A man struggles to uncover the truth behind a personal loss and a worldwide conspiracy.
As with Phillip Noyce's adaptation of The Quiet American, The Constant Gardener starts with an awful murder. In the aftermath, Justin (Ralph Fiennes) has to unpick his past with the victim, his wife Tessa (Rachel Weisz). He must come to terms with several revelations, and his own decisions, to understand how he should deal with the future. She was always the passionate driven one, determined to uncover the truth behind a drug company conspiracy (African's being used as unwitting test subjects), while he is a quiet diplomat, avoiding involvement, especially as the paper trail leads right to his department. It's a clever and playful narrative that uses flashbacks to tease out the characters in such a way you might not be sure how to feel about them and so it's one of those unusual films that rewards a second viewing.
Thrillers such as this more often than not concentrate on the conspiracy, reducing the characters to fit and drive the main plot to a grand finale 'Where All Shall Be Revealed'. There is nothing wrong with this, especially in a Bond movie where it's merely an excuse to link up various set-pieces, but when the conspiracy is based on a grain of truth, you have to subscribe to and accept the writer's viewpoint to fully appreciate what's unfolding. A little bit of doubt goes a long and wrong way.
The Constant Gardener is developed by Jeffrey Caine from John Le Carre's novel. It's a fine adaptation that Le Carre has praised as "bearing little resemblance", in a good way! It is fairly complicated, well researched, engrossing and, as with any other such plot, demanding. But it is neatly delivered alongside the story of Justin and Tessa's marriage and our belief in the politics and intrigue become irrevocably linked to our belief in them. The decision to actually film in Africa makes for a vibrant and real film (a trust was setup to support the area after filming), especially with a passionate cast of extras, though it never falls into the trap of becoming a faux documentary, Fernando Meirellies' direction is too organic for that.
His photography throughout is stunning and proves Meirellies to be the unique talent City Of God promised, but your opinion of that film is no indicator of your reaction to this one. He has a way of matching the cameras movements to the nature of the plot, so whereas City Of God was brutal and powerful, The Constant Gardener has a more haunting nature, but no less intoxicating. His use of focus is frequently breathtaking, right from the abstract opening scene of Tessa's vehicle coming to rest after the crash. We see only the tyre, only the conclusion of the action. Where City Of God was angry, this is poignant, full of longing.
Don't let the brash Mummy movies distract you from Rachel Weisz! She is gorgeous and captivating in a deservedly Oscar winning role that has to capture our imagination and indignation at once. Her flirty outgoing nature supports the evidence she was having an affair; her soulful gazes at Justin diffuses it. Ralph Fiennes has an even harder job, with a character that by nature is quiet and unassuming, preferring his plants to engaging with us, the viewer! Don't be fooled though. His subtle characterization is possibly his best work in film and he will get to you. He is heartbreakingly real as he tugs the threads of his life back together and anyone who understands how tough grief is cannot fail to be overwhelmed. The two leads work together so well and the flashback to their first meeting an utter joy, followed by a sex scene that actually builds the characters and cannot be dismissed as you would the Bond equivalent.
It isn't perfect. A couple of the supporting characters are a bit obvious, such as Justin and Tessa's lawyer (Richard McCabe) and especially his annoying computer-whizz son, Guido. Villainous Bill Nighy and Gerard McSorley are fantastic fun, with fruity dialogue, but a touch over the top. Danny Houston and Herbert Kounde do well with rather perfunctory characters, but perception of them is essential to the plot, which explains their simple development. They are thriller characters, after all and concessions to the genre are needed somewhere!
There may be other gripes tucked away here and there, but it takes nothing away from a grown-up, ambitious film that is memorable and sublime, thanks to a passionate director and central performances that cut to the bone. Simply wonderful. Watch it, then watch it again. I certainly will.
Stunning adaptation of the equally excellent novel by John le Carré, which sees British diplomat in Kenya, Ralph Fiennes, investigate the murder of his activist wife (Rachel Weisz giving a strong, Golden Globe winning performance) only to uncover a deep-rooted, Malthusian conspiracy by the global elite using the "Big Pharm" to illegally test medicines on Africa"s poor. Told in dual narrative, with flashback love story as the basis for Fiennes transition from apathetic slave, to daring revolutionary, "City Of God" director Fernando Meirelles, really captures the essence of le Carré"s thought provoking political thriller.
I"ve been a Ralph Fiennes supporter ever since "Onegin" and the year he went against type in "Red Dragon". "The Constant Gardner" is by far his best film to date, a powerful, timely reminder of the insidious, amoral conspiracies at work in the world today, and the courageous few who stand against them (the screenplay even manages to work in an Iraq war reference that le Carré liked, where Rachel calls it "Vietnam, the sequel"). A must see.
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Please note this is a region 2 DVD and will require a region 2 (Europe) or region Free DVD Player in order to play. Love. At any cost. In a remote area of Northern Kenya, activist Tessa Quayle (Rachel Weisz) is found brutally murdered. Tessa's companion, a doctor, appears to have fled the scene, and the evidence points to a crime of passion. Members of the British High Commission in Nairobi assume that Tessa's widower, their mild-mannered and unambitious colleague Justin Quayle (Ralph Fiennes), will leave the matter to them. They could not be more wrong.... Haunted by remorse and jarred by rumors of his late wife's infidelities, Quayle surprises everyone by embarking on a personal odyssey that will take him across three continents. Using his privileged access to diplomatic secrets, he will risk his own life, stopping at nothing to uncover and expose the truth; a conspiracy more far-reaching and deadly than Quayle could ever have imagined. Based on the novel by John Le Carre, The Constant Gardener was nominated for 3 Oscars and Rachel Weisz duly collected her statuette for a superb supporting turn as Tessa Quayle. Actors Ralph Fiennes, Rachel Weisz, Hubert Kounde, Danny Huston, Bill Nighy, Archie Panjabi, Gerard McSorley, Pete Postlethwaite, Donald Sumpter, Nick Reding, John Sibi-Okumu & Keith Pearson Director Fernando Meirelles Certificate 15 years and over Year 2005 Screen Widescreen 1.85:1 Anamorphic Languages English - Dolby Digital (5.1) Subtitles English ; Spanish Duration 2 hours and 3 minutes (approx)
Hard-hitting political thriller based on the novel by John Le Carre, and the first English-speaking feature from director Fernando Meirelles. When political activist Tessa Quayle (Rachel Weisz, in an Oscar-winning performance) is found brutally murdered in Kenya, her widowed husband, unassuming minor diplomat Justin Quayle (Ralph Fiennes), becomes increasingly belligerent in his attempt to solve the mystery of her death, to the surprise of his British High Commission colleagues. Haunted by remorse and by insidious rumours of his wife's infidelities, Quayle uses his access to diplomatic secrets to unearth a vast and dangerous conspiracy about the methods of big pharmaceutical companies and the exploitation of the Third World by the West, at the same time as he discovers more about the beautiful young wife he never really knew.
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