Julia / The English Patient

JULIA, 1977, 20th Century Fox, 117 min. Dir. Fred Zinnemann. Jane Fonda plays Lillian Hellman in this autobiographical tale of Hellman’s friendship with Julia (Vanessa Redgrave), a radiant woman who indoctrinates Hellman into the 1930s European resistance movement. Jason Robards is superb in an Oscar-winning performance as Dashiell Hammett, as are Maxmillian Schell, Hal Holbrook and Meryl Streep in her feature film debut.

THE ENGLISH PATIENT, 1996, Miramax, 162 min. Dir. Anthony Minghella. Ralph Fiennes is badly burned in a WWII plane crash and wakes up in a monastery, where he claims to have no memory of who he is. As nurse Juliette Binoche tends to him, his story emerges in flashbacks, and his passionate affair with Kristin Scott Thomas forms the basis of one of the most beloved romances in movie history. Gabriel Yared’s Oscar-winning score anchors a richly layered, novelistic epic that recalls the best films of David Lean and David O. Selznick.