Wednesday 8 October 2008

Anthony Minghella 1954-2008

I read a book once and recognised immediately
that it would make the most wonderful film.
I knew that there was only one director
who could write a sensitive screenplay
which did the book justice while avoiding sentimentality;
who would fuse the landscape and the people
and soak the film in light and music.

That man was Anthony Minghella.

So I hatched a plan to write to him
and tell him about the book
but also how much I admired his films.
'Truly, Madly, Deeply'
'The English Patient'
'Cold Mountain'

And especially 'The Talented Mr Ripley'
(I love that film. It shimmers.)

I knew that he would not mind
getting unsolicited fan mail
because I had heard him interviewed
and he sounded such a warm, generous person
who lived for his art.
I wrote the letter in my head
and worked out which address I was going to send it to.

And then I got distracted.
And I didn't send it.
If I was forced to write a list of things
that I truly regret,
that make my heart sink when I think of them,
that would be very close to the top.

13 comments:

blackbird said...

You have honored him here - nicely too...

A time to dance said...

What a wonderful post - what was the book???
Did you know he writes wonderful plays too??? I loved Whale music.

Lynn said...

I'm itching to know what the book was, too. The English Patient is the only Minghella movie I've seen, but it's certainly in my Top Five of Profound Affectors. I'd like to watch it again, but it was so wrenching...

dragonfly said...

Another amazing post. The English Patient is one of my favourite films - I could watch it over and over.

Gina said...

What a wonderful tribute. These are some of my most favourite films too. I find the beauty of The English Patient breathtaking

Anonymous said...

Regret is a hard pill to swallow.

I agree with bb.

trash said...

Truly, Madly, Deeply. Falls into my top 20.

Anonymous said...

We have an old VHS tape which has "Mrs M's films" written on it which I came across when I was looking for the "Shipwrecked" one.

One of the films is "T,M,D" which I have to confess I have never watched and the other is ....

Anonymous said...

Oh no. I love this blog and everything you have said previously but I can't agree with the view of Mr Minghella. I went to the cinema to watch Cold Mountain when I was eight and a half months pregnant and loathed it. I have still not forgiven him for the waste of my precious pre-child time!

Do you think we could agree to disagree?

dottycookie said...

A stunningly talented man, and a huge loss. Truly, Madly, Deeply is always accompanied in this family by the soundtrack of my sobbing from start to end. I must rent it again - soon.

JuliaB said...

Not forgetting his work on Grange Hill and even Inspector Morse!

Anonymous said...

It would appear that Mr M hit the 'publish your comment' button a little too early.

The other film is...???

Mary said...

This is a lovely tribute to a person I have also read was a wonderful man.

And I love his films too.