In Love and War (1996)

In Love and War is a 1996 romance drama film based on the book, Hemingway in Love and War by Henry S. Villard and James Nagel. The film stars Sandra Bullock, Chris O'Donnell, Mackenzie Astin, and Margot Steinberg. Its action takes place during the First World War and is based on the wartime experiences of the writer Ernest Hemingway. It was directed by Richard Attenborough. The film was entered into the 47th Berlin International Film Festival.

This film is largely based on Hemingway's real-life experiences in the First World War as a young ambulance-driver in Italy. He was wounded and sent to a military hospital, where he shared a room with Villard (who later wrote the book the movie is based on) and they were nursed by Agnes von Kurowsky. Hemingway and Kurowsky fell strongly in love, but somehow the relationship didn't work out.

The film—apparently in a deliberate attempt to capture what the director called Hemingway's "emotional intensity"—takes liberties with the facts. In real life, unlike the movie, the relationship was probably never consummated, and the couple did not meet again after Hemingway left Italy.

Hemingway, deeply affected by his romantic relationship with Kurowsky, later wrote several stories about it, including A Farewell to Arms.

Synopsis

Été 1918 en Italie. La guerre va bientôt se terminer mais de féroces batailles opposent toujours les armées italienne et autrichienne. Ernest Hemingway, jeune journaliste Américain engagé dans la Croix-Rouge Italienne, est gravement blessé lors d'une mission dans une tranchée. Il se réveille à l'hôpital, sous les yeux d'Agnès, une belle infirmière américaine, qui parvient à convaincre le chirurgien de ne pas amputer ce gamin. Entre eux, et malgré leur différence d'âge, va naître une véritable passion amoureuse dans un monde pris de folie...

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