Highly Overrated But Still Good

best movie i've ever seen.

It's easily one of the freshest, sharpest and most enjoyable films of this year.

Blistering performances.

The late Alan Rickman directed and co-starred in this curiopusly pointless film; it was one of his last projects. At heart, it's a deeply conventional (and conservative) period love story, with Kate Winslett playing a feisty, talented gardener trying to prove herself and find happiness in the perfidious world of the French royal court. Fortunately for her, she wins the mind of the king, and (in spite of some shennanigans) everything turns out beautiful and happy-ever-after. I've rarely seen a less class-conscious movie: I may not like the politics of Jane Austen, but at least she's aware of class as an issue; but this film is a banal tribure to talented women and the glory of Versailles. It's a waste of the cast, who act their parts but have little of interest to show us.

Kate Winslet plays the fictional landscape gardener Madame Sabine de Barra, hired to create a water feature at Versailles. Her work defies conventions of the time and Madame Sabine falls for the master designer André Le Nôtre even though she is haunted by her past.The film was directed by Alan Rickman, who also co-wrote it and plays the Sun King. The problem is this is a slight tale and boring. It actually could had done by being more chaotic and wilder.Winslet has little chemistry with Matthias Schoenaerts, she does better when she bumps into King Louis who pretends to be a gardener.

I wanted to watch all of Alan Rickman's films as my own tribute to all the pleasure he has brought me. Once I saw A Little Chaos was about the Palace of Versailles, I could not miss it. For someone who loves French Beaux Art architecture and has only had a very short visit to the Palace of Versailles I was looking forward to a visual feast. I was not disappointed even though so many English sites were used in filming. The story was charming and the romance of the construction of the outdoor ballroom added to the charm. In fact the shaping of the land to the gardener's will to create some order in the chaos gave a very sensual feel. I was amazed to see Alan Rickman directed and co-wrote the story, a very talented and under-rated artist. If you enjoy visual beauty and a heart warming story, this is for you.

At first, many thanks to Alan Rickman for making a lavish film with a sublime cinematography and fabulous acting! The plot has its weak points and historical inaccuracy, but it is all in all a good and entertaining film: 8/10. I really liked the fact that Rickman created a very fictional female character from the 17th century who is a landscape architect (Kate Winslet) and is building a garden at Versailles for King Louis XIV (Alan Rickman). The imagination on doing so is huge! Rickman and Winslet reunite in this film after their marvellous romantic period film Sense and Sensibility which dates back to 1995 and they still have a great chemistry together. I really liked their shared scenes and dialogues, it gives a warm touch to the storyline.Kate Winslet really shows here that no matter how many actresses want, or properly said, get to play roles in period dramas, she is still the number 1 in these kind of films. She shows great emotions in her eyes, her attitude, walking, looking, speaking and her abilities of crying like an old soul. It is a real delight to watch her and she is one of these women who will never get old, because her expression will always remain young and alive. There is a scene of desperate trauma which is an Oscar-worthy performance by her.Period dramas actually present a great opportunity to be able to understand the situations and conflicts between people and history of old times better, IF it is truthfully made. These kind of films should respond to women as well as men and it shouldn't contain boring dialogues. à propos boring, if anyone has had the wish to watch the 2014 version of Madame Bovary, I really highly NOT recommend it. I will rescue you all by NOT recommending it for you to watch it, since it is inadvisable. It is such a wrongly made and terrible film with an extremely awful, untalented, pale and dull actress, you can't even imagine. I recommend you all instead to watch Far from the Madding Crowd (2015), which is also starring Matthias Schoenaerts and the great Michael Sheen.Matthias Schoenaerts, who is playing here a landscape architect shares great chemistry with Winslet. He has the ability to look enamoured at a woman&makes the audience believe that he is in love with her. He has a calm appearance, which I like about him and although he looks too modern for period dramas, he fits to lovestruck character roles. Apart from Rickman's versatile acting, a huge thumbs up to Stanley Tucci who can pull off every role perfectly. He is an insanely good actor and deserves more lead roles! It's a pity that this film got limited release, so that I couldn't watch it at the cinema, but since I got the blu-ray, I could enjoy the wonderful colourful cinematography of it!