(Layla) Perhaps Colin is just not capable of portraying a man without some attractiveness...Do you think this is something that Colin just slipped in without their noticing?
I don't think Geoffrey was meant to be unattractive. Colin played him just as intended. We have Anthony Minghella's word for it. Colin doesn't "just slip." He executes roles to the highest standard imaginable. 

(Jana) we have to endure the "No Bananas" dance. Not our DB's most dignified moment, I fear
There! You see? At last you have glimpsed him through Katherine's eyes! 

(Laura) Michael Ondaatje... said that it was a war novel and not a romance.
The "main" romance stripped of most of its background "flesh" is simply a thin story of matrimonial infidelity. We know that her husband loved her dearly. He doesn't look such a bad guy. In the end they all die. What is the moral? That cheating hurts and destroys? That sins get punished in the end? My, what a revelation! 

But technically this is a very accomplished picture. 

(Nan) I like Ralph Fiennes...This certainly doesn't mean that I like him any more than Colin...just that I have easygoing hormones
RF is also a good actor and that's what matters. It is also important that Colin appears in a good movie with good cast. That's where he belongs, regardless of the size of the part. 

(Nan) Perhaps if we knew more about Geoffrey, then we could feel more for him. That doesn't really apply to us here, because our sympathy is with Colin.
A number of British reviewers made the comment about the immorality of the story and their sympathy for the cuckolded husband and they certainly didn't seem infatuated with Colin. Then again, maybe they were all married men. ;-) 

Wanda:
(Laura) Katharine tells Almásy that she married him to cover up his role in detailing the desert for Britain.
In the scene after the sandstorm, I think Katherine tells Almásy that Geoffrey is not a buffoon and that he is really taking photographs for the British government. Almásy asks if the marriage is a front as well. She answers "No." Not having read the book, I took her at her word. 

(Winter) Well, he might've realized it deep down inside but secretly hoped that, if he demonstrated his love for her enough, she would eventually love him back.
With the added insights from Laura, this seems highly probable. He does convey a bit of that in that scene as he speaks of their relationship. 

Gi:
(Laura) One thing, if you have not read the book, do so. The movie and book are different.
I'm reading the book and it feels like penance. Not wishing to offend anyone, I find it so boring! 

Nan:
(Arami) But technically this is a very accomplished picture. 
Very pretty film; has a great, authentic feel about it. I can't say it's one of my all-time favorite movies, but I do like it. 

(Arami) RF is also a good actor
Yes, he is. If you think of him as the same person in Schindler's List, it's really quite a stretch. I find myself being more sympathetic toward Almásy than to Katharine. He seemed more tortured to me somehow. I still say they were in lust, not love, but I felt more for him than her. 

(Arami) It is also important that Colin appears in a good movie with good cast. That's where he belongs, regardless of the size of the part
I've never considered that. Ladies, our DB was in the best picture of the year! We should not complain! I hope Anthony Minghella keeps him in mind for future projects as well as Saul Zaentz (who is responsible for one of my favorite films Amadeus). 

Bethan:
Okay, you're wrong about the book. In Ondaatje's novel, Geoffrey and Katherine meet at Oxford and marry after a whirlwind romance. And they are in love. One of the most significant comments in the book (missed in the movie) is a reference to Geoffrey as the husband they both loved before they began to love each other. The novel is more about guilt and betrayal. Almásy is also much older than Geoffrey and Katherine. The K/A affair develops over time and has a strong sexual/violent element. 

TEP is technically very proficient, marvelous to look at, but my main problem is that I just cannot accept the K/A relationship as some overwhelming almost spiritually uplifting affair, over which we are supposed to weep buckets. (I've just seen a trailer for TEP and it's all soulful music and Katherine and Almásy gazing at each other in the desert.) What's romantic about a wife betraying a perfectly decent man for a sexual fling with someone she barely knows? 

In the movie, Geoffrey is obviously devoted to his wife. She has married him after having several unhappy affairs but, I think, feels real affection for him. He makes her "happy." Look at the way she looks at him and strokes his back when he makes the comment about zinc bars or the way they hug before he goes to the plane. Or the very touching moment (one of the best scenes in the movie when she says that she'd leave tomorrow for England if he wanted. This is just after her explosive sex scene with Almásy. She's obviously not happy with herself or what she's doing to Geoffrey.

I'm also puzzled by why Geoffrey has to act the part of a buffoon (not so in the book). All I can think is that it puts Geoffrey at a disadvantage compared with Almásy. Geoffrey sings silly songs; Almásy looks serious and soulful. Geoffrey makes "Hooray Henry" type comments; Almásy remains enigmatic. Even the costumes. Geoffrey has to wear a Father Christmas outfit with padded cushion, whereas Almásy gets leather jackets and shorts (not a good idea with those legs!).

I think we are being manoevred into feeling sympathy with K/A at the expense of the poor husband. But I do find it credible that Katherine just wants a sexual fling and then backs out when she realises war is imminent. (Good old Geoffrey will be far more dependable and safe than foreign national Count Almásy) 

However, what I do find totally incredible is the ending. First the dinner party where Almásy is drunk. Are we supposed to believe this is a man in love? He is just embarrassing and silly, and Katherine's reaction is not convincing. And then, the final plane crash/in the cave scene, which I just couldn't believe. Completely over the top. Katherine is so clean and well- groomed. One moment she's badly injured, the next she's cheerfully flirting with Almásy (I've always loved you, you idiot. Y-U-U-C-H!) And ne'er a backward glance at her poor very obviously dead husband. And Almásy weeps. Oh dear, spare me, please! I'm with Colin on this one. It just doesn't move me. "My wife's shagging some bloke." Exactly, that's all it is. It's all this love affair of the century stuff that irritates me! 

Colin, as ever, does wonderfully well with the material he's given. I love the way he grins in the opening shots, that half smile he gives as he watches Katherine and Almásy dance (well worth freeze framing), and the shots of his dimples. The scene in which he and his wife talk about going home (and imminent war) is very touching. I wish we had seen more of the G/K relationship, particularly after he realises she has been unfaithful. 

I much preferred it on video as I could really study his bits (interpret as you will!). 

Overall, rather overhyped. I also thought that everyone—bar Colin—was incredibly skinny and slight in build. If you look at the scene in the club, Colin/Geoffrey's shoulder's are twice the width of any one else's! I'm surprised they didn't all get blown away in the sandstorm! 

Kate:
So, did anyone else like Kip washing his hair? ;-) 

Laura:
(Wanda) after the sand storm I think Katherine tells Almásy that Geoffrey is not a buffoon and that he is really taking photographs for the British government. Almásy asks if the marriage is a front as well. She answers "No." 
But this is where the book and movie are different. Yes, some people would call the book God-awful boring. Ondaatje loves to describe every minute detail and then sometimes you have no clue what he is describing. 

In the book, not the movie, the affair seemed to be encouraged—whether he loved her was not the point. I believe the British government had already suspected Almásy of being a spy for the Germans even before he gave them the outline of the desert. Also, in the book, he doesn't get back to the cave for three years! 

There is a prequel to The English Patient where Caravaggio and Hana are introduced, as well as Hana's father, Patrick. It is called In the Skin of the Lion and it is fabulous. When Ondaatje was asked why he wrote The English Patient, he said it was burning inside him. He never meant to use Hana or Caravaggio (for the first couple of chapters Hana is only known as she). 

Kip's role in the movie was completely destroyed IMO! In the book, I completely fell in love with him. He, Hana, Caravaggio were the only well-developed characters, whereas Katherine and Almásy you never really got a foothold on them. 

Nan:
(Kate) So, did anyone else like Kip washing his hair?
You noticed that too, huh? I was thinking that he should walk around with his hair down all the time. I don't really like long hair on a man, but boy-howdy, it works for Kip. 

Laura:
He had a great chest too. Kip, I mean. 

Karen:
(Nan) I always felt the relationship between Katherine and Almásy was based entirely on lust.
That's all I ever got out of it, which is why I couldn't fathom why everyone wrote about the great and sald love story and why people were in tears in the theater. But then again, I didn't cry at Forrest Gump either!

(Wanda) Katherine tells Almásy that Geoffrey is not a buffoon...Almásy asks if the marriage is a front as well. She answers "No."
Colin demonstrates this very thing in the only scene I can tolerate in this movie. Geoffrey is in an office somewhere and he is asking the guys about the anniversary gift. In this scene, we see his love for Katherine and there are no signs of a buffoon here. This is the guy who is working for the government undercover. All the rest is an act when he is around other people. He is all business but deeply in love, which is probably why I like this scene. 

(Arami) RF is also a good actor 
(Nan) Yes, he is. If you think of him as the same person in Schindler's List, it's really quite a stretch. 
I'll even throw in Quiz Show and Wuthering Heights for good measure, but I remain unconvinced. Aside from lust, I think the only other emotion I saw him register might have been pain? Shouldn't have there been more to his character and to RF's portrayal? 

(Bethan) In Ondaatje's novel, Geoffrey and Katherine meet at Oxford and marry after a whirlwind romance. And they are in love.
This is very vexing. :-( Were they or weren't they? 

(Bethan) TEP is technically very proficient, marvelous to look at, but my main problem is that I just cannot accept the K/A relationship...over which we are supposed to weep buckets.
We are in total agreement and, after reading the postings, I now wonder what this movie is really supposed to be about. It's definitely not about love and loss. Is it about infidelity? My assumption has always been that the movie was about a grand love affair so, in my mind, the movie failed miserably. 

Here's a little more of the "my wife's shagging the other bloke" quote from Nick Hornby's article in Vogue (April 1997): 

The English Patient has already attained the status of a contemporary classic, although Firth is less central to its plot—"It's about five people, and I'm not one of them." Ironically, considering all the Darcy fever, he plays a cuckold. "I found myself sitting there with this incredibly passionate love story unfolding and thinking to myself, well, I don't see what's so moving about it, it doesn't turn me on. My wife's shagging this other bloke, what's so special about him anyway?" He laughs heartily and goes to the bar to buy me a drink. 

I so agree. Nothing moving about the affair/story and nothing special about the other guy, except his strong resemblance to a lizard! ;-o 

Layla:
(Bethan) I just cannot accept the K/A relationship as some overwhelming almost spiritually uplifting affair...What's romantic about a wife betraying a perfectly decent man for a sexual fling with someone she barely knows?
You've hit it on the head. This one element is what destroys the whole movie for me. It's why I kept getting up to walk out, and why I will never be able to see this film as a believable romance. 

(Bethan) In Ondaatje's novel, Geoffrey and Katherine meet at Oxford and marry after a whirlwind romance. And they are in love.
This part was different in the movie. In the film, Geoffrey said "We've known each other since we were children." I think if they had put the book's version of their relationship into the movie, it would have been more effective. I probably still wouldn't have liked it. I have an aversion to betrayal. 

Arami: 
(Nan) I find myself being more sympathetic toward Almásy than to Katharine.
I think we don't know her well enough. All we know is that she was bored with her husband (we don't know exactly why; we must assume her passion for him has fizzled out) and that she betrayed him. How can we feel sympathetic towards that? 

(Nan) I hope Anthony Minghella keeps him in mind for future projects...as well as Saul Zaentz (who is responsible for one of my favorite films Amadeus)
Minghella appears to value Colin's acting so there's perhaps some hope. Amadeus was great, but there's a twist. It was directed by Milos Forman, who subsequently made Valmont with Colin, and we all know what happened to that film. It was a dreadful miscalculation by Forman and, even though Colin would never admit it (except maybe once), I bet in reality he was bitterly disappointed. 

(Laura) the British government had already suspected Almásy of being a spy for the Germans
And Geoffrey was to watch him. Geoffrey and Katherine were supposed to befriend him for that purpose, but she fell under his spell and it all went pear-shaped. In the book, Geoffrey and Katherine were in their twenties and Almásy in his forties. The attraction between Katherine and him was on a different level. She was obviously flattered and could not resist a mature, distinguished, mysterious, exotic aristocrat—an obvious contrast to the youthful, supposedly happy-go-lucky Geoffrey. Moreover, the husband learned about her betrayal by accident, some months after it was over. He then waited patiently for about a year for an opportunity to try and kill all three of them in a staged accident. All these nuances were lost or sacrificed in the film. It may pose a question whether Minghella's script was really that good. Does anyone know if Ondaatje was happy with these changes? Laura? 

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