The Constant Gardener (2005)
Average Rating: 7.6/10
Reviews Counted: 181
Fresh: 151 | Rotten: 30
The Constant Gardener is a smart, gripping, and suspenseful thriller with rich performances from the leads.
Average Rating: 8.2/10
Critic Reviews: 39
Fresh: 36 | Rotten: 3
The Constant Gardener is a smart, gripping, and suspenseful thriller with rich performances from the leads.
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Average Rating: 3.5/5
User Ratings: 196,404
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Movie Info
A man discovers a deadly secret when he tries to find out who killed the woman he loves in this suspense drama based on a novel by John Le Carré. Justin Quale (Ralph Fiennes) is a low-level British diplomat who has been given a new assignment in Kenya. Justin's wife, Tessa (Rachel Weisz), is an activist with a keen interest in issues of poverty and social justice; Justin urges her to avoid getting too deeply involved in the people living in Kenya, who are constantly dogged by poverty, but she
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Cast
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Ralph Fiennes
Justin Quayle -
Rachel Weisz
Tessa Quayle -
Danny Huston
Sandy Woodrow -
Bill Nighy
Sir Bernard Pellegrin -
Pete Postlethwaite
Lorbeer -
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The Constant Gardener Trailer & Photos
All Critics (184) | Top Critics (40) | Fresh (156) | Rotten (31) | DVD (36)
Fernando Meirelles, codirector of City of God, stresses old-fashioned storytelling and takes full advantage of his cast, including Danny Huston.
Top CriticFiennes has always been good, but in author John le Carré's 2000 postimperial African thriller, he may have found his signature role.
... Ralph Fiennes gives one of the year's subtlest, yet most exciting, screen performances ...
Rises to a pitch of terror and outrage that leaves one shaken.
Meirelles clearly trusts his actors, particularly Fiennes and Weisz: The plot of The Constant Gardener is fairly intricate, but in the end, the story is told mostly in their faces.
The Constant Gardener is beautifully structured, an artful mix of forward motion and flashbacks.
An offensively condescending tourist's eye
Government intrigue in Africa, more interesting for older teens.
What it adds up to is a good yarn that uses real political concerns to make itself look beefier than the average Hollywood thriller.
Mr. Fiennes, drawing his lips inward and adding just a slight quaver to his voice, gives his finest performance in almost a decade.
a deeply intelligent and profoundly moral examination of a world where the political and the personal cannot ever be kept apart.
The director displays little success in really willing to get dirty and immerse himself in foreign soil.
Elaborate, cynical, ambitious, eager, visually arresting, the film wants it all and gives plenty.
The pornography of Third World damage and suffering for the popcorn munching voyeuristic entertainment of more economically cozy moviegoers.
While le Carre's narrative returns an unequivocal guilty verdict on the drug companies, the jury on Meirelles's storytelling abilities remains hung.
The Constant Gardener" has strengths that aren't apparent until the final credits start rolling.
Fiennes does a brilliant job of communicating his character's inner turmoil through subtle facial expressions and inflections of his voice.
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Admirably composed, even if it ultimately feels a bit of a shame that it all has to come down to good guys and bad guys.
Audience Reviews for The Constant Gardener
Super Reviewer
Super Reviewer
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- Justin Quayle: I can't go home. Tessa was my home.
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Foreign Titles
- Der ewige Gärtner (DE)
- El jardinero fiel (ES)
