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
shows little interest in obeying these instructions. This isn't the only area where Tessa has disregarded her husband, who suspects that she may have had an affair - for she started spending time with a handsome doctor once they settled in Kenya. One day, Tessa disappears, and is found brutally murdered; officials believe that she was murdered by the doctor after some sort of argument. However, before long Justin becomes convinced that there was a larger scheme that led to Tessa's death, and he begins digging into areas where he's not especially welcome, given his reputation as a man willing to let the wealthy and powerful do as they will. The Constant Gardener was the first English-speaking feature from Brazilian filmmaker Fernando Meirelles, who directed the international success City of God. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
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 director's fluttering hand keeps the ground constantly shifting beneath our feet, which is just what this beautifully wrenching adaptation for the screen requires.
Fernando Meirelles has created a great suspense thriller here with The Constant Gardener. Based on John Le Carre's book of the same name, the film is riveting from start to finish and is carried by two fantastic performances from Ralph Fiennes and Rachel Weisz. The Constant Gardener is a gripping, suspenseful
thriller that features beautiful the beautifully photographed landscapes of Kenya, and two great performances from the leads. A first-rate spy thriller.
Lorbeer: Big pharmaceuticals are right up there with the arms dealers. "Love. At any cost."The Constant Gardener isn't a favorite of mine, but it is such a well crafted film on every level. Ralph Fiennes gives one of his, if not his best, performances of his career. I'm also not a fan of Rachel Weisz normally, but in
this movie she gives a spectacular performance. It's definitely going to go down as her career defining performance. The story is captivating and extremely well told.If the film has any problem at all, it would be the lulls. There are moments in the film, where I just couldn't get into what was going on. The movie has very political issues in the background. Rachel Weisz's character was trying to fight a pharmaceutical company that was giving out medicine in Africa. The setting is a ill Africa, where sickness and death is an everyday affair.The plot is all about a guy who lost his wife and now is trying to figure out exactly what happened to her. He is told that she was unfaithful to him and he really doesn't know what to believe on that subject. But hearing those rumors doesn't stop him from going to extreme measures to figure out why his wife is dead. The film manages to be extremely suspenseful at times, as the story unfolds and we start to see what is going on.
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