History Literature / TheEnglishPatient

* NotSoDifferent: By the end [[spoiler:Kip]] realizes that the Patient's worldview is just the same as the very identities he tries to erase.

[[quoteright:298:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/109-c-English-Patient_8551.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:298:[[JustHereForGodzilla Be honest.]] [[Series/{{Seinfeld}} You know why you're here.]]]]

Made into [[TheFilmOfTheBook a 1996 movie]] directed by Creator/AnthonyMinghella. It stars Creator/JulietteBinoche as Hana, Creator/RalphFiennes as the "English Patient", Creator/ColinFirth as Geoffrey Clifton, Kristin Scott Thomas as Katharine Clifton, Creator/WillemDafoe as Caravaggio, and Creator/NaveenAndrews as Kip. The film was a box office hit, earning $231,976,425 in the worldwide market. It has earned the distinguished pop-culture status of being "That movie Elaine bitched about in that one episode of ''Series/{{Seinfeld}}''." Both versions won a bunch of awards, most prominently the 1997 UsefulNotes/AcademyAward for Best Picture.

[caption-width-right:298:[[JustHereForGodzilla Be honest.]] [[Series/{{Seinfeld}} You know why you're here.]]]]

-->(completely fed up) ''Quit telling your stupid story, about the stupid desert,'' and just die already! '''[+DIE!!!+]'''

A 1992 novel by Canadian author Michael Ondaatje. The book opens in an abandoned villa in WorldWarTwo Italy, where Hana, a Canadian army nurse, cares for a man referred to as the English Patient. He refuses to reveal his identity, but his speech and mannerisms indicate that he's an Englishman (his status as a patient is considerably less ambiguous, given that he's being treated for critical burns all over his body). Hana and the Patient are joined by David Caravaggio, a Canadian thief who knew Hana before the war, and who worked as an Allied spy until he was captured and maimed; and Kip, an Indian Sikh who's one of the best sappers in the British army. The story sprawls out [[AnachronicOrder non-linearly]], digging into each character's backstory, with running themes of nationality, nationalism, and the PowerOfLove.

Made into [[TheFilmOfTheBook a 1996 movie]] directed by Creator/AnthonyMinghella. It cast JulietteBinoche as Hana, Creator/RalphFiennes as the "English Patient", Creator/ColinFirth as Geoffrey Clifton, Kristin Scott Thomas as Katharine Clifton, Creator/WillemDafoe as Caravaggio, and Creator/NaveenAndrews as Kip. The film was a box office hit, earning $231,976,425 in the worldwide market. It has earned the distinguished pop-culture status of being "That movie Elaine bitched about in that one episode of ''{{Series/Seinfeld}}''." Both versions won a bunch of awards, most prominently the 1997 [[UsefulNotes/AcademyAward Oscar for Best Picture]].

->''All I desired was to walk upon such an earth that had no maps.''
-->--'''The English Patient'''

* AnachronicOrder
** Neither it is the first time his character wound up in a desert during a major war, as he also played T.E.Lawrence in a TV-movie ''A Dangerous Man: Lawrence after Arabia''.

* [[BoobyTrap Booby Traps]]: The villa is full of bombs and mines left by retreating Axis forces.

* [[MurderTheHypotenuse Murder The Hypotenuse And The Legs]]: Geoffrey Clifton's solution to the love triangle: attempt to take out the Patient, kamikaze-style, [[IfICantHaveYou with Katharine aboard the plane]].

* UsefulNotes/WorldWarII

--->--'''[[{{Series/Seinfeld}} Elaine]]'''

->(completely fed up) ''Quit telling your stupid story, about the stupid desert,'' and just die already! '''[+DIE!!!+]'''
-->--'''[[{{Series/Seinfeld}} Elaine]]'''

->''"All I desired was to walk upon such an earth that had no maps."''

----

* HistoricalDomainCharacter: The Cliftons (Claytons IRL), Almasy, [[RalphBagnold Bagnold]] (who really did have connections with British intelligence).

Made into [[TheFilmOfTheBook a 1996 movie]] directed by Creator/AnthonyMinghella. It cast JulietteBinoche as Hana, Creator/RalphFiennes as the "English Patient", Creator/ColinFirth as Geoffrey Clifton, Kristin Scott Thomas as Katharine Clifton, Creator/WillemDafoe as Caravaggio, and Creator/NaveenAndrews as Kip. The film was a box office hit, earning $231,976,425 in the worldwide market. It has earned the distinguished pop-culture status of being "That movie Elaine bitched about in that one episode of {{Seinfeld}}." Both versions won a bunch of awards, most prominently the 1997 [[UsefulNotes/AcademyAward Oscar for Best Picture]].

Made into [[TheFilmOfTheBook a 1996 movie]] directed by Creator/AnthonyMinghella. It cast JulietteBinoche as Hana, Creator/RalphFiennes as the "English Patient", Creator/ColinFirth as Geoffrey Clifton, Kristin Scott Thomas as Katharine Clifton, Creator/WillemDafoe as Caravaggio, and Creator/NaveenAndrews as Kip. The film was a box office hit, earning $231,976,425 in the worldwide market. It has earned the distinguished pop-culture status of being "That movie Elaine bitched about in that one episode of {{Seinfeld}}." Both versions won a bunch of awards, most prominently the 1997 [[AcademyAward Oscar for Best Picture]].

-->''All I desired was to walk upon such an earth that had no maps.''
-->--the English Patient

* WorldWarTwo

* ActorAllusion: This isn't the only time Creator/RalphFiennes played a [[spoiler:Hungarian]].

* FakeNationality: In the movie, Juliette Binoche (French) plays Hana (French-Canadian); Willem Dafoe (American) plays Caravaggio (Canadian); and Naveen Andrews (English) plays Kip (Indian). Ralph Fiennes, who plays the title character, actually is English. [[spoiler:His character isn't.]]

* HeyItsThatGuy: [[Film/SpiderMan The Green Goblin]] and [[LosT Sayid]] meet in a villa where a nurse cares for [[Film/HarryPotter Lord Voldemort]].

Made into [[TheFilmOfTheBook a 1996 movie]] directed by Creator/AnthonyMinghella. It cast JulietteBinoche as Hana, Creator/RalphFiennes as the "English Patient", Creator/WillemDafoe as Caravaggio, and Creator/NaveenAndrews as Kip. The film was a box office hit, earning $231,976,425 in the worldwide market. It has earned the distinguished pop-culture status of being "That movie Elaine bitched about in that one episode of {{Seinfeld}}." Both versions won a bunch of awards, most prominently the 1997 [[AcademyAward Oscar for Best Picture]].

Made into [[TheFilmOfTheBook a 1996 movie]] directed by Creator/AnthonyMinghella. It cast JulietteBinoche as Hana, RalphFiennes as the "English Patient", Creator/WillemDafoe as Caravaggio, and Creator/NaveenAndrews as Kip. The film was a box office hit, earning $231,976,425 in the worldwide market. It has earned the distinguished pop-culture status of being "That movie Elaine bitched about in that one episode of {{Seinfeld}}." Both versions won a bunch of awards, most prominently the 1997 [[AcademyAward Oscar for Best Picture]].

* ActorAllusion: This isn't the only time RalphFiennes played a [[spoiler:Hungarian]].

Made into [[TheFilmOfTheBook a 1996 movie]] directed by Anthony Minghella. It cast JulietteBinoche as Hana, RalphFiennes as the "English Patient", Creator/WillemDafoe as Caravaggio, and Creator/NaveenAndrews as Kip. The film was a box office hit, earning $231,976,425 in the worldwide market. It has earned the distinguished pop-culture status of being "That movie Elaine bitched about in that one episode of {{Seinfeld}}." Both versions won a bunch of awards, most prominently the 1997 [[AcademyAward Oscar for Best Picture]].

* FakeNationality: In the movie, Juliet Binoche (French) plays Hana (French-Canadian); Willem Dafoe (US American) plays Caravaggio (Canadian); and Naveen Andrews (English) plays Kip (Indian). Ralph Fiennes, who plays the title character, actually is English. [[spoiler:His character isn't.]]

* AllAsiansAreAlike: Inverted [[spoiler: by Kip, who ultimately (and derisively) considers every white European "English."]]

Made into [[TheFilmOfTheBook a 1996 movie]] directed by Anthony Minghella. It cast JulietteBinoche as Hana, RalphFiennes as the "English Patient", Creator/WillemDafoe as Caravaggio, and NaveenAndrews as Kip. The film was a box office hit, earning $231,976,425 in the worldwide market. It has earned the distinguished pop-culture status of being "That movie Elaine bitched about in that one episode of {{Seinfeld}}." Both versions won a bunch of awards, most prominently the 1997 [[AcademyAward Oscar for Best Picture]].

Made into [[TheFilmOfTheBook a 1996 movie]] directed by Anthony Minghella. It cast JulietteBinoche as Hana, RalphFiennes as the "English Patient" , WillemDafoe as Caravaggio, and NaveenAndrews as Kip. The film was a box office hit, earning $231,976,425 in the worldwide market. It has earned the distinguished pop-culture status of being "That movie Elaine bitched about in that one episode of {{Seinfeld}}." Both versions won a bunch of awards, most prominently the 1997 [[AcademyAward Oscar for Best Picture]].

* HistoricalDomainCharacter: The Cliftons, Almasy.

* VeryLooselyBasedOnATrueStory: There was a Lazlo de Almasy who was a part of the [[AdventurersClub Zerzura Club]] and later worked for the Germans during the war. However, he died in 1951 in Austria of dysentery and, recent discoveries heavily imply, was gay.