--- title: "The English Patient: the reviews" canonical: "https://film.one/film/the-english-patient/reviews" title_page: "https://film.one/film/the-english-patient" critics_score: 77 critics_reviews: 6 licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL." --- # The English Patient (1996): what the critics said Critics' score 77 from 6 reviews: 5 positive, 1 mixed, 0 negative. Most critics respond warmly to The English Patient, praising Minghella’s handling of a wartime romance told across two periods. The praise clusters around the desert photography, the editing that connects past and present, and an adaptation that gives the novel a workable cinematic shape. Performances also draw considerable approval, with Kristin Scott Thomas singled out for particular praise. The more enthusiastic reviews find the central love affair deeply affecting and regard the film’s scale as matched by its attention to private feeling. The main disagreement concerns emotional involvement rather than technical accomplishment. Empire finds the characters difficult to care about, while Variety admires the photography and editing but considers the film long, cerebral and emotionally restrained. Other reservations concern pacing, melodrama and unlikely plotting. The spread therefore runs from strong enthusiasm to qualified admiration, with the dissenting reviews questioning whether the polished filmmaking makes the romance sufficiently involving. ## Total Film Fi1m's normalised score 90/100 (inferred from the text). 14 March 1997. This is an unutterably great movie and grown-up cinema that is smart, witty, sweeping and sad. Minghella juggles characters, continents and time zones with ease, delivering an incredibly ambitious, beautifully photographed wartime love-story epic. [Read the review](https://www.gamesradar.com/the-english-patient-review/) ## Time Out — GA Fi1m's normalised score 85/100 (inferred from the text). 6 December 2016. Minghella's adaptation remains a rich, complex and entrancing piece of work that studies responses to love and war across two time frames. The performances are flawless and the direction shows fluency, poetry and scale, with superb sensuous desert photography. [Read the review](https://www.timeout.com/movies/the-english-patient) ## The Independent Fi1m's normalised score 75/100 (inferred from the text). 13 March 1997. The film succeeds in turning the novel into a workable cinematic narrative with inventive visuals and editing that link its dual time periods. Minghella's direction creates a relentlessly beautiful but poignant experience, though some contrivances in the story are hard to swallow. [Read the review](https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/a-deceptive-beauty-1272544.html) ## Empire — Christopher Hemblade Fi1m's normalised score 55/100 (inferred from the text). 1 January 2000. The film offers understatement but ultimately under-performs due to a lack of emotional involvement with its characters. It deserves quiet, reasoned admiration rather than limitless adoration despite its awards success. [Read the review](https://www.empireonline.com/movies/reviews/english-patient-review/) ## Los Angeles Times — Kenneth Turan 15 November 1996. The critic describes the film as a mesmerizing romantic epic that explores love in extremes of wartime with poetic assurance and grand, operatic scope. He singles out the nonlinear dream-time storytelling, luminous performances (especially Kristin Scott Thomas), and Minghella’s command of mood and atmosphere for praise. [Read the review](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1996-11-15-ca-1931-story.html) ## The New Yorker — Anthony Lane 18 November 1996. The review celebrates the film’s revival of romantic obsession and its clear, hard-edged epic qualities, calling it awfully close to a masterpiece after two viewings. It singles out the palpitating central love affair and the Wagnerian emotional chords of the finale for praise. [Read the review](https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1996/11/25/1996-11-25-118-tny-cards-000149520) ## The New York Times — Janet Maslin 15 November 1996. The critic hails the film as a stunning literary adaptation and cinematic triumph that reinvents the source material with shape and explicitness while delivering epic personal cinema. She singles out the heady romance, seductive desert vistas, and Kristin Scott Thomas’s sensual, career-altering performance as Katharine for particular praise. [Read the review](https://www.nytimes.com/1996/11/15/movies/adrift-in-fiery-layers-of-memory.html) ## Variety — Todd McCarthy 10 November 1996. The review finds the film a respectable, intelligent but emotionally restrained adaptation that is long and cerebral, with a conventional melodrama core. It singles out the resplendently textured surfaces, John Seale’s lensing, and Walter Murch’s editing for praise while noting the difficulty in connecting with the recessive central character. [Read the review](https://variety.com/1996/film/reviews/the-english-patient-1200447716/) ## Eye for Film — Angus Wolfe Murray Fi1m's normalised score 80/100 (inferred from the text). 19 November 2006. The critic praises Minghella's adaptation as supremely cinematic with exquisite cinematography, highlighting the quality of sadness and cinematic integrity as making it unforgettable. They single out the performances, particularly noting Willem Dafoe feels miscast. [Read the review](https://www.eyeforfilm.co.uk/review/the-english-patient-film-review-by-angus-wolfe-murray) ## HeyUGuys — Glen Chapman Rating 4/5. 7 September 2011. The critic finds revisiting the film a joy, praising the cast, direction, and especially the cinematography, while noting minor issues with pacing and melodrama. They single out the cinematography as the film's greatest strength. [Read the review](https://www.heyuguys.com/the-english-patient-blu-ray-review/) --- © Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Our review: https://film.one/film/the-english-patient.md