The English Patient (1996)

Juliette Binoche: Hana

Photos 

Quotes 

• Hana : There's a man downstairs. He brought us eggs. He might stay.

  Almásy : Why? Can he lay eggs?

  Hana : He's Canadian.

  Almásy : Why are people always so happy when they collide with someone from the same place? What happened in Montreal when you passed a man in the street? Did you invite him to live with you?

  Hana : He needn't disturb you.

  Almásy : He can't. l'm already disturbed.

• Almásy : That's a Christmas cracker. A firecracker.

  Hana : This isn't your handwriting, is it?

  Almásy : Yes, it is.

  Hana : [reads Almásy's note on the firecracker]  "December 22. Betrayals in war are childlike compared with our betrayals during peace, New lovers are nervous and tender, But smash everything, For the heart is an organ of fire." "For the heart is an organ of fire." I love that. I believe that. K? Who is K?

  Almásy : K is for Katharine.

• Almásy : Could I have a cigarette?

  Hana : [laughing]  Are you crazy?

  Almásy : Why... why are you so determined to keep me alive?

  Hana : Because I'm a nurse.

• Hana : If one night I didn't come to see you, what would you do?

  Kip : I try not to expect you.

  Hana : Yes, but if it got late and... I hadn't shown up?

  Kip : Then I'd think there must be a reason.

  Hana : You wouldn't come to find me? Hmm. That makes me never want to come here. Then I'd tell myself, he spends all day searching. In the night, he wants to be found.

  Kip : I do. I do want you to find me. I do want to be found.

• Caravaggio : You're in love with him, aren't you? Your poor patient. You think he's a saint because of the way he looks? I don't think he is.

  Hana : I'm not in love with him. I'm in love with ghosts. So is he, he's in love with ghosts.

• Hana : What about your own book?

  Almásy : My book? Oh, yes the Herodotus. Yes, you can read him.

  Hana : Oh, l found plums. We have plums in the orchard. There. We have an orchard.

  Almásy : Herodotus is the father of history. Do you know that?

  Hana : l don't know anything.

  [feeds Almásy a plum] 

  Almásy : lt's a - it's a very plum - plum.

• Hana : [crying, her face a frozen mask]  I must be a curse. Anybody who loves me, anybody who gets close to me... or I must be cursed. Which is it?

• Caravaggio : l'm one of his ghosts and he wouldn't even know it.

  Hana : l don't know what that means.

  Caravaggio : Ask your saint who he is. Ask him who he's killed.

• Almásy : [being carried up the stairs]  There was a Prince, who was dying, and he was carried up the tower at Pisa so he could die with a view of the Tuscan Hills. Am I that Prince?

  Hana : [laughs]  Because you're leaning? No, you're just on an angle. You're too heavy!

• Hana : The war's over - you told me yourself. How can it be desertion?

  Oliver : It's not over everywhere. I didn't mean literally.

  Hana : [looking at Almasy]  When he dies I'll catch up.

  Oliver : [looking over the small cache of provisions]  It's not safe here. The whole country's crawling with Bandits and Germans and God knows what. It's madness. I can't allow it. You're not alright, this is natural. It's shock. For all of us. Hana?

  Hana : [bent]  I need morphine. A lot. And a pistol.

  Oliver : [clutching at straws, about Almasy]  And what if he really is a spy?

  Hana : [impatient]  He can't even move!

  Oliver : If anything happened to you I'd never forgive myself.

  [as Hana nods and smiles] 

  Oliver : ... We're heading for Leghorn. Livorno the Italians call it. We'll expect you.

• Kip : The Germans were here. The Germans were all over this area. They left mines everywhere. The pianos were their favorite hiding places.

  Hana : l see. Sorry. Then maybe you're safe ss long ss you only play Bach. He's German.

• Hana : Are you in pain? Do you need something?

  Almásy : Yes.

• [first lines] 

  Hana : How are you?

• Almásy : What was all that banging? Are you - are you fighting rats or the entire German army?

  Hana : No. l was repairing the stairs. l found a library and the books were very useful.

• Hana : I didn't like that book either. It's all about men. Too many men. Just like this house.