Not all is rosy in the Versailles garden

VIEWERS are set to be transported back to the 17th century in Alan Rickman’s romantic period drama A Little Chaos.

Along with Rickman himself, as King Louis XIV, the film features a host of big names, including Kate Winslet, Stanley Tucci and Helen McCrory.

It follows Sabine (Winslet), a strong–willed landscape designer who challenges sexual and class barriers when she is chosen to build one of the main gardens at King Louis XIV’s new palace at Versailles.

This causes her to become professionally and romantically entangled with the court’s renowned landscape architect André Le Notre, played by Matthias Schoenaerts.

The film is Rickman’s second outing as a director, 18 years after The Winter Guest.



It is a truly beautiful film to behold – but this may not come as surprise to many, given part of its narrative involves the transformation of palatial gardens.

Despite being set in France, this does feel very much like a classic period piece of English cinema with its lavish sets, exquisite costumes and strict adherence to social tradition and conventions of the era.

Winslet is a perfect fit for the role of Sabine and sees her return to the genre with Rickman after the pair starred together in Ang Lee’s 1995 hit Sense and Sensibility.

A Little Chaos will be showing at the Regal from today (Friday).

Review by: David White