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Starring: Ralph Fiennes, Rachel Weisz, Bill Nighy, Hubert Koundé
Running time: 129 mins
Certificate: 15
Tessa Quayle (Weisz) is a strong-willed and passionate activist speaking out against the people of Africa being used as guinea pigs by a large pharmaceutical company testing for side effects in a new drug. When she is found murdered whilst working with her suspected lover (Kounde) on exposing the situation, her low-level British diplomat husband Justin (Fiennes) is determined to find a meaning to her death and sets off on a journey to discover the truth behind her theories and in doing so becomes far closer to her than he was in life.
Based on a novel by John Le Carré, the movie’s plot is unsurprisingly highly intricate and layered. Given the amount of material to deal with, City of God director Meirelles does extremely well in making the movie easy to follow with the faced-paced story keeping the audience on the edge of its seat from beginning to end. We are really made to feel a part of Quayle’s mission to solve the mystery of Tessa’s suspicious death, suspense building out as we are gradually fed more information on the conspiracy.
The film boasts some excellent performances. Fiennes portrays Quayle’s character very well – at first a passive diplomat showing little emotion for anything but his garden, then later shows the passion on his mission that had been lacking when his wife was alive. Meanwhile Weisz’s Tessa, despite having been killed off fairly early on in the movie, returns in a series of flashbacks and hallucinations and is played with such convincing conscience and honour that gives a constant reminder of the importance of her husband’s aim. Danny Huston makes a convincing smarmy diplomat, whilst Bill Nighy is equally effective in the powerful politician role as Pellegrin.
Although primarily a thriller, The Constant Gardener treats Kenya as far more than a backdrop to the story of the Quayles. Rather, it sometimes across comes across almost as a documentary. One scene shows a child being refused medicine for reasons incomprehensible to the diplomat, and another the poor treatment of a young mother by the medical services. Such scenes often bear far less relation to the plot than to an overriding message.
One of the best films of the year and far more exciting than its title might suggest, The Constant Gardener is an intelligent blend of an interesting story well told with some fine performances and cinematography, backed with some thought-provoking social conscience.
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I thought the film was dreadful! The opening sex sequences were totally unecessary and unconvincing. The blatant product positioning plug for Marloboro cigarettes at the dinner party (packet logo clearly held up for display) simply shows that tobacco is by far the greatest killer product promoted by Western commercial interests in the Undeveloped World- not a phoney and unconvincing plot about a pharamceutical company. Fiennes is so fey and luvvy! It needed a real macho guy. Lots of goofs in the film.
I really enjoyed this film. Great performances by Ralph Fiennes and Rachel Weisz. Both passionate about what they do in different ways. Great to see a current topic being dealt with and treated seriously. It is something that really happens..... I'd recommend it to anyone who has an interest in the planet and its inhabitants!!
Much slower than the description as a "thriller" might lead you to expect. Visually rich, some good acting, but Fiennes's performance is very low key and I found my interest waning long before the end of the film.
I really enjoyed this film- although I missed the opening 15 minutes of it, it wasn't as hard to catch up with the plot as I thought it would. Weisz was perfect in the role she was given, though it was a shame she was (unavoidably!) underused. The message underlying the whole film is really powerful, but doesn't become too overbearing.
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I found the plot at times difficult to follow and smudgy about the natuer of the deals done between governments and business for unclear if clearly financial gains. I couldn't really see why a govt. could be advantaged by the misconduct of a pharmaceutical research programme. Thegeneral presence of bribery and corruption pervaded the plot but was eschewed by the plane driver when Quayle tried( in tribute to or honorary imitation of his dead wife's passion for the personal in politics) to bribe a rescue flight for the child from the camp under bandit attack. There was also an undwercurrent of genderisation in the different responses to the terrible plight of the poor African people. Male characters did not seem capable of passion or empathy in their relations, while the female characters were. Too many of the men fell victim to their balls as a way lay to their jobs, Tessa being able to seduce them into various levels of compliance with her political/humanitarian goals. Remarkably her greatest ally and inspirational friend was gay. It was impossible to tell wether Tessa inspired such deviation from duty from these powerful men because of her mind and character or merely her beauty. Incidentally the demise of Pellegrin was unsatisfactory devolving merely on sexual slander and trivialising the matter of honour in duty. Interestingly Quayle's honour towards his dead wife was powerfully realised and her treasuring of his purity was an unusual gender reversal. The film was rich in possibilities which departed from the norms of hollywood; her burial was briefly shot, unlaboured and individual, Tessa's clothes were often a registration of her growing immersion in and respect for Africa,the grief of the death of her child was beautifully enmeshed with and bouyed by the passionate concern she registered for the poor treatment of the child mother of the black baby in the mext bed. The film almost makes me want to read the novel but working backwards is rarely rewarding. What I am left with is a forboding sense of the lack of connection across peopke of different lands, particularly of the power differential between ths haves and the have nots which this film exposes as crass exploitation. Quayle may not have saved anyone, but he has saved his integrity and therefor assists the audience to think about our global conduct.