When I first saw there wasn't already a Ralph Fiennes node I almost fell out of my chair. Having said that, let's get on with the show...

First off, from all accounts I've heard, his name is pronounced "rafe fines." He's best known for his titular role in The English Patient. His other films include:

On a more personal note, he was married to Alex Kingston (Dr. Elizabeth Corday on ER) but they are now divorced.

Oh yes, in the opinion of many people he is strikingly handsome. He also has a brother, Joseph Fiennes, who played the starring role in Shakespeare In Love (not to be confused with Lucas In Love) opposite Gwyneth Paltrow. Most agree that the elder Fiennes (Ralph) is, how you say... much hotter.

Just to discuss a selection of movies from the list that Ralph Fiennes has been in, some of which passed with little notice by the general public.

The list is incomplete, only due to gaps in my own viewing.

  • Strange Days - A science fiction film by Kathryn Bigelow, ex-wife of the more famous James Cameron. She apparently got the rights to this film as part of their divorce settlement. It's a smart little movie, and end-of-the-millenium film set in L.A. Fiennes plays a kind of dealer, selling illegal recordings of people's experiences that you can play back through a skullcap device, thus reliving the experience as if you were there. When he receives a recording that could cause L.A. to explode in rioting, he starts having to track down the origin of the disk. This film is required for any Ralph Fiennes fan, it's unlike any of his other roles.
  • Schindler's List - very famous, so not much needs to be said here. A moving film on the Holocaust, very realistic style. Fiennes plays Amon Goeth, camp commander, with a casual brutality.
  • Sunshine - Fiennes plays three generations of Hungarian Jewish men from the Sonnenschein/Sors family. The three men are fundamentally different characters, and experience antisemitic discrimination before, during and after Nazi occupation. The film has images that will stay with you for the rest of your life (not comforting, but clearly impactful). Three amazing performances by Fiennes.
  • Oscar and Lucinda - Fiennes plays Oscar, a young priest who suppresses his love for Lucinda (Cate Blanchett) into a mad shared dream between the two to transport an iron-and-glass church to the middle of nowhere in the Australian Outback, by riverboat. Fiennes and Blanchett work well together--Fiennes plays obsession well (cf. Strange Days, English Patient)
  • Red Dragon - Fiennes plays the "Tooth Fairy"/Red Dragon/Dolarhyde in the Hannibal Lecter prequel. The movie is jam-packed with great actors, who do an amazing job with the material. Direction and editing could have been better, however, so the movie fails to attain the heights that it could. Fiennes' portrayal of Dolarhyde and the Red Dragon is appropriately restrained and frightening, respectively.

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