The Constant Gardener (2005)
82%RT Audience Score: 82%
Awards & Nominations: Won 1 Oscar
35 wins & 69 nominations total
The Constant Gardener is a smart, gripping, and suspenseful thriller with rich performances from the leads
The Constant Gardener is like a rollercoaster ride, but instead of loops and drops, it’s filled with political intrigue and corporate corruption. Ralph Fiennes and Rachel Weisz are a dynamic duo, and the African landscape is breathtaking. It’s a thriller that will keep you on the edge of your seat, but also make you think about the real-world issues it addresses. Plus, who doesn’t love a good conspiracy?
Production Company(ies)
Fantasy Films, Bryna Productions N.V., Zvaluw
Distributor
Focus Features
Release Type
Theatrical
Filming Location(s)
MPAA / Certificate
Rated R for language, some violent images and sexual content/nudity
Year of Release
2005
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Color:Color
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Sound mix:Dolby Digital
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Aspect ratio:1.85 : 1
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Runtime:2h 8m
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Language(s):English, Italian, Swahili, German
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Country of origin:United States
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Release date:Release Date (Theaters): Aug 31, 2005 Wide
Release Date (Streaming): Jan 10, 2006
Genre(s)
Drama
Keyword(s)
starring Ralph Fiennes, Rachel Weisz, Danny Huston, Bill Nighy, Pete Postlethwaite, Hubert Koundé, Richard McCabe, directed by Fernando Meirelles, written by Jeffrey Caine, John le Carré, drama, box office performance, budget, reviewed by Jonathan Rosenbaum, Mark Kermode, Sandra Hall, Ken Tucker, Peter Bradshaw, MPAA rating R, Simon Channing Williams produced, Dolby SRD, DTS, Surround sound mix, Flat (1.37:1) aspect ratio, nudity, language, sexual content, some violent images, assigned to a new post, reserved British diplomat, relocated to Kenya, activist for social justice, found murdered out in the wilderness, friend, Dr Arnold Bluhm, not the killer, grief-stricken, angry, uncover the truth behind Tessa’s murder, disturbing revelations
Worldwide gross: $82,468,097
Worldwide gross (inflation-adjusted): $125,680,005
Worldwide gross ranking (inflation-adjusted): 914
Worldwide tickets sold (est.): 13,705,562
US/Canada gross: $33,579,797
US/Canada gross (inflation-adjusted): $51,175,051
US/Canada gross ranking (inflation-adjusted): 1,058
US/Canada opening weekend: $8,577,000
US/Canada opening weekend (inflation-adjusted): $13,071,205
US/Canada opening weekend ranking (inflation-adjusted): 854
Budget and Earnings Details
Production budget (est.): $25,000,000
Production budget (inflation-adjusted): $38,099,583
Production budget ranking: 994
Marketing and distribution budget (inflation-adjusted est.): $20,516,626
Box office net earnings to date (inflation-adjusted est.): $67,063,796
ROI to date (est.): 114%
ROI ranking: 884
Rachel Weisz – Tessa
Danny Huston – Sandy
Bill Nighy – Sir Bernard Pellegrin
Pete Postlethwaite – Marcus Lorbeer
Richard McCabe – Ham
Director(s)
Fernando Meirelles
Writer(s)
Jeffrey Caine, John le Carré
Producer(s)
Simon Channing Williams
Film Festivals
Berlin
Awards & Nominations
Won 1 Oscar
35 wins & 69 nominations total
Academy Awards
Oscar Nominees, Oscar Winners
All Critics (193) | Top Critics (51) | Fresh (161) | Rotten (32)
Fernando Meirelles, codirector of City of God, stresses old-fashioned storytelling and takes full advantage of his cast, including Danny Huston.
November 27, 2007
Jonathan Rosenbaum
Chicago Reader
TOP CRITIC
While le Carre’s narrative returns an unequivocal guilty verdict on the drug companies, the jury on Meirelles’s storytelling abilities remains hung.
January 20, 2007
Mark Kermode
Observer (UK)
TOP CRITIC
Fiennes and Weisz, who have worked together before in Istvan Szabo’s Sunshine, make a glamorous pair. And while this may not have been the effect le Carre was after, it does no lasting damage to his theme.
January 17, 2006
Sandra Hall
Sydney Morning Herald
TOP CRITIC
… Ralph Fiennes gives one of the year’s subtlest, yet most exciting, screen performances …
December 9, 2005
Ken Tucker
New York Magazine/Vulture
TOP CRITIC
There is a terrific pulse of energy in this film, a voltage which drives it over two hours.
December 6, 2005 | Rating: 4/5
Peter Bradshaw
Guardian
TOP CRITIC
This haunting film will linger with you as a portrait of love lost and found.
October 25, 2005 | Rating: 4/5
Andy Jacobs
BBC.com
TOP CRITIC
The Constant Gardener finds and maintains a lovely balance between a post-cold war thriller and a poignant, elegiac story of love and mourning. It is a hell of a film, very recommended if you’re in the mood for some real quality viewing.
May 23, 2022
Graeme Tuckett
Stuff.co.nz
The Constant Gardener disturbs, lingers in the mind, for its images of Africa, images of corporate thuggery, images of well-meaning people drowning in their own self-deception.
March 5, 2021
Joanne Laurier
World Socialist Web Site
Poised, intelligent thriller which also points an accusing finger at drug companies dumping obsolete product on third-world countries.
July 28, 2020 | Rating: 3/5
Leigh Paatsch
Herald Sun (Australia)
Ever respectful of the le Carre book, Meirelles’ vision and Jeffrey Caine’s script make for a work that successfully blends suspense, romance, politics and social consciousness…
November 7, 2019
Debbie Lynn Elias
Behind The Lens
A political conspiracy thriller of the highest order.
June 5, 2019 | Rating: 3.5/4
Mattie Lucas
The Dispatch (Lexington, NC)
Where the film most improves on the book is in its treatment of the main characters. Fiennes and Weisz portray the relationship between Tessa and Justin as touching and believable, something the book fails to do.
August 21, 2018
Marcia Angell
The New York Review of Books…
Plot
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.
Trivia
Goofs / Tidbits
Ralph Fiennes gives “one of the year’s subtlest, yet most exciting, screen performances” in The Constant Gardener, according to critic Ken Tucker.
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