hard-hitting political thriller based on the novel by john le carre, and the first english-speaking feature from director fernando meirelles. when political activist tessa quayle (rachel weisz, in an oscar-winning performance) is found brutally murdered in kenya, her widowed husband, unassuming minor diplomat justin quayle (ralph fiennes), becomes increasingly belligerent in his attempt to solve the mystery of her death, to the surprise of his british high commission colleagues. haunted by remorse and by insidious rumours of his wife's infidelities, quayle uses his access to diplomatic secrets to unearth a vast and dangerous conspiracy about the methods of big pharmaceutical companies and the exploitation of the third world by the west, at the same time as he discovers more about the beautiful young wife he never really knew.