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About Eugene weekly. (Eugene, Oregon) 1993-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 8, 2005)
BY LOIS WADSWORTH JAAP BUITENDIJK. FOCUS FEATURES, 2005. Justin (Ralph Fiennes) and Tessa Quayle (Rachel Weisz) in a happy moment. Compelling Love Story Meets Big Pharma in Africa THE CONSTANT GARDENER: Directed by Fernando Meirelles. Written by Jeffrey Caine, based on the novel by John Le Carré. Produced by Simon Channing Williams, Tracey Seaward. Executive pro- ducers, Gail Egan, Robert Jones, Donald Ranvaud, Jeff Abberley, Julia Blackman. Cinematography, César Charlone. Production design, Mark Tildesley. Editor, Claire Simpson. Costume design, Odile Dicks- Mireaux. Starring Ralph Fiennes and Rachel Weisz. With Danny Huston, Bill Nighy, Pete Postlethwaite, Gerard McSorley, Hubert Koundé. Archie Panjabi, Nick Reding. Focus Features, 2005. R. 129 minutes. B razilian filmmaker Fernando Meirelles (City of God) directs this excellent mainstream political thriller based on John Le Carre’s novel of the same name with a fiery compassion for Third World societies wronged by the inter- national exponents of a global economy. This overarching theme embraces a love story between Justin Quayle (Ralph Fiennes), a reticent, by-the-books, foreign intelligence bachelor and a life-loving, by- any-means-necessary, political activist, Tessa (Rachel Weisz). From the moment Tessa is found viciously murdered in remote Northern Kenya early in the film, Quayle becomes more like his beloved: involved, tenacious and vigilant. He learns a lot about Tessa, some of it devastating, but he is dedicated to discovering the truth, wherever it may take him. The film highlights Africa’s grave health problems and the international pharmaceu- tical interests, which exploit (and kill) sick people in developing countries to test-mar- ket unapproved drugs. Meirelles doesn’t squander the power of Le Carré’s story on the white characters and their problems. Rather, he uses Quayle’s quest for truth as a metaphor, which heightens the film’s dis- turbing, indelible images and makes the plight of Africa’s poor more resonant. Learning about Big Pharma, as it is called in the film, Justin uncovers a crimi- nal conspiracy that reaches into the highest levels of governments inside and outside Africa. This dangerous knowledge ensnares him in a nightmarish world where nothing is as he thought, while cold fury arms him with the emotional, ethical and physical courage to make Tessa’s work known to the world. I have to laugh when famous male film critics (are there any other kind?) dissect Fiennes’ sex appeal, which is apparently a mystery to them. Fiennes’ film history as a lover in two films — The English Patient and The End of the Affair — sends women all over the world to movies that offer him the opportunity to express believable but romantic desire, obsessive love, sensual connection. To that audience, among whom I count myself, The Constant Gardener does not disappoint. Fiennes and Weisz first worked together in István Szabó’s acclaimed exploration of the bloody 20th century as lived by one Jewish family, Sunshine (2000). Fiennes plays a character from each generation of the family, and in one segment he is mar- ried to Weisz. The actors succeed as steamy lovers in The Constant Gardener in part because their characters are near opposites. Playful, earthy and joyous love scenes appear as Justin’s memories in flashback, the very elements absent in the film’s more serious and tragic main story. Supporting performers deliver outstand- ing work, including Danny Huston as Sandy Woodrow, Justin’s friend who is drawn deeper into the cover up of Tessa’s death than either of them can handle. Likewise, Bill Nighy, who famously played the comic Santa role in Love Actually, here plays a witheringly proper English bureau- crat, Sir Bernard Pellegrin, whose polite façade hides a mean-spirited career freak. Nighy’s work in HBO’s recent film, The Girl in the Café, opposite Kelly Macdonald, affirmed the actor’s versatility, further confirmed by his darker work in this film. Pete Postlethwaite also convincingly plays a character who is not what he seems to be. Gerard McSorley plays Sir Kenneth Curtiss, a drug company executive who is decidedly not a proper English gentleman, despite bearing the title and privilege of one. The primary African actor is Hubert Koundé, who plays Tessa’s colleague, Dr. Arnold Bluhm, believed by many in both the Kenyan and British communities to be her lover. Koundé gives a strong perform- ance as a medical activist who sees first- hand the abuses and hypocrisies of Big Pharma. Not making Koundé’s character more central is one the film’s few missteps. Beautifully shot by Uraguayan cine- matographer César Charlone from a bal- anced, smoothly designed script by Jeffrey Caine, The Constant Gardener is that rare cinematic delight — ravishing and intellec- tually satisfying as well. Now playing at Cinemark and Cinema World, it’s the first of the big fall films to hit the screens. See it with my very highest recommendations. ew SEPTEMBER 8, 2005 21
