Set in North Africa and Italy during the late 1930's and early '40's, "The English Patient" is an epic drama of two haunting love stories that unfolds against a background of international upheaval. Through the prism of war, and of love and friendship, various themes -- of fidelity, adultery, nationality and betrayals -- are dramatized and explored.

The story, based on Michael Ondaatje's Booker Prize-winning novel, is told elliptically, through the histories of four characters who find themselves in a ruined monastery in Italy at the end of World War II. Slowly they reveal themselves and, in the process, the true identity of the English patient -- the unknown survivor of a plane shot down over the Sahara who lies dying in the monastery -- is made clear. Passion fires these stories, whether it is the raw passion between lovers, or the compulsive passion which drives men to explore remote and inhospitable regions, or to pursue across time and countries those they think have wronged them.

Directed by
Anthony Minghella

Cast
Ralph Fiennes - Almasy
Juliette Binoche - Hana
Willem Dafoe - Caravaggio
Kristin Scott Thomas - Katharine Clifton
Naveen Andrews - Kip
Colin Firth - Geoffrey Clifton
Julian Wadham - Madox
Kevin Whately - Hardy
Clive Merrison - Fenelon-Barnes
Nino Castelnuovo - D'Agostino

Production Co.
Tiger Moth Productions
The Saul Zaentz Company

Produced by
Matthew Plummer
Bob Weinstein
Harvey Weinstein

Studio
Miramax Films

Writer
Michael Ondaatje
Anthony Minghella

Music
Gabriel Yared