for opinions in between. I for one think that is a good sign. I always appreciated this movie, although the genre is not my typical style (I never watched Titanic for instance, and am not planning to).

The English Patient grips because it shows how people can be different when they are in an exotic environment as opposed when they are 'home' (Katherine), it shows how destructive love can be in a slow, strong and utterly painful way, it excites because of the extremely passionate affair, the pain of the one(s) who leave behind, how pointless one can feel to move on. The photography is just stunning, not to mention the play of the actors. The pace is slow, but timely, and that does justice to the book, the timeline, and the depth/development of the characters. To put this in 110 minutes (as some seem to suggest here) would amputate the multi-layeredness of this movie. People tend to have difficulties with the pace of movies... as if they are in a rush to get to work.. hey - get a life ! ;-) enjoy... I give this movie 4.5 out of 5. Was the above review useful to you? 90 out of 129 people found the following review useful: Epic story that mixes lust with a mystery story  worthy stuff but a touch too slow from United Kingdom 26 February 2002 Tuscany WW2.

Traumatised by the loss of anyone she cared for or loved, Canadian nurse Hana stays behind her unit with a dying patient, Count Laszlo de Almásy. de Almásy is burnt all over and has lost his memory. When a vengeful, mysterious thief arrives at their abandoned monastery with a past that seems to include de Almásy , and as Hana reads from his book, memories return regarding his past. He relives his story of lust and love and the destructive force that forbidden passion unleashed upon his life. This is quite a modern epic. It has the running time of an epic, it has the gorgeous cinematography of an epic, it has the acting of an epic and it has a story of love (lust) against the backdrop of major events in history. Even though it changes or leaves out a significant amount of the original novel it still manages to be a great mix of passionate desire and mystery. The mystery of the story is represented by the thief Caravaggio who casts light on what he knows of de Almásy's past (as he sees it) while the love story is unfolded as it develops in a passionate affair between him and Katherine, a colleagues' wife.

The story is compelling enough to carry the long running time, at times the pace seems a little slow and when I saw it in my local multiplex there were some moments where large portions of the audience seemed to be shifting in their seats. The love' of the story was interesting as it seems to be contrasted with Hana's relationship with Kip the bomb disposal expert. While de Almásy's relationship with Katherine starts as lust and desire before growing into what seems to be love (or could be grief at the result of their affair), Hana's is portrayed as purer and more careful as she fears those she loves will die. This difference helped me see that the film did want to show the destructive power of lust and affairs, however the fact that the central relationship was based more on lust than love took away from the emotional core of the story. The acting is almost impeccable. Fiennes is excellent even when he is lost behind an unrecognisable mask of burnt flesh. Thomas is actually very good, I find she tends to be very wooden in some things but this type of very English character brings the best out of her. Binoche is excellent as Hana and carries the heart of the film.

Dafoe is truly excellent - his element of the story is the mystery and he does it well. He is a great actor and deserves to be in things this good. The support cast include plenty of good actors including Colin Firth, Jurgen Prochnow and Naveem Andrews. The film is beautifully shot - even though it's all a bit too picturesque to be real! However the director can handle himself well with many different scenes - a tense bomb diffusal, a passionate love scene, a dangerous sand storm etc. Overall the slow pace may frustrate some younger audiences but this is a really good film that draws it's values from classy sources. Was the above review useful to you? 110 out of 174 people found the following review useful: Absolute Perfection! from Chicago, Illinois 8 December 1998 TEP is like a long cool drink of water after crawling across the Sahara to classic film buffs who have been too long deprived of that certain cinematic magic! Not only is it beautifully photographed, but the characters are perfectly portrayed. If you're looking for the film to be a mirror of the book, you will be seriously disappointed.

Instead, it is an excellent "companion" to the book, and I think that is what Anthony Minghella intended. Ralph Fiennes is probably the most beautiful man in the world; not to mention a brilliant actor. Juliette Binoche is the posterchild for vulnerability and childlike enthusiasm. And, of course, I'll go see any film in which Kristin Scott Thomas is featured. She simply must be THE best actress since the likes of Deborah Kerr. So much was promised with this film, and so much is delivered! Was the above review useful to you? 78 out of 111 people found the following review useful: One of the greatest achievements in all of cinema, peerlessly beautiful from Toledo, Ohio 7 March 2007 Count Laszlo (Ralph Fiennes) has just been transferred to a hospital in Italy during World War II. He is horrifically burned from an ambush. His nurse Hana (Juliette Binoche) tends to him, body and mind, for she fears, quite rightly, that he may be a very troubled soul. In the course of his care, the Count starts to tell Hana of his recent past.

It seems he worked in a government capacity in Africa, where he met a beautiful married lady named Katherine (Kristin Scott Thomas). Although they tried to avoid each other, they fell in love. After a brief affair, Katherine called it quits, leaving the Count desolate. Even so, the two would meet again, under heart-wrenching circumstances. Meanwhile, Hana herself falls for a Sihk man in the British bomb squad. Yet, the war is raging relentlessly. Can love exist when the world is in turmoil? This is a tremendous film, based on an equally fine but complex novel. The plot has many story lines that are woven together beautifully, each of them poignant beyond description. The script itself is elegant and contains many memorable lines. Fiennes is magnificent, both as the burn victim and as the man who thought love was a myth. Scott Thomas is also quite fine as the woman who fights against her passions. As for Binoche, she richly deserved the Oscar that she was presented, as her nurse is a shining example of hope in a hopeless situation. The scenery is utterly gorgeous, as are the costumes, the direction, and the production. If you have missed out on viewing this film, rectify that soon, very soon.

The English Patient will remain one of the greatest achievements in film for centuries to come. Was the above review useful to you? 65 out of 89 people found the following review useful: An epic tale of doomed love from Saskatchewan 19 March 2004 'The English Patient' can rightly be compared to the films of David Lean, whose sweeping epics such as 'Lawrence of Arabia' and 'Bridge on the River Kwai' must have inspired the director Anthony Minghella. The film is beautifully photographed, and like 'Lawrence', is set in Northern Africa, but during the second world war. The story is complex, but it boils down to a forbidden love between an opinionated and often difficult archeologist played by Ralph Fiennes and a married woman played by Kristin Scott Thomas. The story, based on a novel by Michael Ondaatje, is told in flashbacks by Fiennes' Count Laszlo de Almasy - the titular character. The fact that his name does not sound like he's English plays a key role in what unfolds.

He has been badly burned in a plane crash, occurring just as the film opens, and is being cared for back in Europe by Hana, an army nurse played by Juliette Binoche. What makes this story epic is the vast sweep across place and time, and the development of characters beyond that of the two ill-fated lovers. The film makes clear that true love and passion, even with dreaded consequences, can make life worth living, or worth dying for. If you're a romantic at heart, and can appreciate a film without the standard happy endings and simple moral codes, you may find that 'The English Patient' speaks directly to you. Was the above review useful to you? Page 1 of 46:

Question: Whish 1996 multi Oscar winning film was based on a novel by Michael Ondaatje?
Answer: THE ENGLISH PATIENT