MOVIES: The Constant Gardener (Fernando Meirelles, 2005)

I've always been a bit puzzled by the fondness so many have for Ralph Fiennes. I mean, sure, he's a good actor, but there are dozens of others just as good who don't have the career or the adulation that he does. And as a sex symbol? What the heck are people thinking? Those beady little eyes, sunk deep in that harsh angular face, its edges so damn sharp you could slit your throat if you slipped mid-kiss.

So it is not the least of the many accomplishments of The Constant Gardener that there are moments when Fiennes' face relaxes and he smiles just so that I found myself thinking, "Oh, my, now I see what all the fuss was about."

Fiennes stars as British diplomat Justin Quayle, and those stunning smiles come early in the movie, as Justin falls into bed with the woman he will marry, Tessa (Rachel Weisz). It's a hasty marriage, and the two don't really know one another very well; Tessa's desire to get married so quickly seems driven by her desire to go with Justin to Kenya, where he's been posted, as by actual love.

Tessa spends her days with a black Belgian doctor (Hubert Koundé), and Justin doesn't know exactly what the two are up to, so he's stunned and horrified when they are murdered in a remote corner of the country. (For the paranoid among you, this is not a spoiler; we're told of Tessa's death in the first ten minutes of the movie.) The rest of the movie jumps back and forth in time, as Justin tries to find out what Tessa was up to, and who might have wanted her dead.

The Constant Gardener is a thriller, a love story, and a murder mystery about the reprehensible behavior of global pharmaceutical companies in Africa. It's an intricate storyline, but Jeffrey Caine (adapting the novel by John Le Carré) and director Fernando Meirelles lay it out with great clarity, letting the pieces fall slowly into place. If you saw Meirelles' first movie, City of God, then it will come as no surprise that this one is also beautifully photographed (César Charlone is the cinematographer), though in a less flashy manner than was City of God.

Lead performances by Rachel Weisz and Ralph Fiennes are impeccable; Danny Huston and Pete Postlethwaite are very good in supporting roles; and Bill Nighy turns in yet another little jewel of a performance as a stiff-upper-lip British diplomat.

We're headed into the fall Serious Movie season, and The Constant Gardener is among the early contenders for Oscar nominations in several categories. It's a fine movie.