Focus World
Sometimes it seems like everyone in Hollywood wants to be more than they are. Actors want to sing, to direct, to produce. Writers want to act. Singers and models want to be taken seriously. I mean I get it. There seems to be a kind of hierarchy of respectability that goes like: Extra -> Writer -> Supporting Actor -> Lead Actor -> Director -> Producer. With a few deviations at times. Sometimes people move through ranks and stumble, sometimes they soar. I look at examples like Ben Affleck, Jon Favreau, or Clint Eastwood as actors that were better as directors. Then there the “huh” ones that didn’t really put if off, like Zach Braff (in his second worse movie) or Eddie Murphy in much worse movies than they seemed capable of as actors. But that’s just one perspective. How can celebrated film star Alan Rickman screw it up?
A Little Chaos was directed and partially written by Alan Rickman, who also stars in it as King Louis XIV of France. Alan Rickman last directed the award winning indie film The Winter Guest way back in 1997, so that’s a long time to try again. It’s hard to say exactly why this movie fails, but I can think of a bunch of reasons. The story is simple (too simple): As the King is getting people to build his famed gardens at Versailles, head landscaper André Le Nôtre (Matthias Schoenaerts) interviews and hires untraditional (heavens!) Sabine de Barra (Kate Winslet) to oversee one particular area. For the first forty minutes of the movie, I don’t really think anything happened. I was completely bored.
For the first forty minutes of the movie, nothing happens. tweet
Finally the movie picks up a bit when we see sort of romantic things happen between Sabine and André. Sabine is warmly embraced by the boring elite, why, a commoner at court! How delightfully absurd! Her beauty and charm are constantly mentioned, but Kate Winslet plays Sabine so dark, pensive, and withdrawn I didn’t see it at all. Louis says and does a few things, and then Stanley Tucci steals the movie as Louis’ flamboyant brother Duke Philippe d’Orleans. Philippe is also entranced by Sabine, but again I don’t get it. Stanley Tucci is great, but it doesn’t make any sense. André talks constantly about Sabine’s vision, but it’s underwhelming.
The other dramatic elements are Sabine’s dark history, which is fairly obvious, and her potential confusion with her paramour and his offputting wife Madame Françoise (Helen McCrory). She was also interesting, some personality against the drab Sabine and André. I mean Alan Rickman as an actor is also quite good, but his character is written with such dullness, it’s kind of shocking. There are also a lot of issues with an overwhelming number of lingering glances and stares, which doesn’t make it tense or romantic, just tiresome. The score also is far too loud and the sound mixing unusually poor, with many scenes overwhelmed by the music.
It’s kind of a shame, because Alan Rickman is such a talented screen presence, but I think he was a bit too enchanted with the period and not enough with making compelling characters. Instead it’s very reductive and flat. Sabine is afraid of love because of her tragic past. André is held back because of his awful wife. Fine, that’s fine. But there’s no real chemistry here, especially when compared to other movies both these actors have been in before. Unfortunately despite a few fun moments from a few people, the movie dragged a lot and was super obvious with its gardening metaphors. A disappointment for me.
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