Mick LaSalle doesn’t always seem to care what he writes these days in his movie reviews for the Chronicle. But today’s piece on “The Constant Gardender” goes far beyond anything that makes it into the New York Times or the New Yorker. His description of Ralph Fiennes’ performance deserves a place in the OED for the meaning of “diffidence:”

Fiennes can be an austere actor, but this role calls for different notes, a softness, almost a sweetness. He plays Justin, a diplomat sent to Africa in the British foreign service, with a specific and rather interesting form of diffidence — as interesting here as when one finds it in real life: It’s the diffidence of someone who is meek by disposition, but whose self-image is, at bottom, healthy and confident. Such people are interesting because they’re rare, in that most people, if anything, tend to be the reverse, blustering on the outside and unsure on the inside.”