The English Patient (Minghella, 1996): Cine Lumiere, 6.30pm
Marking the reopening of the refurbished Ciné Lumière under the auspices of its figurehead, Kristin Scott Thomas, and the 30th anniversary of the release of The English Patient, the screening on 8 Sept at 18.30 will be preceded by an extended introduction by lead actors Kristin Scott Thomas and Ralph Fiennes.
Time Out review:
Tuscany, as the Allies pursue the Germans north at the end of WWII:
traumatised by loss and carnage, Canadian nurse Hana (Juliette Binoche) decides
to stay behind in an abandoned, bombed monastery and care for her dying
patient (Ralph Fiennes). He seems to recall little of his life, but when
Caravaggio (Willem Dafoe), a vengeful, morphine-addicted thief, turns up and
quizzes him over past dark secrets, and as Hana reads from his beloved
Herodotos, memories return of the pre-war years when, as an
archaeologist/cartographer in the Sahara, he had a passionate affair
with Katharine (Kristin Scott Thomas), wife of a British colleague. Though Anthony Minghella's
adaptation of Michael Ondaatje's novel simplifies, jettisons and
changes certain elements of the original story, it remains a rich,
complex, entrancing piece of work. Part poignant romance, part
suspenseful adventure, part enigmatic mystery, it's essentially a study
in different responses to love and war, honour and betrayal, nationality
and identity, falsehood and forgiveness, which sounds subtle echoes as
the narrative flashes to and fro between two main time frames. Needless
to say, the performances are flawless; more surprising is the fluency,
poetry and scale of Minghella's direction (John Seale's sensuous desert
photography is superb), equally eloquent whether depicting boudoir
intimacies, bomb-disposal skills, drunken dementia or a deadly
sandstorm.
Geoff Andrew
Here (and above) is the trailer.
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