I was saddened to hear that Anthony Minghella, the director of the films "The English Patient", "Truly, Madly, Deeply", and "The Talented Mr Ripley" (among others), died on March 18.
The English Patient will always hold a special place in my memory. It was one of my favourite movies for a while. I must have seen it five times the year it came out. In fact, it inspired a trip that I took to Turkey in 1997. I know, I know, the movie isn't set in Turkey. But, my entire trip was inspired by the following scene:
Almasy (Ralph Fiennes): " I claim this shoulder blade -- no, wait -- I want -- turn over -- I want this! [Tracing the hollow indentation of her throat] This place, I love this place, what's it called -- this is mine! I'm going to ask the king permission to call it the Almasy Bosphorus."
And that was that. I had a huge crush on Ralph Fiennes at the time, and that scene put the idea in my head that I had to get to the Bosphorus, which it turns out, is the strait that separates the European part of Istanbul from the Asian part. Basically, what happened was:
And that was that. I had a huge crush on Ralph Fiennes at the time, and that scene put the idea in my head that I had to get to the Bosphorus, which it turns out, is the strait that separates the European part of Istanbul from the Asian part. Basically, what happened was:
That year, Ralph Fiennes was appearing in a Chekov play in the West End, so I stopped over in London for a few days just to see the play. Inspiration is a funny thing. So, thank you Anthony Minghella, for inspiring a wonderful trip, and for many wonderful movies.
