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There's Very Little to Care About

"A Little Chaos" never tries to be a formal history lesson but a charming little period piece to satisfy those who love their costume dramas. Director Alan Rickman fails to succeed in making anything about "A Little Chaos" charming or even memorable.

The movie is gorgeously lit by cinematographer Ellen Kuras and features big, elaborate costumes by Joan Bergin. Combined with the intricate set pieces, "A Little Chaos" is aesthetically pleasing and vibrant to watch, but the narrative is a drag from the start. Rickman, who co-wrote the script with Jeremy Brock and Alison Deegan, fails to find the passion in the story and convey any sense of urgency to the audience. How are we supposed to be engaged in what's happening when the filmmakers can't even engage with their own material?

What's worse is how wasted Kate Winslet feels in this movie. The Oscar-winner is

such a versatile force on screen and she is given so little to do in this movie. The story forces some revelations about her character towards the end but it ends up feeling contrived rather than genuinely felt drama. Winslet has brought us into a film's world countless times but not here. Whether she is a star-crossed lover on a doomed ship or a restless suburban housewife, we feel her character's heartache because Winslet is such a terrific actress. "A Little Chaos" doesn't even give her a chance to connect with the audience. It's one of the more shocking aspects of the movie.

Winslet stars as Sabine De Barra, a landscape artist who is tasked with building an outside ballroom in a garden for King Louis XIV (Rickman) at the palace at Versailles. Sabine is very talented at what she does but feels out of place at the palace among all of the men. The king already has a main gardener on his staff, André Le Nôtre (Matthias Schoenaerts), who butts heads with Sabine initially. As they get closer and work together a bit more, a romantic relationship blossoms between Sabine and André.

The talent and style are there for Rickman to use but everything about "A Little Chaos" feels so insignificant and fleeting. From one scene to the next nothing sticks or is memorable because we aren't even given the option to care about anything that is happening. There are long stretches of time when we listen to the characters chitchat about the gardens and landscaping. Who cares?

Despite it's lavish settings, "A Little Chaos" fails to stand out above other movies of the same ilk. Rickman had admirable intentions with this movie - his second outing as a director. Instead of an old-fashioned melodrama he created an instantly forgettable trifle, which spins its wheels throughout the movie just to reach the end.