Le consul honoraire

Emotive political, drama, thriller set in the border between Argentina, Paraguay dealing with a twisted love story and an intrigue behind. It is set during the rule of cruel right wing military dictatorships commanded by Alfredo Stroessner in Paraguay and General Videla in Argentina. It concerns a doctor called Eduardo : Richard Gere , he is a half-English and half-Paraguay man who becomes involved with the revolutionary guerrilla : A. Martinez , and a former priest played by Joaquin de Almeida. He returns to work in the little town of Corrientes . Eduardo quickly starts forming new acquaintance such as the English honorary consul : Michael Caine , he is a drunk man married to a beautiful Argentinian wife , an ex-whore : Elpidia Carrillo. Then Eduardo seduces her and both of whom fall in love .Things go wrong when Eduardo is asked for help the rebels to kidnap the US Ambassador to force the Paraguayan Junta release political inmates , including Eduardo's father.

Entertaning but cold and slow film with a central theme, a triangular romance and political details about South American dictatorships in which a doctor eventually must confront moral conflicts and the complex relationship with an alcoholic consul , at the same time the dirty war , tortures, kidnap, political upheaval and riots take place . Passable acting by Richard Gere as an England/Paraguay doctor who has a passionate as well as risked affaire and excellent Michael Caine as the cynical older diplomat who befriends to him while disagree over politics and about an attractive young latina girl, the newcomer Elpidia Carrillo . But the film relies heavily on the relation between the protagonist and his lover that reaches some strong problems connected with the alcoholic honorary consul .This is the second and worst rendition based on the prestigious novel by Graham Greene , first and the best was The Quiet Man 1958 by Joseph L Mankiewicz with Michael Redgrave , Audie Murphy, Giorgia Moll , Claude Dauphin , Bruce Cabot and third retelling was The Quiet Man 2002 by Phillip Noyce with Brendan Fraser , Thi Hai , Tzi Ma, Rade Serbedzija and Michael Caine himself. And this second version by John McKenzie written by Christopher Hampton who also wrote the 2002 remake , it boasts a nice cast with special mention for Bo Hoskins as a brutal Colonel who pursues and tortures rebels . It displays an atmospheric cinematography by Phil Meheux , though a perfectly remastering being absolutely necessary. And an evocative musical score by Stanley Myers , including South American sounds .

The motion picture was regular but profesionally directed by John Mckenzie , being nominated for two Bafta Film Awards . John was an expert on thriller and drama such as Blue heat, Ruby , The infiltrator , The innocent , A hinge of freedom, Act of vengeance , Quicksand , Made , Voyage , When sky falls , Aldrich Ames traitor within . His greatest hits were Long god friday and Fourth protocol . Rating : 6 . Average but passable and acceptable. The picture will appeal to Richard Gere and Michael Caine fans

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Richard Gere plays Dr. Eduardo Plarr, an Anglo-Paraguayan doctor who unwittingly gets entangled in the kidnapping plot of an American consul by a novice group of Paraguayan rebels in exchange for ten of their imprisoned comrades. The plan goes awry as the rebels mistakenly kidnap his new friend instead - Charley Fortnum (Michael Caine), a British honorary consul who happens to be at the wrong place at the wrong time. Complicating the matter, the doctor falls head over heels in love with Charley's young wife, Clara (Elpidia Carrillo) - an ex-prostitute who has the same feelings toward him. Meanwhile, the police have tracked down the rebels hide-out and are closing in. With his life at stake, Plarr is forced to decide between betraying his love or friendship.

Sounds interesting, right? Sadly, it is not. The main problem is that the characters are not likable. Gere's character is a doctor who lusts after his friend's wife. Caine's is a heavy drinker who often creates problems than solves them while Carrillo's is a fickle-minded woman who can't decide who is best for her life.

The title itself "The Honorary Consul" does not fit into the main plot, which is more about Gere's character than Caine's. Even less fitting is the alternate US title "Beyond the Limit".

This is one of three John Mackenzie's films that I have watched and also the most unconvincing because of its tepid performances, contrived plot and ending, and lackluster direction. Only for Gere's or Caine's die-hard fans.

Intriguing music and lighting choices with some good camera movement and angles keep this film relatively interesting on an audio and visual level. However, they do not compensate for the film having quite a limited story of just a lightly developed romance during political unrest. There are political themes and morality issues in it, however they are not too well explained. It is also far too slowly paced, dragging between the story action. It is not a bad film though, and it is arguably interesting to watch… however it misses the mark for greatness. Despite Caine and Hoskins receiving BAFTA nominations for their roles, it is Gere who delivers the most effectively.

Believe this, I have watched this so many times, but in part. I could spout off lines in Christopher Hampton's script, at the click of a finger. I love the settings for this movie in which Gere, an English spoken doctor, falls for a newly married young woman, Clara (Elpidia Carrillo) who is earlier seen as the whore working at this seedy bar that doubles as a cat house. She's married to the honorary Consul (Caine) unaware of the affair that has sparked between friend and wife. At the start, Gere, just arriving in town, helps another guy escort a drunk Caine from one bar to infamous cat house one. It's here he sets eyes on Clara. The sex scenes are quite hot as passions run high, but Gere has trouble from the other side, involving his past, where two old friends, (one a much younger Joquian Almedia) approach him, with a kidnapping plot to snatch a consul, in return for their fellow South American prisoners to be released. Only problem is, they snatch Caine instead, not a real consul, an honorary consul. Gere, maddened by the idiocy of the mates, remains loyal. Gere's father too, is one of those prisoners, as Gere is innocently led to believe. Caine's actor mate, Bob Hoskins, plays a cop, trying to help Gere track down his old man. One scene has Gere going off at him, when they arrest 250 mentally unsound people under his care and put them temporarily in prison, but Hoskins mellows him. Gere's fate at the end of the this, where the strong arm of the law closes in, was tragic, I must say. His not so badly portrayed doctor, is a sympathetic, goodhearted and likable character. But the heavyweights are Caine, who plays drunk so good and being funny too about it, where no nonsense Hoskins is solid. Elpidia is just pretty scenery really. But really there's something too brief about whole affair of the story here, despite it's good screenplay, and really it's just a passable, but involving drama + those couple of sex scenes. And near it's end too, some of the scenes are quite dark, they disjoint the action. But Gere too is a bit of a bastard in the bedroom, paying the now married Clara cash for her services as if she was still working. Also when going up to Gere's apartment, is her first tome, riding in an elevator. I liked the way Gere wore his jealousy well too, really at the sheer fact, Caine loves her. There's a lot of good scenes to find in the movie and Paul's McCartney's Brazilian intro theme was just beautiful and melodic, as it was soothing. For Gere fans, do put this different and quite enjoyable one one on your list.

With both Paraguay and Argentina under junta governments, doctor "Eduardo" (Richard Gere) returns to his homeland where he quickly befriends the eponymous gent "Fortnum" (Michael Caine) before making even closer friends with his somewhat open-minded wife "Clara" (Elpidia Carrillo). Ostensibly an upstanding member of the community it soon becomes clear that this physician is conflicted, and that comes to an head when his dipso friend is charged with driving the US Ambassador to visit a waterfall. The rebels get wind of this trip and plan to kidnap the visiting diplomat, but they get the wrong man and aren't impressed with the boozed-up light-weight that find themselves stuck with. Still, they can still use him as leverage to have some of their colleagues released from jail, or can they? Does anyone really care about this man who's frankly become a bit of a nuisance, a liability even? The only chance poor old "Fortnum" might have is if local police chief "Perez" (Bob Hoskins) can find where he is being held before his captors lose patience, or run out of whiskey! Caine is on quite good form here as he takes to the role of the alcoholic convincingly, and though he really only features sparingly his is by far the better effort. Otherwise, there's lots of sex between Gere and Carrillo, but their personas remain largely undercooked by a weak script and a rather limited supporting cast who underplay the freedom-fighting elements of the plot and render them a little better than a sideshow. It's really only a vehicle for Gere, this film, and an unremarkable one at that.