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The Constant Gardener (2005)

tomatometer

83

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.

92

Average Rating: 8.2/10
Critic Reviews: 37
Fresh: 34 | Rotten: 3

The Constant Gardener is a smart, gripping, and suspenseful thriller with rich performances from the leads.

audience

81

liked it
Average Rating: 3.5/5
User Ratings: 196,404

My Rating

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

R, 2 hr. 8 min.

Mystery & Suspense, Drama

Jeffrey Caine

Jan 10, 2006

$33.6M

Focus Features

Cast

All Critics (184) | Top Critics (37) | 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.

November 27, 2007 Full Review Source: Chicago Reader | Comment (1)
Chicago Reader
Top Critic IconTop Critic

... Ralph Fiennes gives one of the year's subtlest, yet most exciting, screen performances ...

December 9, 2005 Full Review Source: New York Magazine | Comment
New York Magazine
Top Critic IconTop Critic

Rises to a pitch of terror and outrage that leaves one shaken.

September 1, 2005 Full Review Source: Christian Science Monitor | Comment
Christian Science Monitor
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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.

August 31, 2005 Full Review Source: Salon.com | Comment
Salon.com
Top Critic IconTop Critic

The Constant Gardener is beautifully structured, an artful mix of forward motion and flashbacks.

August 31, 2005 Full Review Source: San Francisco Chronicle | Comment
San Francisco Chronicle
Top Critic IconTop Critic

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.

August 31, 2005 Comment
San Jose Mercury News
Top Critic IconTop Critic

An offensively condescending tourist's eye

September 1, 2009 Full Review Source: CinePassion | Comment (1)
CinePassion

Government intrigue in Africa, more interesting for older teens.

July 24, 2008 Full Review Source: Common Sense Media | Comment
Common Sense Media

Fiennes has always been good, but in author John le Carré's 2000 postimperial African thriller, he may have found his signature role.

August 16, 2007 Full Review Source: Time Out New York | Comment
Time Out New York

What it adds up to is a good yarn that uses real political concerns to make itself look beefier than the average Hollywood thriller.

July 30, 2007 Full Review Source: eFilmCritic.com | Comment
eFilmCritic.com

Mr. Fiennes, drawing his lips inward and adding just a slight quaver to his voice, gives his finest performance in almost a decade.

July 14, 2007 Full Review Source: Big Picture Big Sound | Comment
Big Picture Big Sound

a deeply intelligent and profoundly moral examination of a world where the political and the personal cannot ever be kept apart.

July 3, 2007 Full Review Source: Eye for Film | Comment
Eye for Film

The director displays little success in really willing to get dirty and immerse himself in foreign soil.

May 21, 2007 Full Review | Comment
Long Island Press

Elaborate, cynical, ambitious, eager, visually arresting, the film wants it all and gives plenty.

March 1, 2007 Full Review Source: Film Journal International | Comment
Film Journal International

The pornography of Third World damage and suffering for the popcorn munching voyeuristic entertainment of more economically cozy moviegoers.

February 8, 2007 Full Review Source: WBAI Web Radio | Comment (1)
WBAI Web Radio

While le Carre's narrative returns an unequivocal guilty verdict on the drug companies, the jury on Meirelles's storytelling abilities remains hung.

January 20, 2007 Full Review Source: Observer [UK] | Comment
Observer [UK]

The Constant Gardener" has strengths that aren't apparent until the final credits start rolling.

November 20, 2006 Full Review | Comment
Kansas City Star

Fiennes does a brilliant job of communicating his character's inner turmoil through subtle facial expressions and inflections of his voice.

September 11, 2006 Comment

click to read full review [Greek]

September 10, 2006 Full Review Source: Movies for the Masses | Comment
Movies for the Masses

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.

August 7, 2006 Full Review Source: Not Coming to a Theater Near You | Comment
Not Coming to a Theater Near You
More Critic Reviews

Audience Reviews for The Constant Gardener

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

January 15, 2012
Raymond Wieser

Super Reviewer

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

February 3, 2011
blkbomb
Melvin White

Super Reviewer

The Constant Gardener Quotes

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Latest News for The Constant Gardener

June 20, 2011:
Anton Corbijn Targets A Most Wanted Man
Director of "The American" to helm an adaptation of John le Carré's 2008 political thriller.

November 28, 2007:
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Foreign Titles

  • Der ewige Gärtner (DE)
  • El jardinero fiel (ES)
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