A Little Chaos (2015) on Netflix
Sabine de Barra is an independent landscape gardener in 17th-century France. André Le Nôtre hires her for the gardens at Versailles, where she takes on a ballroom grove of fountains.
- Netflix2.9/5
- IMDb6.5/1027,099 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes49%
Trailer
Plot summary
King Louis XIV of France puts André Le Nôtre in charge of the gardens at Versailles, and Le Nôtre interviews other designers. One candidate is Sabine de Barra, an independent professional woman in a century that offers few. She moves a potted plant in the palace courtyard before her interview, and when Le Nôtre asks whether she prizes order, she answers that she would rather invent something French than copy classical models. He shows her out, then reconsiders her drawings. At her home he sees her untamed garden and hands her the outdoor ballroom project, a mix of fountains and planting. Where his plan needs an expensive fresh water supply, she proposes recycling water through a reservoir. The two are drawn to each other but act on nothing, held back by his marriage and their working ties.
Cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about A Little Chaos (2015)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- Alan Rickman called the shoot difficult, with Kate Winslet thrown into freezing water at 1 a.m., a carriage crash, scenes with 80 extras and tight schedules at venues like Blenheim Palace.
- Alan Rickman had Kate Winslet in mind for the lead role of Sabine de Barra, and continued with her when, two weeks into shooting, she announced that she was pregnant.
- A Little Chaos was only the second film Alan Rickman directed, after his 1997 debut The Winter Guest, and the last one before his death in 2016.
- The real André Le Nôtre began work at Versailles in 1661 and was nearly seventy in 1682, twice the age Matthias Schoenaerts appears in the role.
- A garden much like the one in the film exists at Versailles: the Salle de Bal, also known as the Bosquet de la Salle-de-Bal, or Forest Ballroom.
