The Constant Gardener – 2005 | 129 mins | Thriller, Drama | Colour

Plot Synopsis

Academy Award-nominated director Fernando Meirelles’s provocative The Constant Gardener was based on the best-selling John le Carré incisive novel and adapted by Jeffrey Caine. Meirelles’ fast-paced and well-cast drama brings the story of intrigue, love and murder faithfully to life, meanwhile cinematographer César Charlone captures the vibrant Kenyan locations vividly in saturated red and brown hues.

In a remote area of Northern Kenya, socially-conscious activist Tessa Quayle (Rachel Weisz) gathering evidence against a multinational drug company 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 (Ralph Fiennes), will leave the matter to them. They could not be more wrong. Haunted by remorse and jarred by rumours of his late wife’s infidelities, Quayle surprises everyone by embarking on a personal odyssey that will take him to London, Berlin and Nairobi. 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.