Die Gärtnerin von Versailles

Belying its title, this is a charmingly well-ordered 'chamber-piece' movie about the creation of Louis XIV's spectacular grounds at Versailles. Landscape architect Andre Le Notre (Matthias Schoenaerts) recruits - a surprise in 17th-century society - a woman to design one of the garden's water features. Sabine De Barra (Kate Winslet) is a widow; Andre is married to a heartless slut (Helen McCrory); so we can expect something more than potting to be happening in the potting shed before the gardens are finished! There's a lovely scene when Sabine finds King Louis (Alan Rickman) alone and unwigged on a bench and mistakes him for the chief gardener.

I worried that A LITTLE CHAOS might be like one of Peter Greenaway's movies, a triumph of style over substance, but it's got almost as much substance as an Oscar Wilde adaptation. There's no attempt to "Frenchify" the language in the style of 'Allo 'Allo: everyone speaks accentless English. Alan Rickman (who also directed) plays the king in the grand style of Lady Bracknell, and Winslet is perfectly cast as a woman of substance and quiet wisdom. Belgium's Monsieur Schoenaerts is having a busy year and although this is role is similar to the one he had in SUITE FRANCAISE he seems more comfortable in it this time. Stanley Tucci and Jennifer Ehle play the top dogs/bitches in His Majesty's court and I'd like to have seen more of them both.

OK this movie is a bit overdone and artificial (like the gardens at Versailles), but the cast are believable and lovable, and the story delivers comedy, romance and intrigue. If you liked THE DUCHESS, you will love this.

"A Little Chaos" is a period costume drama based on a simple fictional plot. It is set in 1682-1683 during the reign of King Louis XIV. A female "builder" is chosen to create a special project in the royal gardens at Versailles. A romance develops over time between she and the master gardener, the architect of Versailles, who chose her for the task.

Most of the performances are fine, but nothing special. Many of the characters seem wooden in the scenes in the royal household. The three main characters are Sabine De Barra (Kate Winslet), André Le Notré (Matthias Schoenaerts), and King Louis (Alan Rickman). Rickman directed the film but doesn't seem to be able to coax any spark out of most of the characters.

The story moves between Madame De Barra's landscaping work, and her awkward introduction to the court of the king and royal society. In between that, her acquaintance with the master builder, Le Notré, evolves into a romance. Some of the women of the royal household add interest to the story, but much of the king's huge entourage is portrayed as a den of ladies of rank with male courtesans. This seems a curious twist that doesn't add much to the main plot. Of course, without that the film would have needed something else to fill the time slot.

But for the scenery, costumes and excellent camera work, "A Little Chaos" would be a royal bore for most.

While several of the characters are historically true, Madame De Barra and others are fictional. Le Notré was the landscape architect for King Louis. He began designing and building the gardens at Versailles in 1661, but he would have been 70 years old in 1683. The king's wife who died that year was Maria Theresa of Spain (1638-1683). She and Louis married in 1660 when they were both 21. She was 44 when she died on July 30, 1683.

Louis XIV was also known as Louis the Great. He had the longest sovereign reign in European history. It lasted from May 14, 1643 (when he was four years old) until his death at age 76 on Sept. 1, 1715. He began his personal rule of France in 1661 at age 18, after the death of his chief minister, the Italian Cardinal Mazarin. Louis reigned 72 years and 110 days. Scholars consider him one of the greatest rulers in history.

Besides his military and other conquests, King Louis XIV was also a royal philanderer. He is known to have fathered at least 22 children, six by his first wife, Maria Theresa.

Within a year of his first wife's death, Louis again married. His second wife was Francoise d'Aubigné, the Marquiese de Maintenon. She is Francoise Marie in the movie, played by Hope Hancock. Perhaps the most powerful woman in the king's entourage though, was Francoise-Ahtenais, the Marquise de Montespan. She bore Louis seven children from 1669 to 1678. Jennifer Ehle plays her in the movie. At least four other women bore nine children by Louis. All of these 22 offspring were legitimized by the king in time.

When Louis married again in 1683, he was 44 years old and his known philandering ended. The Marquises de Maintenon was a devout Catholic and had a strong influence on the king becoming more devout himself.

Without knowing something of the history and the court surrounding Louis XIV, much of this film set in the king's household is meaningless. A little knowledge of these people and of the reign of King Louis XIV adds some interest to this film. Otherwise, this is a slow movie, with much doting on flowers, other plants and landscaping. While gardeners may enjoy this, many others may find it boring.

This is not the first of Alan Rickman's work that I have seen and once again, I was not disappointed. It seems to me that movies like this are over-looked and taken for granted by audiences who's attention spans are not strong enough to appreciate the subtleties and nuances in films such as this. It isn't full of action, you have to pay attention to the details. I love how easily I was swept into the emotions of the characters. This was well acted and is the first film I've seen in awhile that made me feel like I was watching a piece of well-crafted artwork. I laughed and cried and I don't do that during just any old movie :)

OK, OK, the "professional" reviews are tepid, but for my taste, A Little Chaos is a perfect summertime movie. No heavy themes, impeccable acting (Kate Winslet, Matthias Schoenaerts, Stanley Tucci, and Alan Rickman), beautiful scenery, and gorgeous late 17th c. costumes. It's one of those movies where you can sink into the cushioned theater seats, breathe the welcome air-conditioning, and let the film wash over you. No heavy mental or emotional lifting required. The premise is that on a ridiculously short timetable and budget, France's Louis XIV, the Sun King, has decreed that paradisaical gardens be created to expand the grounds at his Versailles palace. Garden design has been placed in the reliable hands of André Le Nôtre (Schoenaerts), a proponent of order in the landscape. His plans include an elaborate display of fountains. But he needs help. After interviewing numerous candidates, he chooses the wildly fictional Madame Sabine de Barra (Winslet) to create the garden's ballroom, for the reason that she will introduce new ideas (a shaky premise, there)—and, as the title suggests, a little chaos. The two of them are attracted to each other, but have vastly different temperaments and face a fairly predictable set of obstacles. Critics who pooh-pooh the film as a failed feminist fable miss its many pleasures: the absurd courtiers, Stanley Tucci as the king's gay brother, the interplay among the women when they're alone behind closed doors, scenery to drool over, the joy of bringing dirt and greenery to beautiful life, and, especially, Alan Rickman playing Louis XIV—"a character worthy of his imperious, reptilian charisma," as Stephen Holden said in the New York Times. Rickman directed and helped write the film, too. "Acting should be about risky projects as much as it can be about entertaining," he told Joe Neumaier at the New York Daily News. "The risk is what makes you want to do it." Bringing to life characters from another culture and long-past century in a revisionist history confection is almost as risky as thinking you can make water dance. The real Salle de Bal (the Bosquet des Rocailles) at Versailles was inaugurated in 1685 and is the gardens' only surviving cascade. If you don't go with inflated expectations you won't be disappointed. You will be well pleased.

Until now, I've never seen Kate Winslet portray a character in any movie that I could connect with. I've always thought she was miscast in Titanic. In A Little Chaos though, she draws us out n, bit by bit, by showing a great deal of vulnerability, a person bruised, but not quite broken by her paifully past. I could not hold back thevtears when she finally faces what haunts her. Good movie about a gentle soul trading a potentially treacherous path in life, willing to reach for what seems barely possible.