The Constant Gardener (2005)

A widower is determined to get to the bottom of a potentially explosive secret involving his wife's murder, big business, and corporate corruption.

Director:

Fernando Meirelles

Writers:

Jeffrey Caine (screenplay), John le Carré (based on the novel by)

Stars:

Ralph Fiennes, Rachel Weisz, Hubert Koundé

Won 1 Oscar. Another 22 wins & 45 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Ralph Fiennes	...	Justin Quayle
Rachel Weisz	...	Tessa Quayle
Hubert Koundé	...	Dr. Arnold Bluhm (as Hubert Kounde)
Danny Huston	...	Sandy Woodrow
Daniele Harford	...	Miriam
Packson Ngugi	...	Officer in Morgue
Damaris Itenyo Agweyu	...	Jomo's Wife
Bernard Otieno Oduor	...	Jomo
Bill Nighy	...	Sir Bernard Pellegrin
Keith Pearson	...	Porter Coleridge
John Sibi-Okumu	...	Dr. Joshua Ngaba
Donald Sumpter	...	Tim Donohue
Archie Panjabi	...	Ghita Pearson
Nick Reding	...	Crick
Gerard McSorley	...	Sir Kenneth Curtiss

Storyline

In a remote area of Northern Kenya, activist Tessa Quayle is found brutally murdered. Tessa's companion, a doctor, appears to have fled the scene, and the evidence points to a crime of passion. Members of the British High Commission in Nairobi assume that Tessa's widower, their mild-mannered and unambitious colleague Justin Quayle, will leave the matter to them. They could not be more wrong. Haunted by remorse and jarred by rumors of his late wife's infidelities, Quayle surprises everyone by embarking on a personal odyssey that will take him across three continents. Using his privileged access to diplomatic secrets, he will risk his own life, stopping at nothing to uncover and expose the truth - a conspiracy more far-reaching and deadly than Quayle could ever have imagined.

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Plot Keywords:

kenya | death | diplomat | murder | doctor | 

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Taglines:

Love. At any cost.

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Genres:

Drama | Mystery | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for language, some violent images and sexual content/nudity

Details

Official Sites:

Universal [us]

Country:

UK Germany USA China

Language:

English Italian Swahili German

Release Date:

31 August 2005 (USA)

Also Known As:

El jardinero fiel

Filming Locations:

Berlin Hauptbahnhof, Berlin, Germany

Box Office

Budget:

£15,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

$92,380 (South Africa) (6 January 2006)

Gross:

$359,387 (South Africa) (20 January 2006)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Focus Features, UK Film Council, Potboiler Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

129 min

Sound Mix:

DTS (as dts) Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The filmmakers installed water tanks, a new bridge and a classroom in Kibera, the slum in which the film was shot. They also built a secondary school in the desert of northern Kenya where the final scenes were photographed.

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Goofs

When Quayle shows the fake ID to the German police officer in Berlin, it is a Dutch passport. However, when he pockets the document again, it is shown to have a blue cover. Dutch passports have a red cover.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Justin Quayle: Oh, thank you Arnold. I... I can manage that. But I still don't see why you couldn't wait a couple of weeks. Why go all the way up to Loki?
Tessa Quayle: Well, we want to hear Grace Makanga speak, and she won't be coming to Nairobi.

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Crazy Credits

END CREDITS DISCLAIMER: Nobody in this story, and no outfit or corporation, thank God, is based upon an actual person or outfit in the real world. But I can tell you this; as my journey through the pharmaceutical jungle progressed, I came to realize that, by comparison with the reality, my story was as tame as a holiday postcard. --John Le Carré

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Connections

Featured in The 63rd Annual Golden Globe Awards (2006)

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Soundtracks

"Kijani Mwana Mwali"
Traditional
Performed by Bomas of Kenya
Taken from the album "Songs of African Heritage" EUCD1721
Courtesy of ARC Music Productions International

User Reviews

Fiennes is great but Weisz rules

Better than the book adaptation of the John Le Carre novel has a great director like Fernando Meirelles at the helm and two amazing actors like Rachel Weisz and Ralph Fiennes at the wheel to steer this movie into Oscar heaven with two brilliant performance that will not be match for sometime to come. Ralph Fiennes is just great as a grieving man out to find out the circumstances of his wife's murder and the reasons behind it. His performance is a texture of desperation and self-discovery and he begins to show faith in not only his wife's memory but in the world itself in his way to find justice. While Fiennes gives a great performance, it's truly Rachel Weisz who shines the most with a complex, powerful and tricky performance. We only get to know her from flashbacks and dialog from people who have met her character and from Justin himself. Some of those flashbacks are deceiving but all of them make up a total character who is structured enough towards the end to get a real picture of who she was. It's a tightrope of a performance and Rachel Weisz not only serves it up with class and strong will but with grace as well. She literally gives the performance of the year and it would be a crime towards real cinema if she were not recognizes for her efforts come Oscar time.

Fernando Meirelles gives his all in this film in terms of technical brilliance and he gets great support from Rachel Weisz and Ralph Fiennes who with his effort give this year's first great film.