Gardens and mirrors - A LITTLE CHAOS

Yesterday I watched a very pretty film, "A little chaos", directed by Alan Rickman (who died not so long ago) and interpreted by Kate Winslet (as Sabine), the director (as the King Louis XIV), Matthias Schoenaerts (as André Le Nôtre) and Stanley Tucci (as Duke Philippe D'Orleans).

I love films based on true stories and this year a lot of films I could like have been released, as The Danish Girl, Joy and Steve Jobs.

This film is a bit different.

It is like a springy breeze, an enchanting glimpse in the parallel world of what the court of the King Louis XIV of France could have looked like, shown both as a play and as a film. These are the things I appreciate the most and now I explain you why.

The event starts because the King wants to beautify Versailles with perfect and magnificent gardens and, to do so, he chooses a famous landscaper who has the assignment of reaching perfection (you can read the plot here).

I want to introduce the theme of nature with these famous words:

<<There is a pleasure in the pathless woods,
There is a rapture on the lonely shore,
There is society, where none intrudes,
By the deep sea, and music in its roar:
I love not man the less, but Nature more>> 

 Lord Byron

Perfection is a characteristic of nature: if you think about a flower, even a simple daisy, you can admire a beautiful symmetry, a harmony of shapes. You don't have to create it, it appears in front of your eyes, but not all of us can look at this natural beauty. The protagonist, Sabine, seems to understand this perfect balance: all we can do is to make others comprehend this important lesson, revealing that breathless charm.

Bosquet de la Salle-de-Bal

A lot of great artists tried to imitate nature: one of my favourite is Antoni Gaudi. Everybody know his incomplete masterpiece, the astonishing Sagrada Familia, which seems to stick out from the centre of the earth.

It's like bringing a piece of the mythical Garden of Eden back to us, indulging the natural course of the events.

The second theme of the film is appearance, the fake happiness inside the court of the Sun King.

Sabine De Barra and the court

It's a golden cage, where people try to do their best to obtain as many advantages as they can. But it's also a terrible world, full of suffering, lies, tears and strict rules.

Even the King is a victim of the system and, when his wife dies, he isn't able to express his great sorrow. Only an accidental meeting and an initial misunderstanding becomes an opportunity to taste what real life is, without wigs and costumes. 

Even the place of healthy people hides pain: they can't show what they feel, because it is not proper. All of them have a story, but sometimes it is easier to forget problems and keep on living a false existence. Sabine has a sad past, which causes great pain to her: only if she understands that she is not alone she can be happy again.

I recommend to watch this film. Of course, it is not the best film I've ever seen, but I would watch it again, because it is very well arranged and the actors are very good, especially Kate Winslet and Alan Rickman.

That's all for now.

Today I have seen a film at the cinema for the International Holocaust Remembrance Day, The Eichmann Show (maybe I will write something about it in the next days).

Enjoy

Yours, Silvia