Constant Gardener

Theatrical Release Date: 2005 08 31 (USA)

UPC: 025192629228

Studio: Universal Studios

MPAA Rating: R   Contains:[Violence, Nudity, Profanity, Sexual Situations]

Summary: A man discovers a deadly secret when he tries to find out who killed the woman he loves in this suspense drama based on a novel by John Le Carr?. Justin Quale (Ralph Fiennes) is a low-level British diplomat who has been given a new assignment in Kenya. Justin's wife, Tessa (Rachel Weisz), is an activist with a keen interest in issues of poverty and social justice; Justin urges her to avoid getting too deeply involved in the people living in Kenya, who are constantly dogged by poverty, but she shows little interest in obeying these instructions. This isn't the only area where Tessa has disregarded her husband, who suspects that she may have had an affair - for she started spending time with a handsome doctor once they settled in Kenya. One day, Tessa disappears, and is found brutally murdered; officials believe that she was murdered by the doctor after some sort of argument. However, before long Justin becomes convinced that there was a larger scheme that led to Tessa's death, and he begins digging into areas where he's not especially welcome, given his reputation as a man willing to let the wealthy and powerful do as they will. The Constant Gardener was the first English-speaking feature from Brazilian filmmaker Fernando Meirelles, who directed the international success City of God. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Category: Thriller

Awards: In Competition – Venice International Film Festival Best Picture – Broadcast Film Critics Association Best Supporting Actress – Broadcast Film Critics Association Best Picture - Drama – null Best Supporting Actress – null Best Director – null Best Supporting Actress – San Diego Film Critics Association Best British Actress – London Film Critics Association Best British Actor – London Film Critics Association Best British Film – London Film Critics Association Best Picture – London Film Critics Association Best Screenplay – London Film Critics Association Best British Producer – London Film Critics Association Best Director – London Film Critics Association Best Supporting Actress – Chicago Film Critics Association Best Adapted Screenplay – Writers Guild of America Best Supporting Actress – Screen Actors Guild Best Supporting Actress – St. Louis Gateway Film Critics Association Best Supporting Actress – Online Film Critics Association Best Adapted Screenplay – Online Film Critics Association Best Editing – Online Film Critics Association Best Supporting Actress – Iowa Film Critics Association Best Edited Feature - Drama – American Cinema Editors Guild Best Picture – British Academy of Film and Television Arts Best British Film – British Academy of Film and Television Arts Best Director – British Academy of Film and Television Arts Best Adapted Screenplay – British Academy of Film and Television Arts Best Actor – British Academy of Film and Television Arts Best Actress – British Academy of Film and Television Arts Best Film Music – British Academy of Film and Television Arts Best Cinematography – British Academy of Film and Television Arts Best Editing – British Academy of Film and Television Arts Best Sound – British Academy of Film and Television Arts Best Sound – British Academy of Film and Television Arts Best Art Direction in a Contemporary Film – Art Directors Guild Best Supporting Actress – Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Best Editing – Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Best Original Score – Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Best Adapted Screenplay – Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Best Picture - Drama – Hollywood Foreign Press Association Best Director – Hollywood Foreign Press Association Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Moti – Hollywood Foreign Press Association

Features: Deleted scenes
Extended scene
Embracing Africa
Filming in Kenya
John Le Carr?: from page to the screen
Anatomy of a global thriller: behind the scenes of the Constant Gardener

Constant Gardener

Format: DVD

Release Date: 01/10/2006

Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1 Theatre Wide-Screen

Audio: DD5.1 Dolby Digital 5.1

Runtime: 129 Minutes

Sides: 1

Number of Discs: 1

Language(s) English,French

Subtitles: English,French,Spanish

Region: USA & territories, Canada

Chapters: Disc #1 -- Constant Gardener
1. Unfirtunate News (Main Titles) [5:04]
2. Aggressive Diplomacy [5:13]
3. Yes or No? [3:44]
4. New Discoveries [8:00]
5. Known By Reputation [4:18]
6. For Keeps [6:11]
7. Digging Deeper [4:10]
8. Vile Promise [5:18]
9. In African Soil [7:43]
10. A Small Cup of Tea [6:45]
11. Gentlemen's Club [8:47]
12. Tapping In [9:39]
13. Anonymous Traveler [10:24]
14. Betraying Tessa [1:14]
15. Kind Warning [5:40]
16. Disposable Drugs [5:28]
17. Survival [6:38]
18. Regrettable Deaths [7:15]
19. Coming Home [5:56]
20. End Titles [2:05]

Josh Ralske

Director Fernando Meirelles made an international splash with the brilliantly gritty and stylish City of God, and he brings a surprising amount of the same vibrant energy and political consciousness to his English-language debut, The Constant Gardener. The film starts out comparatively sedate, with Justin (Ralph Fiennes) reacting with ineffectual calm to his wife's death, even consoling his friend Sandy (Danny Huston) when he gets distressed while identifying the body. Appropriately, the film comes alive in the flashbacks to Tessa's (Rachel Weisz) life, and as she traverses the teeming city of Nairobi, the screen pulsates with color and the energy of cinematographer C?sar Charlone's (returning from City of God) street-level handheld camera work. Fiennes delivers a perfectly modulated performance. Justin is a passive, ineffectual minor diplomat who marries a beautiful younger woman he doesn't really know. "You could learn me," she tells him, and over the course of the film, it becomes clear that Justin is more concerned with understanding his murdered wife than with avenging her death. This may frustrate audiences accustomed to catharsis, but it's the only way to treat the material truthfully. The plot is similarly complex and mature, and requires concentration, but the tragic romance at the core of the film keeps viewers emotionally involved. Meirelles and screenwriter Jeffrey Caine, adapting John Le Carr?'s novel, approach it with searing honesty as Justin uncovers, right under his nose, a distressingly convincing corrupt world where everyone is guilty and no one is responsible. The Constant Gardener offers a superb, thoughtful, and finally heart-wrenching example of the conflation of the personal and the political. ~ Josh Ralske, Rovi

Cast and Crew: Hubert Kounde  Actor 
Pernilla August  Actor 
Archie Panjabi  Actor 
Donald Sumpter  Actor 
Simon Channing-Williams  Producer 
Don Ranvaud  Executive Producer 
Jeffrey Caine  Screenwriter 
Alberto Iglesias  Composer (Music Score) 
Robert Jones  Executive Producer 
Fernando Meirelles  Director 
Gail Egan  Executive Producer 
Jeff Abberley  Executive Producer 
Julia Blackman  Executive Producer 
Ralph Fiennes  Actor 
Rachel Weisz  Actor 
Danny Huston  Actor 
Bill Nighy  Actor 
Pete Postlethwaite  Actor 

Country: UK