A Little Chaos needed a little more of its key ingredients, like humor and romance. The film seeks too ambitious a genre identity without mastering any. The humor is too spotty, and the romance mostly imaginary. The period drama’s major selling point is Alan Rickman, who is only directing his second film, his first since 1997’s The Winter Guest, which you probably do not remember. A Little Chaos recounts the fictionalized construction of one of Versailles’ many gardens.
The film is prettily shot and well acted, as everyone expects from a British costume drama. Rickman is a swell Sun King, Louis XIV, morosely in charge of his court. As landscape artist Sabine de Barra, Kate Winslet is strong and sad, keeping her distance from the also quietly sad royal landscaper, Monsieur Andre Le Notre (César Award Winner Matthias Schoenaerts).
Everything is far too pat and predictable in this period piece. Andre’s wife is jealous and vindictive, just like Sabine’s male competitors. Well, all except for swell Duras (Steven Waddington). Thank goodness Stanley Tucci arrives to brighten up the entire movie as Louis’ flamboyant brother, Duke Philippe d’Orleans. If only A Little Chaos had more of the zip of Winslet and Rickman’s gardening tête-à-tête. His King Louis comes to life in dry Rickman fashion, and the film is all the better for it. Too much is resigned to the dirty ins and outs of gardening and weak court intrigue. Far from a bad movie, A Little Chaos errs on the dreary side of costume dramas.
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