A Little Chaos is a period drama (circa 1661) about landscape architects"?uAndr????(R)???(C) Le N????(R)'?N??tre and Sabine de Barra"?ufalling in love while designing gardens at Versailles for King Louis XIV. The movie is set for limited release on March 27.
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I recently received an email invitation to attend a film screening in Los Angeles of a yet to be release movie called "A Little Chaos." The movie synopsis reads:

"A romantic drama following Sabine (Kate Winslet), a strong-willed and talented landscape designer, who is chosen to build one of the main gardens at King Louis XIV's new palace at Versailles. In her new position of power, she challenges gender and class barriers, while also becoming professionally and romantically entangled with the court's renowned landscape artist Andr????(R)???(C) Le N????(R)'?N??tre." At one point, Sabine mistakes the king for a gardener.

I hoped the "landscape artist" was a typo. The artist (sculpture) who worked with Le N????(R)'?N??tre at Versailles and elsewhere was Charles Le Brun, who Louis XIV considered France's greatest artist.

Landscape architects know the name Andr????(R)???(C) Le N????(R)'?N??tre (1613–1700), although some might not know or recall much about him beyond the landscapes at Versailles. At the age of 22, Le N????(R)'?N??tre, an architect by training, was named principal gardener by Gaston le duc d'Orl????(R)???(C)an, Louis XIV's brother. Two years later he took over his father's position as head gardener of the Tuileries. In his early 30s, Le N????(R)'?N??tre modernized the gardens of the Ch????(R)????teau de Fontainebleau, and in his 40s became the controller general of royal buildings.

Already the preeminent landscape architect in France (one says "paysagiste" there), Le N????(R)'?N??tre was then engaged by Nicolas Fouquet, Marquis de Belle Ile, Viscount of Melun and Vaux (let's just call him Fouquet) to design a garden for his newly built 1660 baroque castle just south of Paris designed by architect Louis Le Vau. Le N????(R)'?N??tre designed a mile-long rectangular sculpted garden for the chateau. The chateau and grounds caused a sensation. Fouquet threw a grand f?'?N?????????te at the estate on Aug. 17, 1661. The entertainment included the debut of Moli????(R)??ure's first comedic ballet, Les F????(R)????cheux, meaning the "unfortunates."

Fouquet became the unfortunate one. Fouquet, just 26 years old, was Louis' minster of economy, finance and industry. Louis was led to believe by court intriguers that Fouquet was siphoning state money to pay for these extravagances. The king imprisoned Fouquet for life, and exiled his wife. Louis the proceeded to loot Fouquet's estate, taking the statuary, orange trees and tapestries for his own hunting lodge, a modest estate that would evolve into his primary residence, a little place called Versailles.

Le N????(R)'?N??tre's design esthetics for the gardens and green spaces of Versailles were geometric, had long vistas, panoramic landscapes, symmetrical lawns, gravel paths, classical statuary and topiaries.

A Little Chaos is directed by actor Alan Rickman, one of the film's three co-writers. You may recall the British actor as the terrorist in Die Hard, and the bad guy in Quigley Down Under. Rickman gets to play the king. Le N????(R)'?N??tre is played by Belgian actor Matthias Schoenaerts, not yet so well-known outside Antwerp. Stanley Tucci gets the campy role of the king's brother, the duc d'Orl????(R)???(C)ans.

I was in Hawaii during the screening of the film, but a number of movie critics have reviewed it. Some critics don't seem to think much of the romantic chemistry between the landscape architects. Critic Matthew Turner of The List opines that what the film "lacks in historical accuracy, it makes up for in sheer entertainment, thanks to strong performances, an emotionally engaging story and confident direction from Rickman." Dennis Harvey of Variety said the film "imposes a predictable, pat modern sensibility on a most unconvincing depiction of late 17th-century French aristocratic life." Katherine Shoard of The Guardian noted excellent performances.