A Little Chaos * * 1/2

 Ifyou’re one of those folk that go to costume dramas just for the costumes you’re going to love this! Some of the most beautifully recreated and impressive 18th Century clothing you’ll ever see. The cast look fantastic. But have you ever ever heard the expression “All dressed up and nowhere to go”? It’s a bit like that. It plods along satisfactorily but it just doesn’t seem to have a real dramatic pulse. At about the three-quarter mark the script seems to go into panic stations about this and two significant dramatic situations are thrown at us; but at this stage these events come across as an interesting diversion rather than a critical part of the drama.

Overall the film is okay. It’s about a woman who built part of the garden of Versaille. I don’t know if its true or not. I don’t suppose it really matters: it’s a good yarn. Alan Rickman directed and plays the King (it’s his film so why the heck not? I would). Kate Winslet plays the gardener with the commission to build a water featured amphitheatre. They say there aren't many lead roles or strong roles for women in cinema, but Kate always seems to get them (kudos to her). She also gets to deliver the most beautiful and memorable piece of dialogue in the film, where she explains to a gathering of men (King included) how the life of a rose can be compared to that of a woman. It’s an impressive and moving speech and one of the best parts of an otherwise ho-hum film