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Movies / On DVD / The Constant Gardener
The Constant Gardener

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The Constant Gardener (2005)

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Reviews Counted:178

Fresh:148

Rotten:30

Average Rating:7.6/10

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

Rated: R [See Full Rating] for language, some violent images and sexual content/nudity

Runtime: 2 hrs 10 mins

Genre: Thriller

Theatrical Release:Aug 31, 2005 Wide

Box Office: $33,565,375

Synopsis: Brazilian director Fernando Meirelles, whose previous film, CITY OF GOD, won awards all over the world--and was nominated for Best Foreign Language Film at the 2004 Oscars--has crafted another... Brazilian director Fernando Meirelles, whose previous film, CITY OF GOD, won awards all over the world--and was nominated for Best Foreign Language Film at the 2004 Oscars--has crafted another highly entertaining yet important film. Beautifully shot in Kenya, Germany, Sudan, Manitoba, and London, THE CONSTANT GARDENER, based on a bestselling novel by John Le Carré, is an exciting mix of romance and spy thriller. Ralph Fiennes stars as Justin Quayle, a low-level British diplomat who has always gone about his work very quietly, not causing any problems. But after his radical wife, Tessa (Rachel Weisz), is killed, he becomes determined to find out why, thrusting himself into the middle of a very dangerous conspiracy. Jeffrey Caine's powerful screenplay alternates between flashbacks of Justin and Tessa's relationship and Justin's hunt for the truth, which makes him a target--although he doesn't know who is after him. Fine support is offered by Danny Huston as his close friend and confidant, Sandy; Bill Nighy as shady British official Sir Bernard Pellegrin; and Hubert Koundé as Arnold Bluhm, an African doctor who might have been a little too friendly with Tessa. Meirelles's pacing is outstanding, switching effortlessly between political intrigue, action adventure, and love story. And Fiennes and Weisz give strong performances playing complex characters that will continually surprise the audience. THE CONSTANT GARDENER is a thrilling tale from start to finish. [More]

Starring: Ralph Fiennes, Rachel Weisz, Danny Huston, Bill Nighy

Starring: Ralph Fiennes, Rachel Weisz, Danny Huston, Bill Nighy, Daniele Harford, Hubert Kounde, Pete Postlethwaite, Nick Reding, Anneke Kim Sarnau, Donald Apiyo

Director: Fernando Meirelles

Director: Fernando Meirelles
Screenwriter: Jeffrey Caine
Producer: Simon Channing Williams
Composer: Alberto Iglesias
Studio: Focus Features

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Release:

Aug 16, 2009

[DVD Details]
 
 

DVD Features:

  • Region [unknown]
 
 
 
 

Reviews for The Constant Gardener

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141 - 160 (sorted by date)
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Meirelles... takes the same street-level viewpoint of [City of God] to the impoverished, HIV-stricken population of Kenya's slums and villages.

Full Review Source: Salt Lake Tribune | comment Comment
08/30/05
Sean Means
Sean Means
Salt Lake Tribune

A wildly determined piece of cinema, Gardener ultimately takes on way too much and topples, though very admirably.

Full Review Source: FilmJerk.com | comment Comment
08/30/05
Brian Orndorf
Brian Orndorf
FilmJerk.com

Fiennes has seldom been better, but then has he ever been bad? He’s indeed our Montgomery Clift for this new millennium: sensitive, moral, and yet strong.

Full Review Source: New York Theatre Wire | comment Comment
08/30/05
Brandon Judell
Brandon Judell
New York Theatre Wire

It might inspire you to haul out those garden spades and get digging.

Full Review Source: Slate | comment Comment
08/30/05
David Edelstein
David Edelstein
Slate

A complex, timely tale that spurs you into conversation at its conclusion.

Full Review Source: About.com | comment Comment
08/30/05
Rebecca Murray
Rebecca Murray
About.com

[Fiennes] gives an Oscar-worthy portrayal, holding us with his quivering half-smile and his wounded eyes.

Full Review Source: Atlanta Journal-Constitution | comment Comment
08/30/05
Eleanor Ringel Gillespie
Eleanor Ringel Gillespie
Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

This is an extremely well made movie, and despite it's ham-handed politics, is well worth a look-see.

Full Review Source: Greenwich Village Gazette | comment Comment
08/30/05
Eric Lurio
Eric Lurio
Greenwich Village Gazette

For an English-language movie with recognizable stars, its measure of social maturity can be startling, but it's also a bristling demonstration of the formal difficulty of liberal narrative, and of ambitious third-world tourist-cinema.

Full Review Source: Village Voice | comment Comment
08/30/05
Michael Atkinson
Michael Atkinson
Village Voice
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

The Constant Gardener is a masterful mixture of suspense, Third World strife and a heartfelt love story for the ages.

Full Review Source: Hollywood.com | comment Comment
08/30/05
Kit Bowen
Kit Bowen
Hollywood.com

Stunning cinematography...propulsive narrative momentum and solid characterizations

Full Review Source: culturevulture.net | comment Comment
08/30/05
Arthur Lazere
Arthur Lazere
culturevulture.net

City of God director Fernando Meirelles invests Le Carré's political thriller with a moving story of love lost, then most profoundly found.

Full Review Source: Reeling Reviews | comment Comment
08/30/05
Laura Clifford
Laura Clifford
Reeling Reviews

A gripping thriller, an unbelievably romantic love story, and a biting political take-down of pharmaceutical corporations that have Godlike power over life and death.

Full Review Source: About.com | comment Comment
08/30/05
Marcy Dermansky
Marcy Dermansky
About.com

The Constant Gardener is a movie with something to say, and it speaks its message loudly and with eloquence.

Full Review Source: ReelViews | comment 1 Comment
08/30/05
James Berardinelli
James Berardinelli
ReelViews
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

The fact that none of the above is satisfactorily answered, and that we nevertheless emerge from the movie feeling nourished and stirred, is a tribute to Meirelles and, of course, to le Carré.

Full Review Source: New Yorker | comment Comment
08/29/05
Anthony Lane
Anthony Lane
New Yorker

People murdered in Africa, a plague on the way and large corporations behaving badly. Tea at the British embassy, anyone?

Full Review Source: Monsters and Critics | comment Comment
08/29/05
Ron Wilkinson
Ron Wilkinson
Monsters and Critics

It is a complex story and it’s the kind of thing where afterward, you really want to think about this movie and talk about it.

Full Review Source: Ebert & Roeper | comment Comment
08/29/05
Richard Roeper
Richard Roeper
Ebert & Roeper
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

A gloriously rich cinematic experience [that] combines an intelligent script with awards-worthy performances and innovative direction.

Full Review Source: ComingSoon.net | comment Comment
08/29/05
Edward Douglas
Edward Douglas
ComingSoon.net

A bit staid in its thriller mechanics...[but] engaging in its drama, amusing in its fragments of bone-dry wit, and suspenseful in its dual mystery.

Full Review Source: Groucho Reviews | comment Comment
08/28/05
Peter Canavese
Peter Canavese
Groucho Reviews

A triumph of style over storytelling.

Full Review Source: Internet Reviews | comment Comment
08/28/05
Steve Rhodes
Steve Rhodes
Internet Reviews

Human indignation and social intent run throughout, and the heart is in the right place, but that does not spark the creature to life.

Full Review Source: ReelTalk Movie Reviews | comment Comment
08/28/05
Donald J. Levit
Donald J. Levit
ReelTalk Movie Reviews
 
 
141 - 160 (sorted by date)
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