The Honorary Consul (1983)

Director:

John Mackenzie

Writers:

Graham Greene (novel)
Christopher Hampton (screenplay)

Release Date:

30 September 1983 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Drama | Romance | Thriller

Tagline:

The first time he saw her, she was a prostitute. The second time, she was his best friend's wife. The third time she was his. [USA theatrical] [as Beyond The Limit]

Plot:

Dr. Eduardo Plarr, despite the name is an Anglo working in a Latin American country. His work is a return home after several years...

Plot Keywords:

Diplomat | Affair | Male Nudity | Female Nudity | Prostitute

Awards:

Nominated for 2 BAFTA Film Awards.

Cast

  (Cast overview, first billed only)

Michael Caine	...	Charley Fortnum, Consul
Richard Gere	...	Dr. Eduardo Plarr
Bob Hoskins	...	Colonel Perez
Elpidia Carrillo	...	Clara
Joaquim de Almeida	...	Leon (as Joaquim De Almeida)
A Martinez	...	Aquino
Stephanie Cotsirilos	...	Marta
Domingo Ambriz	...	Diego
Eric F. Valdez	...	Pablo (as Eric Valdez)
Nicolás Jasso	...	Miguel (as Nicolas Jasso)
Geoffrey Palmer	...	Belfrage: British Ambassador
Leonard Maguire	...	Dr. Humphries
Jorge Russek	...	Senor Escobar
Erika Carlsen	...	Senora Escobar
Josefina Echánove	...	Senora Sanchez (as Josefina Echanove)

Also Known As:

Beyond the Limit (USA)

Runtime:

104 min | West Germany:102 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Australia:M | Finland:K-16 | Sweden:15 | USA:R | Argentina:16 | West Germany:12 | UK:18 | Iceland:16

Filming Locations:

Coatzacoalcos, Veracruz, Mexico

Company:

Parsons & Whittemore Lyddon Ltd.

Quotes:

Colonel Perez: Is this why you've been lying to me?
Dr. Eduardo Plarr: An affair always involves a few lies.

One of the better Graham Greene adaptations

The Honorary Consul/Beyond the Limit has an especially low reputation in the US, mainly because of the antipathy many feel to Richard Gere, but it's one of the best Graham Greene adaptations to date, and infinitely more successful than Philip Noyce's disappointing version of The Quiet American (which explores similar themes) with it's over-rated and rather lazily mechanical star-turn from Michael Caine. By contrast, Caine here is staggeringly good, totally inhabiting the character's flaws without 'giving a performance' - here he's inside the drunken Charlie Fortnum's skin completely and doesn't need to act. Gere certainly offers him better support than the disastrous Brendan Fraser, managing an acceptable English accent and capturing the character's emotional apathy. Bob Hoskins is also on top understated form as the local police chief, avoiding turning him into Senor Haroldo Shand and coming up with an amiably sympathetic but dangerous presence that owes nothing to his usual stock-in-trade characters.

The irony of timing of seeing a film about a fictional British hostage no-one wants back in the week after a real-life British hostage his government didn't want back was murdered in Iraq only occurred to me later. There are similarities (Caine's character even has a much-younger foreign wife while the Americans here also put pressure on the British government not to act), but being a Graham Greene story this is much more concerned with moral responsibility, lapsed Catholicism and, ultimately, an act of forgiveness that sees the film's nominally weakest and most compromised character emerge as it's strongest. Well directed by John Mackenzie with superb photography by Phil Meheux that compliment each other to give a convincing sense of everyday life in a military dictatorship, it's highly recommended despite the low IMDb rating.