The Sheltering Sky is a 1990 British-Italian drama film directed by Bernardo Bertolucci starring Debra Winger and John Malkovich. The film is based on the 1949 novel of the same name by Paul Bowles (who appears in a cameo role) about a couple who journey to North Africa in the hopes of rekindling their marriage but soon fall prey to the dangers that surround them. The story culminates with the man falling severely ill in a very remote area of the Sahara desert, from where the events turn catastrophic.