86
Metascore
31 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 100Washington PostDesson ThomsonWashington PostDesson ThomsonAwash in heart-rending emotions and gorgeous images, this is a movie to lose yourself in.
- 100Film.comSean MeansFilm.comSean MeansIt feels like a dream that a movie could have this kind of poetic grace and epic sweep, or could be so faithful to its source and still work so perfectly as a film.
- 100Los Angeles TimesKenneth TuranLos Angeles TimesKenneth TuranRising to crescendos of emotion usually reached only by tenors and sopranos, these characters are the beneficiaries of the luminous writing of the novel and screenplay as well as the expert performances of the actors, especially Scott Thomas.
- 100San Francisco ChroniclePeter StackSan Francisco ChroniclePeter StackA mesmerizing film that is the most stunning, tempestuous love story in a decade or two of movie making.
- 90Mr. ShowbizF. X. FeeneyMr. ShowbizF. X. FeeneyAstonishingly deep and moving.
- 88USA TodayMike ClarkUSA TodayMike ClarkThe big story here is Kristin Scott Thomas' captivating performance.
- 80Film.comTom KeoghFilm.comTom KeoghThe look, the feel, the brood-y, brilliant cast: This is an oddly affecting movie, all right, a jellyroll of Bronte and Hemingway.
- 80Film.comRobert HortonFilm.comRobert HortonIt's got both the sweeping spectacle and the keen, tactile sense of human intimacy.
- 80L.A. WeeklyElla TaylorL.A. WeeklyElla TaylorThe two films bursting out of The English Patient (a chamber piece and a David Lean dune epic) require a juggling of tone, pace and scale that might easily defeat a director more seasoned than Minghella.
- 50The New RepublicStanley KauffmannThe New RepublicStanley KauffmannThe English Patient is excitingly promising. Then the screenplay goes rotten, like an overripe melon. [Dec. 9, 1996]