the role that did make you a big international star was in the english patient, directed by anthony minghellae nursing the english patient — the title character played by ralph fiennes. this will help you. i must be a curse. anybody who loves me, anybody who gets close to me know i must be cursed. what was the appeal of that role of hannah? you can't explain everything. it was probably a meeting between this role and myself. during the shooting, it felt i was on a cloud of love, kind of. everything was — i was — i was very frightened, i have to say, the first half month. the first month of shooting, i remember being, like, super frightened. and then the second half, it was like, erm, purejoy. i'll always go back to that church plays. and that was a journey of the complexity of, you know, of what it is to be in a war and what it is to have a patient, and the responsibility of playing this role of many, many nurses. that is such a loved film. and it went on to win so many academy awards. were you aware as you were making it... not at all. ..that something works? just before shooting the product