Last night we braved the rain and finally saw The Constant Gardener. I usually find John le Carré's characters to be cold and uninviting, and this film was no different. Ralph Fiennes' Justin Quayle, the amateur horticulturalist-British diplomat protagonist here is as boring as hell. Yet Rachel Weisz's Tessa, a rich social activist, jumps right into bed with him, right into marriage with him, right into Africa with him. She's not cold, just unbelievably impulsive.
What I usually look for with le Carré is the story. His Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy was a great one, as the (boring) George Smiley searches for the mole embedded in the British Secret Service. But the Cold War is over, and le Carré has had to move on from espionage for his plots. So now the enemy is an evil pharmaceutical company. Yawn.
There is not much of a plot, because it's clear almost from the beginning who the bad guys are. So, with no interesting characters, little plot, why bother? If you've got nothing better to do, go see it for the cinematography. César Charlone's depiction of Africa is stunning. He should easily get another Oscar nomination, to follow up the one for his City of God. But I don't think director Fernando Meirelles, who also was nominated for that movie, will fare as well with this one.
2 comments:
Caprice,
Why does your review remind me of one I saw one time about another over-rated movie starring Ralph (it's "RALPH", not "RAFE"...how pretentious) Fiennes, "The English Patient."
That movie was booooring, too.
And that Fiennes was in both movies? Coincidence? Dunno. See you in the Betty Boards.
Sirena
Hi Sirena!
I understand that "RAFE" is the standard pronunciation of "Ralph" in the UK. There are a number of names they pronounce differently, like Irene and Evelyn.
I didn't like "The English Patient" very much either, though my wife liked both movies. But we both did like the first movie I saw Fiennes in: "Schindler's List."
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