I wanted to say something about Anthony Minghella, the great film director who died today at the age of 54, of a hemorrhage following surgery, at Charing Cross Hospital in London. It’s always a shock when the young and vital die, and in this case he was an artist at the top of his powers, so there’s that added level of loss. I never knew him but followed his work."The English Patient", which won 9 Academy Awards in 1996, including, for him, best director, was a masterpiece, a huge and sprawling — he had the confidence to take time! — epic about the fate of a man who cared about nothing until he cared about one thing, a woman. That doesn’t do it justice. It was about the power of human emotions — of life itself, of being alive — to undo us. It was a movie for grownups by grownups.

Less successful but equally ambitious was "Cold Mountain", in which Minghella proved himself a European. He confused America during the Civil War with Russia during its Civil War. He seems to have understood little about the old culture of the American South (its ingrained Christianity, for instance, and the very American skepticism and private agnosticism that were daily at war with it.) He seems to have seen Americans as people in cowboy hats. (It was, however, pretty to look at, and won Renee Zellwegger an Academy Award. A lot of the actors Minghella directed won Academy Awards.)

But let’s get back to how wonderful he was. His "The Talented Mr. Ripley", which came out in 1999, was beautiful, delicious, and horrifying. This is the movie in which Philip Seymour Hoffman really broke through with his range, with his ability to inhabit a part. So did Matt Damon — what broad gifts he has — who for Minghella did what is so far the greatest work of his life. It’s wonderful when artists of equal talent work together. Even when it doesn’t work it’s wonderful, there’s always something there.

Minghella co-wrote, with Richard Curtis, "Four Weddings and a Funeral", a movie so popular, so funny, that you almost didn’t notice what a good heart it had, even a good soul. And of course there was his first big film, the wonderful "Truly, Madly, Deeply", which says: The dead do not leave us.

Which is a comforting thought today.

Friends called him "a beautiful man" and were throughout the day quoted using the word gentle. I saw him on Charlie Rose once and thought how carefully he chose his words, not like a lawyer but like a person trying to put things truthfully.

We all have gifts and we all use them to varying degrees and for well or ill or both. But the loss of Minghella is a real loss. He was an artist. The world should sigh a little, should shudder, when an artist leaves.

Wednesday update: A friend just sent me director Sidney Pollack’s remarks on the passing of Minghella. Pollack said: "He was interested in the magic. Not fake magic, like hiding the ball under the cup, but real magic, the kind that occurs between people. Nowadays, everybody making movies wants to get the clothes off fast and the guns out quick; he was just the opposite. He was interested in the poetry, lavishing the viewer with story, and scope and richness. Look at what you got for your $12 ticket with Anthony."