A Little Chaos

Winslet is a fine actress who can bring almost any character to life, and here, viewers get a real sense of Sabine's passions -- and the deeply buried despair that stems from a tragic loss. But she's a big presence in a very small picture. The story of building one special garden at Versailles isn't especially epic, and it's hard to infuse heft into what's essentially a little story.

Alan Rickman, who also directed, plays King Louis XIV, the man at the center of everyone's orbit in the claustrophobic French court. He's fun to watch (though he doesn't appear very often) as a monarch who both revels in his position and is tired of being the constant focus of attention. The other main character is Schoenaerts' Andre Le Notre, the man in charge of building all the gardens. He's far too reserved, controlled, stiff, and distant, which makes his appeal for Sabine puzzling. A Little Chaos is beautiful to watch, in parts, since it's set in one of the world's most beautiful gardens, but as a whole, it's too constricted to be interesting to most viewers.