The personal and the global are at frustrating odds in this ambitious adaptation of a John Le Carre novel that tries to tie together one man’s love for his late wife with drug-company espionage in Africa. Ralph Fiennes and Rachel Weisz ably anchor the personal story, while talented Brazilian director Fernando Meirelles (City of God) adds visual sizzle to the international mystery, yet the entire thing never comes
together. The pharmaceutical setting certainly deserves an expose, just as Fiennes’ and Weisz’s performances deserve a gripping thriller, but The Constant Gardener is not either, or both.
