A Little Chaos (2014)
A review of A Little Chaos (2014) directed by Alan Rickman.
I’ve been a little bit on a high ever since I finished watching the film Dangerous Liaisons for my Costume and Fashion in film class. That film just did rococo and the late-stage French monarchy so well that I was obsessed with films depicting this era. So while I was looking for something to watch one day after my Bengali class, I landed on this film in the depths of what Netflix has to offer. I read the small little blurb that Netflix gives you and was quite interested from the get-go. Versailles? Gardening? Architectural landscaping? That sounds like my jam all the way. Ironically, if you know me, I hate romance. And there’s a lot of this in this film, as many Rococo French-era films tend to incorporate.
Anyways, let’s dive deeper into this review.
Content
Our protagonist in this film is Sabine, a landscape artist hired to help work on the gardens in Versailles. Sabine is played by Kate Winslet, who shows up in a stellar performance, as Sabine is a widow who also lost her child. In one scene, she is asked if she is married with kids, and as she tears up and chokes on the truth, you can truly see the strength of this performance.
The costumes and settings are extravagant, as one would expect for a film depicting this period of time. Are they historically accurate though? I didn’t do as much research as I would for a fashion history class, but based on my knowledge of womenswear of the time, this film isn’t very accurate. Winslet’s hair and makeup stands out immediately from the fashion of the time, as well as some of her attire choices.
We then mix in the romance element, specifically one from a married man. The boss she’s working under falls in love with her, especially after they spend so much time working on the garden together. It’s a slow burn, but it’s all about the characters, their psychology, and the relationships they form with each other and how it affects their interactions. It’s also interesting that our main character is a woman in this era who isn’t depicted as sexual, because, often, we view this era of time as a time of luxury and splendor. This film tones this down quite a bit.
Pacing-wise, I found this to be a quite slow film. It’s also on the bit of the longer end (it clocks in at 2.5 hours), which makes it kind of painful to get through if you’re not as invested in the story. I, unfortunately, fell into that camp. Alan Rickman directed a beautiful film, that’s for sure. The shots can be quite pretty and the blocking is quite fluid on the screen. I do think, however, this is a film that you need to watch again and again, which I don’t have the time for, because it’s very nuanced in its themes and messages.
I think Kate Winslet does a great job in historical films, but I think she wasn’t the greatest choice for casting in this era. This might be a superficial comment, but when I think of Kate Winslet and the aura that she tends to give off when it comes to her characters, I wouldn’t imagine her to be in a film that’s set in the 1700s. I imagine much more of a 1900s film, more 1930s-1940s. I honestly can imagine her as one of the 1930s actresses like Kay Francis, the ones who were known for their costumes and their appearances, rather than “let’s put her in Versailles and see what happens!”
Overall Thoughts
It’s a slow, but beautiful film. I found myself losing patience with it a couple of times throughout, but stuck it out because I wanted to know how this ended in a visual manner. You’ll find yourself wondering if anything is actually happening, if this was drawn out too long, but, at the end of the day, it’s up to you to decide if it’s worth it to keep watching. This highly stylized and poetic manner of storytelling just isn’t everyone’s cup of tea at the end of the day.
