A Little Chaos 2015

Bill Zwecker, Chicago Sun-Times: True French historians should simply relax and enjoy a film that takes us on a beautifully photographed cinematic romp into a past as it likely SHOULD have been. Read more

Sara Stewart, New York Post: The film certainly doesn't lack for engaging talent - but none can save it from a fundamentally thin plot. Read more

Dennis Harvey, Variety: "A Little Chaos" is all too tidy as it imposes a predictable, pat modern sensibility on a most unconvincing depiction of late 17th-century French aristocratic life ... Read more

A.A. Dowd, AV Club: If Rickman, who co-wrote the film with Alison Deegan and Jeremy Brock, was beholden to no historical record, why didn't he come up with something more interesting than another tale of tentative courtship in the time of corsets? Read more

Randy Cordova, Arizona Republic: This is a movie in which everything feels vaguely familiar. Read more

Peter Keough, Boston Globe: Engrossing and entertaining if sometimes trite and manipulative and totally bogus. Read more

J. R. Jones, Chicago Reader: Alan Rickman was born to play the Sun King -- or any king, really -- but neither he nor the blue-chip cast he's recruited in his capacity as director can rescue this muddled historical drama. Read more

David Rooney, Hollywood Reporter: This decently acted film is agreeable entertainment, even if it works better on a scene by scene basis than in terms of overall flow. Read more

Sheri Linden, Los Angeles Times: The story comes to life only fitfully, even with - or perhaps because of - its court intrigue and supporting characters both hissable (Helen McCrory as Andre's wife) and flamboyant (Stanley Tucci as the king's bisexual brother). Read more

Rafer Guzman, Newsday: "A Little Chaos" wants us to be fascinated by a feminist who never was, then undermines her by casting an approving eye on the steamy affair she begins with her boss. Read more

Jordan Hoffman, New York Daily News: What could be a look at artistic vision against brutal nature, or at least gender prejudice, never takes root. Read more

Stephen Holden, New York Times: Mr. Rickman has found in the Sun King a character worthy of his imperious, reptilian charisma. Read more

Molly Eichel, Philadelphia Inquirer: Winslet has ... powerful scenes, especially a visceral one near the end that dives into her harried history. It, however, is not enough to keep A Little Chaos in order. Read more

Moira MacDonald, Seattle Times: Oh, this one should have been a charmer. Read more

David Lewis, San Francisco Chronicle: We get ready for the sparks to fly, but the scenes between Winslet and Schoenaerts fall flat. In fact, we pay more attention to the beautiful costumes and art direction than to any exchange between the two romantic leads. Read more

Inkoo Kang, TheWrap: It's difficult to conjure... excitement for a mess like "A Little Chaos," a lazy and off-puttingly anachronistic feminist fantasy about an 18th-century female landscape designer who finds love while creating... one of the grandest spaces in Versailles. Read more

Cath Clarke, Time Out: Kate Winslet, playing a pioneering seventeenth-century gardener in the French court of Louis XIV, is the best thing about the film. Read more

Aaron Hillis, Village Voice: Schoenaerts and his lack of bodice-busting tension with Winslet mirrors the film's transparent, often anachronistic inauthenticity: He's a modern Belgian using a regal British accent to play seventeenth-century French. Read more

Stephanie Merry, Washington Post: It's a shame such a talented artist couldn't create a more memorable film, but the overlong "A Little Chaos" bogs down in a lackluster love story. Read more