March 18, 2008

"What do you love?"

You either loved "The English Patient" or you didn't.
What do you love?

What do I love?
Say everything.

Water — fish in it — and hedgehogs, I love hedgehogs. Marmite — I'm addicted, and baths, but not with other people! Islands — and your handwriting. I could go on all day.
Go on all day.

My husband.
And what do you hate most?

A lie. And what do you hate most?
Ownership — or being owned. When you leave, you should forget me.
The director Anthony Minghella has died of a hemorrhage after surgery on a growth on his neck. He was only 54.

39 comments:

From Inwood said...

Dare I say it?

Hope they used the right power drill!

George M. Spencer said...

Colin "Mr. Darcy" Firth in a supporting role?

Hero is a Nazi weasel?

Can't go there.

I'm still liking that scrumptous Laura Linney as Abagail Adams.

ricpic said...

She doesn't want to be owned?

But when a man loves a woman he needs to own her, all the sensitive beautiful people twaddle to the contrary.

And guess what? The woman wants to be owned, all her breathless denials to the contrary.

Trooper York said...

She craves a pleasuring!
(James Mason, Mandingo, 1975)

Revenant said...

I didn't care for The English Patient, but "Truly Madly Deeply" is a favorite of mine. It is a funny, sweet, and sad film about losing a loved one and learning to love someone new.

Ann Althouse said...

ricpic, I think it's the man who says he doesn't want to be owned.

Zaplito said...

I found the English Patient as a movie tedious. I tried to read the book and didn't finish it. Then on a road trip I listened to it on CD and it really worked. Listening to it somehow I picked up the random morphine induced hazy thought patterns and it really was an enjoyable "read" (listen).

Cedarford said...

What a shame. Loss of talent. These days it is very rare that someone bleeds out from vascular damage in surgery.

After Malkovich in "Ripley's Game", which was perfect, Damon's "Ripley's Game" was a letdown. The leisure class was a little too fey and manic in the latter movie.

Echo George on Laura Linney in the wonderful "John Adams" series now on HBO. It is HBO at it's peak of quality and Abigail Adams is truly being honored by Linney's work. The actress was also great in "Mystic River" and "Breach".

Amexpat said...

My reaction to TEP was the same as Elaine Benes'.

ricpic said...

Oh. In that case...nevermind.

former law student said...

I thought the English Patient was OK. My problem was suspending disbelief during the film, because by the time the movie came out I had learned that Count Laszlo de Almásy was gay.

Smilin' Jack said...

After Malkovich in "Ripley's Game", which was perfect, Damon's "Ripley's Game" was a letdown. The leisure class was a little too fey and manic in the latter movie.

Actually, "Ripley's Game" came after "The Talented Mr. Ripley" (the Matt Damon movie.) Both were excellent, though I do think "Ripley's Game" was a little better--sorta like Godfather I and II.

George M. Spencer said...

Cedarford--

Particularly the scene where Abigail scrubs the wood floor with a brick and Murphy Oil.

For more, visit...

www.hotfirstladiesdoinghousework.com

Chip Ahoy said...

I hate unsightly lumps. Got one on my head. Doctor said, "Don't worry. It's common. I see them all the time." So, I asked my hairdresser who sees a lot of heads, he goes, "Nope. Never saw anything like that." As it happened, at that moment in another chair a woman was working on an elderly client with lumps all over her head of thinning hair which required the hairdresser to carefully negotiate around the lumps. Odd coincidence, that.

Scene two: Removing the lump on my head wasn't as easy as all that. Turns out to have been connected to my brain, so a simple lump removal became brain surgery right there. Now I have a divot where a lump used to be and a hole in my skull the size of a quarter, which is an improvement over a hole the size of a half dollar, so things are looking up. Bad thing is, the hole in my skull results in things constantly tumbling out, and that's a bit of a problem. It accounts for a good deal of the absentmindedness and lost information.

the filmmaker died at London's Charing Cross Hospital. from hemorrage following surgery.

Note to self: Avoid serious illness in Britain or any other country with universal health coverage.

Peter V. Bella said...

Cedarford said...
What a shame. Loss of talent. These days it is very rare that someone bleeds out from vascular damage in surgery.

Probably because there was no Home Depot nearby with a vast array of pwer tools to choose from.

Tibore said...

ricpic said...
"And guess what? The woman wants to be owned, all her breathless denials to the contrary."

Ann Althouse said...
ricpic, I think it's the man who says he doesn't want to be owned.

Yes, the professor has it right. It was Katherine asking the question, and Lazlo responding.

But the beauty of the movie (yes, I'm one of the one's who loved it) is that it went from Lazlo rebuffing the relationship to embracing it, then to craving it in a crazy, creepy stalker-ish sort of way (that was a rather jarring part of the movie), then to recognizing and accepting the love Katherine offered. Right as she lands at death's door, of course.

-----

Yes, I did like The English Patient. Seems like a langorious immersion into a story, unlike the hectic kinetics of too many movies nowadays. Granted, there's a place for that sort of harrying too, but what I liked about English Patient was that it was the opposite of that.

-------

And wow. I'm shocked at Minghella's death. He bled out after surgery? I wonder what the specifics of the situation were (not like we're ever going to find out). I was first guessing that this was a routine procedure, so why the hemmoraging, but after some thought, I realized that none of the articles I read says what the surgery entailed, beyond removing some "growth". If it was a big enough growth, or if it came too close to some of the important vascular components, then I could see this happening.

Or, if the surgeon screwed up. But I need some evidence of that before I go believing it myself.

Swifty Quick said...

Juliette Binoche

Henry said...

It was okay.

I didn't like the gay guy overturning the jeep. Why make the gay guy the bad driver?

There's the problem. The most interesting relationships in the movie were the side plots. Binoche & Naveen Andrews, with Dafoe lurking about in the background -- there was some chemistry there. Not so much for the permanently somber Fiennes and disaffected Kirsten Scott Thomas.

peacelovewoodstock said...

Marmite? Dear God.

Kirby Olson said...

I sorta liked the movie, but would hate to see it again. I felt rather soothingly indifferent to the film.

Kirby Olson said...

Perhaps I should say I'm taking a stance of "cruel neutrality" toward the film, but in this case I just feel "soothingly indifferent" which is also my policy toward the presidential race. No matter what happens something will happen, and that's fine... Every candidate could be a disaster or could be great.

This film was not a disaster, and wasn't great, so I am soothingly indifferent.

The only films I've ever liked are those with Peter Sellers in them, and a film called Where the Green Ants Dream, set in Australia, and a few by a Finnish film maker named Aki Kaurismaki.

Most film is just cellulite for the eyes.

Joan said...

I tried to watch this at least two times, and feel asleep each time. I felt like it was trying to be "Lawrence of Arabia" without Peter O'Toole or anyone equally compelling.

Maybe I'll give it another try some day. I'm amused by the idea of someone listing hedgehogs so close to the top of the things they like.

titusgrandjetewithalaybackintothesplits said...

I loved The English Patient.

I also loved The Talented Mr. Ripley.

The Talented Mr. Ripley would of been better if there would of been a scene where Matt Damon bottomed for Jude Law.
Also, Gwenneth Paltrow, was awful in the movie.

How sad that he died so young.

Currently, I am not horny.

titusgrandjetewithalaybackintothesplits said...

What I love most:

a pair of milky breaks
bouncing lightly
in a tight cream cashmere sweater

unecumbered by a bra
free to express their feminity

begging to be touched
wanting attention

titusgrandjetewithalaybackintothesplits said...

What do i hate:

someone who is absolute and without doubt.

Smilin' Jack said...

You either loved "The English Patient" or you didn't.

No one can argue with that.

titusgrandjetewithalaybackintothesplits said...
What do i hate:

someone who is absolute and without doubt.


Are you sure about that?

Kirby Olson said...

Absolutely and without a doubt, those without a doubt, are absolutely dubious.

titusgrandjetewithalaybackintothesplits said...

What I love:

The sound of the rare clumbers
snoring on each of must well defined shoulders.

The touch of the rare clumbers as my face is buried in their stomach.

The sight of my rare clumbers as I turnaround and they are following close behind.

NotWhoIUsedtoBe said...

I liked the part with the thumbs...

titusgrandjetewithalaybackintothesplits said...

What I love:

licking a well defined ab.

thank you

Trooper York said...

John Adams said....

What do I love.

licking a well defined abigail.

Thank you.

ricpic said...

Soothingly indifferent
He cruised in neutral
Blithely unaware.

Scathingly indecent
He hunted hog
With nary a worldly care.

Waggishly insouciant
He gave the bird
To every dangerous dare.

Totally insipid
He slowly sank
To foul from fair.

titusgrandjetewithalaybackintothesplits said...

What I love:

Two nipples pressed against each other.
Suffocated, gasping
for air
Hard
ErecT
Eroused,
Two nipples pressed against each other.

Thank you.

titusgrandjetewithalaybackintothesplits said...

What I hate:

I try not to hate because as my grandmother would say hate can kill you.


What I love:

To wake up on a summer morning
on the cape.
Walk to the beach before it is crowded.
Find a spot alone.
And to ponder lifes complexities.

Thank you.

titusgrandjetewithalaybackintothesplits said...

What I love:

The really hot Greek delivery guy
who just delivered my
Chicken and goat cheese salad.

He always compliments me and I can't get it out of the entryway.

I have been tempted to try it on him but I am the one who is always pursued.

A pitty, but those are the rules.

Thank you.

reader_iam said...

What I love

is after all his reflections on nips, tits and other torso parts

titusgrandjetewithalaybackintothesplits

spells "pity" as "pitty," which at first glance I read as "titty"

and made me wish he'd spelled "rules" as "drules."

Too fun.

LoafingOaf said...

The Endless Patient is what we called it....

Ripley was good though!

Unknown said...

Terrible, shocking news. Aside from Cold Mountain, I loved his work. I also thought his early TV work in Britain on Inspector Morse.

kjbe said...

Haven't ever seen English Patient, but very much loved Truly, Madly, Deeply and enjoyed About a Boy. TMD is one of my all time favs and I've loved Alan Rickman, ever since.