A Little Chaos

A Little Chaos is a 2014 British period drama film directed by Alan Rickman, based on a story conceived by Alison Deegan, who co-wrote the screenplay alongside Rickman and Jeremy Brock. The film stars Kate Winslet, Matthias Schoenaerts, Rickman, Stanley Tucci, Helen McCrory, Steven Waddington, Jennifer Ehle and Rupert Penry-Jones. The film was financed by Lionsgate UK and produced by BBC Films. The second film directed by Rickman, after his 1997 debut The Winter Guest, as well as the last before his death in 2016, it was additionally the second collaboration of Rickman and Winslet after their 1995 film Sense and Sensibility. Production took place in London in mid-2013. The film had its world premiere at the 2014 Toronto International Film Festival as the closing night film on 13 September 2014. Plot King Louis XIV of France assigns the design and construction of the Gardens of Versailles to his head landscape architect André Le Nôtre. Already overwhelmed, managing numerous large-scale projects, Le Nôtre interviews several other landscape designers to whom he might be able to delegate some of the work. One of the candidates is Sabine de Barra, who is that rare thing in the 17th century: an independent professional woman. When Sabine arrives on the palace grounds for her interview, she pauses to move a potted plant in the courtyard. André observes this from a window, and asks her, during the interview, if she prizes order in design. Sabine affirms her respect for landscape order, but when pressed suggests that she would rather create something uniquely French than follow classical and Renaissance styles. André reminds her that everything he has built and designed follows order. Sabine apologizes and sincerely expresses admiration for him and his work. André abruptly shows her the door; she leaves disheartened.