FAVOURITE SCENES FROM ANY OF RALPH'S MOVIES AND WHY...

[trugannini]

One scene which had a lasting effect on me, is from TEOTA....when Bendrix has finished reading the diary....he calls her...she hangs up. THEN...there he is, running down his front steps, Nyman's music comes up, he runs as fast as he can across the square...I just burst into tears, watching Ralph doing that, chasing the taxi, following it,
in the pouring rain.....I just loved him to bits watching the effort he was putting into it.
I'm quivering thinking about it.....

[trugannini]

Another one is the Dancing scene from The English Patient...the sexual tension during that short dance was unbelievable.

And then, in TEP when she arrives at his apartment and he is asleep on his bed.....it felt like a volcano going off when
he knelt at her feet burying his head in her skirt.

In The White Countess, where he asks can be touch her face to see what she 'looks' like. So tender, so slow, so gentle.

[Liza]

I could talk on this subject for a while. There is probably at least one favorite scene in every film he's done. Since we're talking about The English Patient, I'll start there. This entire story is great so its hard to pick out just one part.

As the burnt patient, when he asks Hannah to give him the final dose of morphine. No words were needed, the gesture and the eyes said all that was needed to be said.

Then of course, there is the scene when Almasy is carrying Katherine up to the cave after the plane crash and he realizes that she still loves him. That one will always catch my heart.

Another (was I supposed to list only one?!) is when Almasy joins the others at dinner and is drunk and does the little song and dance. Small moments like that in his films showed me long ago what critics are only recently getting. This man can be funny as brilliantly as he can be serious. His timing and manner may be subtle, but he certainly has always had it.

[Alice]

I love the scene in "Oscar and Lucinda" where Lucinda says she wants to make her confession and then asks Oscar if (being an Anglican priest) he disapproves. The expressions that flit across Ralph's face when he replies are a joy to behold. Mind you, practically all Ralph's scenes in the film are little gems!

[Liza]

I agree! I love that film!! Ralph is so wonderful and sweet in it!

[trugannini]

list as many as you like Liza :)

[trugannini]

During her birthday dinner after he carries her down the stairs, and she has a few requests of him
if she dies, he nods yes quietly to all of her requests, and then, when she says i must be
crazy to believe a f.....ker like you....the look on his face was so subtley disappointed...he didn't
really Show it, but then, he did somehow. Beautifully done.

[Liza]

It's 4:30am and the brain is not quite with the program, though the heart is always willing. I could list enough favorite scenes to write a book. It might be easier to ask which ones I don't like, though none come to mind. I may never be able to answer that one properly either!

I agree with what you said. Ralph Fiennes has this wonderful gift that draws you in. His talent, his great performance is in the subtle moments, the smallest gesture that can speak volumes more than words. I've heard and seen (on video) the largeness of his expression and voice on stage. That seems such a sharp contrast to his films, but I think I understand it. On the stage you don't have the benefit of the close-up, the background of music and setting. You can say more with less, which like I said, I think is a great gift Ralph has as a film actor. On the stage, there seems to be a rawness and immediacy that is conveyed best by larger, more expressive drama. I wonder if that is one of the things that Ralph enjoys more about the theatre, that license to let loose, that energy and adrenaline. I can understand the passion for it, just wish I had some of that talent and courage myself! : )

I'm afraid I may have gone way off topic here! That's what I get for musing in the wee hours of the morning! : )

trugannini, I'll get back to you on that list. ; )

[trugannini]

Have another look at the shot in TEP, when they are walking through the market in the early morning, and he is walking ahead of Katherine, she touches his hands and asks, "Will we be alright?' He turns and says tenderly, "Yes." and then again "Yes" and as he turns away to continue walking, he leans towards her about one inch, for a split second as if to kiss her, all in the process of turning away, and continues walking. It is so subtle you may miss it. This is before he turns again and says "Absolutely!" It is instances like this with Ralph, that occur again and again which make him so special. :)

[Liza]

I just saw this film the other day. I love that scene too. This character seems very cool on the surface, but there is so much feeling underneath. You can feel it in the small moments and expressions. He says so much!

By "running scene" do you mean the one where Bendrix follows Sarah to the theatre and catches up with her at the church? Oh, I love that scene too! : )

[Liza]

Yup, that's the scene I meant, when he chases the taxi.

[trugannini]

Do you notice that, when he is running, in any scene, his elbows are bent and his arms are across his torso....it is his special way of running (I used be an athlete), he'd be hopeless on the Track, but my God I just love watching him Run!!! Especially if he is coming towards me.... swooning quite away........ahhh

[mesi]

Ralph as Herzog in the film "The duchess": because I write shorter and longer texts (e.-Stories.de on in English also for other web pages best, is thus the astonishing language into which one can curse and it sounds amusing), I wrote among other things: "Fiennes can take up it still with every younger colleague, also almost undressed." He looks just magnificent like he itself to the duchess brings near the first time in the bed. The amusing? Is sorry me, there I must have overlooked what, did not strike. One would like to be with pleasure this duchess in the end when he lays his hand on theirs and speaks then normally how one might expect it from the real Fiennes. He regrets with his looks that it does not love him probably like the young man and this makes duke human, just as in the scenes where he devotes himself to the children every smile of Fiennes appeared like a short luck moment which the joining in people might experience if it is still so short: one melts away. Rape? Now, I had rather the impression: he does not defend himself really, comes across everything too gently, almost affectionately, Fiennes is not able to a film partner really blow act physically he should not speak and a little loudly: now the women have certainly taken this. I do not want to pull parallels to the real life of Ralph Fiennes now at all, although I contract the habit always so. One pays attention to every movement of the man, any minute where it is there again: rather such a shining in the eyes because he either in bewilderment or is sad or is excited should be. Not that he has cried as duke, now would not have fitted at all. When he says her: she would never again see the children, then he briefly closes the eyes, controls itself, she opens, for me thus the typical play of features for which I had waited what also came. And again is the man sorry in the end, does he have to do this?