"The Constant Gardener" seems like an appropriate name for this film due to the speed at which it moves. Furthermore, it takes the patience of a gardener to try to sort out the story. The movie begins with the death of Tessa Quayle, the wife of a mild-mannered and very conventional English diplomat. The last time that the diplomat, Justin, saw his wife, she was flying to Kenya with a Kenyan doctor with whom she has developed a close professional (and possibly personal) relationship. However, when she is found, she is in the company of another man, not the doctor.
We learn quickly that Tessa is both passionate and compulsive. Justin and her meet when she stands up during a press conference that he is giving and confronts him about the policies of the British government towards "third world" countries. Her behavior interestingly enough, has the opposite effect than that intended (perhaps because Justin finds her cute and spunky), and Justin and Tessa go straight from the press conference to her town house to get "closer." After Justin and Tessa are married, Tessa manages to convince Justin to take her with him on an official trip to Kenya, and once there, she witnesses the mysterious death of a young Kenyan woman. This motivates Tessa to try to learn more about AIDS drug trials in Africa.
After Tessa's death, Justin decides to try to retrace Tessa steps in order to learn how she died, and uncovers a vast conspiracy involving a profitable drug company.
Although the movie does succeed in being somewhat suspenseful at times, it takes too long to reach its conclusion, elements of which are foreseeable.
We learn quickly that Tessa is both passionate and compulsive. Justin and her meet when she stands up during a press conference that he is giving and confronts him about the policies of the British government towards "third world" countries. Her behavior interestingly enough, has the opposite effect than that intended (perhaps because Justin finds her cute and spunky), and Justin and Tessa go straight from the press conference to her town house to get "closer." After Justin and Tessa are married, Tessa manages to convince Justin to take her with him on an official trip to Kenya, and once there, she witnesses the mysterious death of a young Kenyan woman. This motivates Tessa to try to learn more about AIDS drug trials in Africa.
After Tessa's death, Justin decides to try to retrace Tessa steps in order to learn how she died, and uncovers a vast conspiracy involving a profitable drug company.
Although the movie does succeed in being somewhat suspenseful at times, it takes too long to reach its conclusion, elements of which are foreseeable.