The English Patient is a 1996 romantic drama film directed by Anthony Minghella and starring Ralph Fiennes, Juliette Binoche, Willem Dafoe, Kristin Scott Thomas, and Colin Firth. The film is based on the novel of the same name by Michael Ondaat
The English Patient is a 1992 novel by Canadian writer Michael Ondaatje. The book follows four dissimilar people brought together at an Italian villa during the Italian campaign of World War II: an unrecognizably burned man—the eponymous patient who is presumed to be English—his Canadian Army nurse; a Sikh sapper; and a Canadian self-described thief. The story is primarily set during the North African campaign and centers on the incremental revelations of the patient's actions prior to his injuries, and the emotional effects of these revelations on the other characters. The story is told through the characters' perspectives and "authors" of books the characters are reading.