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50 free The English Patient trivia questions with answers — entertainment quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
This The English Patient trivia quiz covers Anthony Minghella's 1996 Best Picture winner from every angle. It opens with the story: the burned pilot in the Italian monastery, Hana the nurse, Kip the sapper, Caravaggio and his missing thumbs, and the flashbacks to the Sahara, the Cave of Swimmers and the affair between Almásy and Katharine Clifton. Then it moves behind the camera to the casting fight with 20th Century Fox, the studio that walked out three weeks before shooting, Walter Murch's Avid-edited cut and the salary deferrals that got the film made. There are also rounds on Michael Ondaatje's Booker Prize novel, on the real László Almásy (a Hungarian desert explorer and wartime Abwehr operative whose life differed sharply from the film), on the 69th Academy Awards sweep, and on the Seinfeld episode that turned disliking the movie into a running joke. Questions range from easy (who plays Hana) to expert (which biplane models appear on screen). Every answer was checked against encyclopaedia entries before publishing.
30 of 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01Who directed The English Patient?
Anthony Minghella
He also wrote the screenplay himself, adapting a novel many considered unfilmable.
Q 02Who wrote the 1992 novel the film is based on?
Michael Ondaatje
The Sri Lankan-born Canadian author worked closely with the filmmakers during production.
Q 03Who plays the burned title character?
Ralph Fiennes
He and his co-star were both nominated for Oscars for their performances.
Q 04Which actress plays Hana, the nurse who cares for the patient?
Juliette Binoche
She won the Best Supporting Actress Oscar for the role.
Q 05Who plays Katharine Clifton?
Kristin Scott Thomas
The role brought her Golden Globe and Oscar nominations.
Q 06How many Academy Awards did The English Patient win?
Nine
It had received twelve nominations, the most of any film that year.
Q 07The patient's only possession is a copy of which ancient work?
Herodotus's Histories
The book is stuffed with personal notes, pictures and mementos that anchor the flashbacks.
Q 08What is Hana's nationality in the film?
French-Canadian
She serves as a Royal Canadian Army Medical Corps nurse in Italy in 1944.
Q 09What is Kip Singh's job in the British Army?
Sapper clearing mines
He is a Sikh lieutenant posted with Sergeant Hardy to clear German mines and booby traps.
Q 10Which body parts did Caravaggio lose under German interrogation?
His thumbs
He later kills the interrogator responsible and the spy who betrayed him.
Q 11Who plays Caravaggio?
Willem Dafoe
Colin Firth plays Geoffrey Clifton and Naveen Andrews plays Kip.
Q 12What is Almásy's nationality in the story?
Hungarian
The film ends by stating it is a fictionalized account of the real László Almásy.
Q 13What ancient site does Almásy discover in the desert?
The Cave of Swimmers
The real rock shelter, with paintings of people who look like they are swimming, is in the Gilf Kebir plateau of Egypt.
Q 14What gift does Almásy buy Katharine in Cairo?
Q 21In which two countries was the film shot on location?
Tunisia and Italy
A Seinfeld character is punished with a trip to the Tunisian filming location.
Q 22Which studio pulled out three weeks before production, leaving Miramax to step in?
20th Century Fox
Harvey Weinstein acquired the worldwide rights for $27.5 million.
Q 23Which star did the original studio reportedly want cast in Katharine's role?
Demi Moore
The producer resisted, and Minghella's own choice for Katharine was honored once Miramax came aboard.
A silver thimble
She is still wearing it when he finds her injured in the plane wreck.
Q 15How does Geoffrey Clifton try to kill Almásy?
By flying his plane at him
It was an attempted double murder-suicide after Geoffrey uncovered the affair.
Q 16How many days does Almásy walk across the desert to reach El Tag?
Three
Instead of getting help, he is detained on suspicion of being a spy.
Q 17What does Almásy trade to the Germans in exchange for fuel?
Maps
This is the betrayal Caravaggio has been hunting for: the maps let the Germans infiltrate Cairo.
Q 18Where had Madox hidden his plane before returning to Britain?
Kufra Oasis
The Germans take Almásy there after his escape from the train.
Q 19How does the patient die at the end of the film?
Hana gives him a lethal dose of morphine
As he drifts off, she reads him Katharine's final letter from the cave.
Q 20Where does Hana go with Caravaggio at the very end?
Florence
She leaves clutching Almásy's book.
Q 24How much did the cast and crew defer in salaries to get the film made?
$10 million
Some were still waiting for their money more than three years after release, and Zaentz sued Miramax in 2006.
Q 25Who edited the film, winning Oscars for both editing and sound?
Walter Murch
He remains the only person to win Oscars for both sound mixing and film editing on the same film.
Q 26The film's editing Oscar was a landmark because the cut was made how?
On a digital Avid system
Murch cut it on the Avid system, weaving dozens of transitions in time.
Q 27Roughly how many temporal transitions does the finished film contain?
Over 40
The editor initially dreaded the multiple flashbacks and time frames.
Q 28Which two biplane types appear in the film?
Tiger Moth and Boeing-Stearman
The camp crash was filmed with a half-size scale model.
Q 29Which folk song, performed by Muzsikás with Márta Sebestyén, features in the film?
Szerelem, Szerelem
The folk song plays over some of the desert flashbacks.
Q 30Who composed the Oscar-winning score?
Gabriel Yared
The Beirut-born composer went on to score every subsequent Minghella film.