The English Patient: A Screenplay

by Anthony Minghella, Michael Ondaatje

A screenplay tells the story of an unknown man, the sole survivor of a plane shot down near the beginning of World War II, who remembers his past

Genres: Fiction, Romance, Film, Media Tie In, Novels, Plays, Drama

189 pages, Paperback

First published November 1, 1996

Reviews

[Nayra.Hassan]

كل ما أردته كان عالم بلا خرائط

الحزن اقرب للكره يجب ان نحمي قلوبنا منه؛ولكني كل ليلة كنت امزق قلبي فقط لاصحو بقلب كامل من جديد"؛ هذا ما دأب عليه أبطالنا الاربعة في تراجيديا رومانسية حربية تسعينية؛تمس القلوب و تصادق الجوائز بسرد انساني عالمي


“There are betrayals in war that are childlike compared with our human betrayals during peace. The new lovers enter the habits of the other.. Things are smashed, revealed in a new light. This is done with nervous or tender sentences, although the heart is an organ of fire.”

[Shamaelah Mumtaz-Shamim]

OK so I have 'seen' so I have 'seen' read the screenplay several times!
every time to search for something i have missed
kinda like a PhD
it's pure poetry
which only lovers or lost lovers
can see, can read,
can draw, can feel
i think i did it out of love too
for a friend
her name is Saleha Rehman
miss ya Salz wherever you are!

[Kaitlynn Cook]

I didn't think reading a screenplay would be SO GOOD. I've never seen the movie nor read Ondaatje's novel but now I HAVE TO.

[mango]

alright now who's buying me the 1890 edition of Herodotus’ Histories

[Dunya Al-bouzidi]

ثمة بعض الاختلافات بين النص والفيلم.

[Deborah]

The language of this book was beautiful and the story held my interest. Listening to it as an audio book made it a little difficult to follow some of the flashbacks. I look forward to seeing the movie now that I have read the book.

[Finsternis Sonne ☽]

Qué director y qué pérdida tan grande para la industria del cine. La ausencia de Minghella se siente...

[Adelyn]

God my heart aches for this film

[Helen]

Very interesting to read the screenplay having just read the actual book.

[A.M.]

The English patient follows the story of Hana, a nurse, and her dying burn patient. After her best friend is killed by a road mine, she decides that she will stay in an abandoned monastery and catch the hospital convoy up when the man finally dies. The others know it is her shock speaking, but they let her do it. She is convinced that everyone she loves, dies.
Kip, a Sikh and his sergeant Hardy, are sappers and they work to defuse mines and booby traps all through the town. Another man, Caravaggio shows up in an odd way and seems to be looking for Hana and her charge.
Flashbacks show us the life of pre-war explorers in North Africa; one of whom is a Hungarian, Count De Almasy. As we see him have a torrid affair with Katharine Clifton, we understand that he is the burn patient, and eventually we (and Hana) put the whole story together.
Caravaggio accuses him of being a spy, of giving their maps to the Germans, but as he relates the story, the truth is so much more heartbreaking. Hana allows herself to love Kip but she nearly loses him to a bomb literally with his name on it, and she doesn’t know how close it was.
***

Oh… the foreshadowing…

Katharine: I wanted to meet a man who could write such a long paper with so few adjectives.
Almasy: A thing is still a thing no matter what you place in front o fit. Big car, slow car, chauffeur-driven car, still a car.
Clifton: (joining them and joining in) A broken car?
Almasy: Still a car.
Clifton: (hands them champagne) Not much use, though.
Katharine: Love? Romantic love, platonic love, filial love -? Quite different things, surely?
Clifton: (hugging Katherine) Uxoriousness - that’s my favourite kind of love. Excessive love of one’s wife.
Almasy: (a dry smile) Now there you have me.

Excessive love of Clifton’s wife, is in fact, the entire issue. Is it not?

Almasy: Madox knows, I think. He keeps talking about Anna Karenina. I think it’s his idea of a man-to-man chat. It’s my idea of a man-to-man chat.
Katharine: This is a different world - is what I tell myself. A different life. And here I am a different wife.
Almasy: Yes. Here you are a different wife.

The idea that any man could think that chatting over Anna Karenina is any kind of discussion… bless Madox. I suppose that he still got his message across though, eh?

Katharine: (gasping) You speak so many bloody languages and you never want to talk.
They stagger on. He suddenly notices a stain of gold at her neck. It’s saffron, leaking from a silver thimble which hangs from a black ribbon.
Almasy: (overwhelmed) You’re wearing the thimble.
Katharine: Of course. You idiot. I always wear it. I’ve always loved you.
Almasy cries as he walks - huge sobs, no words - convulsed with the pain of it. They approach the cave.

It is the hardest thing to distill a long book down to its essence for a screenplay. A mere 104 pages of script double spaced between paragraphs and with tiny indented speech parts. And it is amazing.
After reading this, I sat down with kid3 and watched the movie and sobbed; like I always do with this story.
5 stars

[Jennifer]

To paraphrase Monty Python, "This is not a book to be read. This is a book to be laid down and avoided."

I hate this book. I hated the original book, I despised the movie, and am generally made nauseous by the screenplay. Honestly, this is one of those works which took off for reasons which were never clear to me, and suddenly everyone on the PLANET was going on and on about it (I have similar feelings on "Bridges of Madison County"). Then, when the furor had finally died down to a dull roar, the MOVIE came out, which was just as boring as the book, but seemingly longer. The movie managed to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory, by having a stellar cast, but still being so boring one was willing to slit one's own wrists with the ticket stub just to get out of the theatre. Worse still, women made their HUSBANDS attend this film, which set the cause of women's rights back at least twenty years.

I have never been so relieved as when someone finally came out and said "The Emperor has No Clothes, this book is long and boring and generally sucks. The movie was even longer, and under no circumstance should have run on to a second VHS tape."

I don't suggest reading this at all. If you are in the mood for a movie somewhat like it, but with actual PLOT, rent "A Very Long Engagement" starring Audrey Tatou (of Amelie fame).

[Paul Chance]

The film version of The English patient, to my relief and delight, actually reinforces the emotional strength of this story and enhances the visual aspect of many of the original scenes from the book version.

The central character, Almasy, is horrifically burned in a plane downed by Germans in the Second World War. To accompany his physical suffering, Almasy also has flash backs to the intense love which he once shared with Katherine, the yearning and frustration for him compounded by the fact that she is also unattainable in another way - she is married.

Incapacitated and lonely, the English patient's only comfort has to be in his reading of the Histories of Herodotus, but these spark recollections of dark secrets in Almasy's own background, bringing back memeories of a life he wants no one to know about, but ultimately drawing from him revelations of the measure of love he has had to sacrifice.

Minghella's screenplay draws out further the emotional thread of Almasy's journey which Michael Ondaatje so brilliantly portrayed in the original novel.

[Martin Rowe]

I saw the movie before I read the book, which is probably why I prefer the film's sweep, romance, and exoticism to the book's fragmented and impressionistic erudition. To their credit, Michael Ondaatje (the author), Saul Zaentz (the producer), and Anthony Minghella (the director) understood that the film would be a very different beast—not so much a reproduction of the book as an interpretation of its themes—and were happy to let Minghella develop his vision. My wife and I loved the film—the music, cinematography, and acting—and to read the screenplay is to be catapulted back eighteen years. One can, with the benefit of maturity, see the seams in the complex tapestry that Minghella wove, and to be reminded, rather embarrassingly, how often I've stolen the film's ideas and sentiments. It's refreshing to see a film take adults' relationships seriously, even if it allows romantic love to conquer all scruples a little too easily. Anyway, the book of the screenplay is well put together, with salient essays by Ondaatje, Zaentz, and Minghella about the writing process.

[Neil]

as stated in my review of the book, this is one of the few cases
of a very good book which made an even better movie. so as not to
repeat myself, i'll jump to the crux passage, as it was in the movie
(admittedly much better with context, but still amazing, imo):

"We die. We die rich with lovers and tribes, tastes we have swallowed,
bodies we have entered and swum up like rivers, fears we have hidden in,
like this wretched cave. I want all this marked on my body. We are the real
countries, not the boundaries drawn on maps, the names of powerful men.
I know you'll come carry me out into the palace of winds. That's all I've
wanted, to walk in such a place with you, with friends, on an earth without
maps. Now the lamp has gone out, and I am writing in the darkness."

[Emma Lambe]

If only all screenplays were like this, I'd certainly read a lot more. This was the first book I read this year, and I made a note to myself to watch the movie. I have still yet to watch it, but I don't think I'm ready still as it was so tragic at the end. Also, Ralph Fiennes as the lead, will probably break me even more. His character was great, and generally, all of the characters were so distinct and popped off the page, considering that it could be more difficult than a novel would. Mental note, to read more of Anthony's work and more screenplays too.

[Kathy Glow]

I read this book in 1996. The mystery behind the bandages is a patient burned beyond recognition and his relationship with the Army nurse taking care of him. The Italian villa they were staying in was in ruins due to bombings from the Second World War, and still had hidden bombs in it. The bond between nurse and patient was simple and sweet however, the war that was going on and the other characters who entered her life were anything but simple.

[Laila514]

FANTASTC! this is an extaordinary story of love,courage,war,hope and suffering. its not many books that i give a 5 stars unless they move me in every single way,and the movie starring Ralph Fihnes made my knees weak and my heart soar. filled with unforgetable characters in different countries,but the star of the book is the'english patient'.

[Edwina]

I found this in a charity shop for 50p. Shocked at the price, I had to get it! even the first page I am amazed by the writing of Anthony Minghella and pushes me to write with the emotion he brings to the story.

[Laura]

I absolutely love this novel!!! The romantic love story between Almassy and Katherine is beautiful to read about. The book is far better than the film and something that everyone who enjoys romance should read.

[Sheila]

Wonderful sidecar to the beautiful movie.

[Yi]

OMG ... absolutely loved the movie ... became an instant fan of Ralph Finnes.

[Michele Yates]

Loved it so much I read it three times!

[Mousa]

Excellent story.

[Rachel]

liked the movie lots. didn't really like the book.

[Olivia Spooner]

The only book I have ever read which I enjoyed less than the film.