The Love That Could Have Been

The English Patient (1996)

Directed by Anthony Minghella

Starring Ralph Fiennes, Juliette Binoche, Kristin Scoot Thomas, Willem Dafoe, Naveen Andrews

Based on the Booker Prize-winning novel by Sri Lankan Canadian novelist, Michael Ondaatje

An unexpected love, a possessive desire, an addictive longing, set against a vast sand of uncertainties, a desert of unsuspected revelations, poetically told, it reads of the agony of the forbidden love between two passionate souls. Could it be deemed wrong? Of course, from the very beginning, one is a married woman, the other is an explorer who has the wrong name. But as the film progresses, one could be mistakenly misunderstood for you begin to feel for the reasons for them to be together, especially towards the end. What would be right, and what would be deemed wrong by then? It is so character driven that no matter how fragmented the story and events unfold in the film, one could somehow follow these two main characters: One being the patient (Almasy played by Ralph Fiennes), and one being the caretaker (Hana played by Juliette Binoche). Come to think of it, it does remind me a little of PERSONA, but on very different levels, they reveal different aspects of life and love, and how human perceive love should be, with each other. Music is splendid, haunting yet captivating. I simply adore the writing. Of course, it helps when you have good actors to begin with. Ralph is such a great subtle and intense actor that he made the character of Almasy lovable after all. One tends to emphatize with his stubbornly devoted obssessiveness over Kristin's character. After much hardship and struggle, he did fulfill his promise of going back for her. The love in the film is so suffocating that it almost evokes the feeling of breathlessness. A tragic love story is almost always a beautiful love story. But I must say this is definitely one of the best told human stories of our time. On this note, Happy Valentine's Day!