For all those of you who’ve been clamouring for more films centred on landscape gardening, your wishes have finally been granted.
Winslet is, of course, wonderful. But she always is. The problem here is that she has to portray some sort of romantic interest in André, despite the fact that Schoenaerts plays him as the dullest man imaginable. His face is completely devoid of expression – I don’t think I even saw the man blink – and his line delivery simply slows the film down.
Winslet’s scenes with Louis XIV (Alan Rickman, who also directs) are much more entertaining, not to mention those featuring the ever-amazing Stanley Tucci. But the best scene in the entire film involves half a dozen female characters who are only present for several minutes. The problem is, this occurs at least three quarters of the way into the film, and all its good work is then undone by a gods-awful flashback sequence that is as ineffective as it is awkward.
A Little Chaos is a quaint film that doesn’t soar to any particular height. The narrative takes very few risks, and thus the film isn’t anything more than a mildly entertaining diversion. If it weren’t for the fact that the most important scenes of the film, those of grand tragedy or intense passion, are almost amateurish and otherwise lifeless, then this would have been a perfectly acceptable cinematic experience. The film will certainly entertain some, but I sincerely doubt anyone will remember much about it years down the track. See it for Winslet, Rickman and Tucci; just don’t expect too much.