Anthony Minghella’s multiple Oscar and BAFTA-winning epic is a thoughtful and moving adaptation of Michael Ondaatje’s critically acclaimed novel, set towards the end of the Second World War. It is the story of intertwined lives. A mysterious man whose body was almost completely consumed by fire lies, awaiting death, in a house in the south of France. He is looked after by a nurse who has befriended an Indian soldier. And a spy, who suffered at the hands of the Nazis, arrives to question the patient. Through flashbacks, we find out that the burned man was an explorer who embarked on an affair with a married Englishwoman. At the same time, a passion develops between the nurse and soldier, and the former spy reveals his own story. Beautifully shot, stunningly performed by Ralph Fiennes, Kristen Scott Thomas, Oscar-winner Juliette Binoche, Naveen Andrews and Willem Dafoe, and directed with intelligence and emotional depth by Minghella, this is a classic in the style of the great David Lean.