The Constant Gardener

written by John le Carre (novel) & Jeffrey Caine (screenplay)

directed by Fernando Meirelles & Jennifer Jason Leigh

The Constant Gardener is a film that has about it a crucial intensity that will either capture or repel you. Personally, Simone and I prefer there to be something like that about a film and we were absolutely hooked as two hours of superbly acted character development and well-structured storyline played about. Rachel Weisz as Tessa and Ralph Fiennes as Justin both bring strength and depth to their characters and there is a tenderness and also a necessary tension between them that we found compelling. One might comment on Weisz and Fiennes as the archetypal beautiful English lady and dapper English gent, but that would be so superficial as to do a disservice to the quality of their acting.

There are several levels upon which to watch this film. Simone was captured by the socio-economic and ethical pitch, being someone who likes to focus in. I enjoyed the overall effect of these levels complimenting and playing with each other.

Essentially, the film is, as I mentioned above, about intensity and that is expressed in passionate and heart-felt engagement. Justin, a British diplomat, first meets his future wife in the context of a public lecture. Presenting someone else’s paper with a cold detachment and no sense of ownership, the contrast of Tessa’s emotional response to the issues as experienced by real people captures him and this forms the basis of a love-story that continues throughout the film.

The title points to Justin’s only ongoing point of engagement, with his cultivating of flowers. The tragic irony of water-blessed fertility in the house of a diplomat working next to water-starved slums in a Kenyan city should not be lost on the viewer. Tessa’s activism as she gets caught up in the exposing of a pharmaceutical aid scandal is a potent contrast and [forgive the spoiler] after her death, draws out of Justin all the passion and conviction that had previously only been expressed in the confines of their relationship. Pursuing an explanation of the circumstances of his wife’s death, Justin lets go of the pleasantries of the diplomatic core and engages with real issues.

I would dare any viewer not to feel some sense of sharing in Justin’s feelings. Perhaps, though, with regular images of the desperately poor and needy shown on our news - watched almost as if simply another form of entertainment alongside the soap operas and game shows - our society has an immunity to social and ethical conviction such that a good many people will be able to watch this film as a mere story of love rather than as a relationship not only played out against a backdrop, but dangerously involved in a context of real issues.