a little chaos

i recently came to watch this rather unique period- drama movie “a little chaos”. there are so many movies where the main character is a doctor, a lawyer, a life guard, a music teacher or even an architect but this was one of the two times  i’ve seen the protagonist as a landscape architect. and the first time ever a lady landscape architect (as my father would say).  having been a landscape architect for over twenty years and a lady a lot longer, i was drawn to this story. the film is essentially about  a rather unknown and unconventional  landscape architect – the fictitious madame sabine le barra, her work and  her romance with andre le notre  (who was in fact louis XIV’s  real landscape architect responsible for the splendours at  versailles,  chantilly, fontainebleau) .

the flaws in this poorly researched drama are more numerous than the weeds in my lawn, the plot wilted  and clichéd, historical “facts” pruned into alternative truth and the script lines worthy of a quick compost. there is no real feel for the manners and zeitgeist of the 17^th century bourbon court life. fancy wigs and  brocaded costumes are about the only touches of that era.  however, the lead actor kate winslet, does an admirable job of playing landscape architect – her passion for plants and beauty, for the raw elements of earth and rain, her eye for detail and the sensory delights in recreating her own garden of eden (the original now long lost ). all beautifully delivered by her while  she brings alive the scope of her profession itself.

the sensuous  pursuit of landscape design is a hedonistic vocation that engages body and soul. there’s no dearth of tree hugging and pot lugging, dirt under the nails, carting water pails, designing ponds and fountains, making molehills out of mountains, planning drainage and sluices, ignoring dirty bruises, dealing with contracts and workers, stepping in when surrounded by shirkers, rapture about new plants, delight on sighting bugs and ants, seeing gardens as places of pleasure, creating outdoor experiences to treasure.  this is my own  temporal and rather chaotic world of landscape architecture - and how madame la barra lives it in the movie.   only she portrays all this with  stately and spirited beauty and with endless charm. (having a hot adonis-like le notre helps tremendously too- he broods a lot through the movie but strangely isn’t into doing much else – like drawing up impressive prints for a never-been-anything-like-this -or- be- put- to- death garden for the le roi soleil . the drive to create, to nurture, to change,  to give pleasure- this is a truly gratifying vocation and in showing this the film does a gallant job.

as for the title- a little chaos – it fittingly describes the whimsical processes of designing outdoor spaces and working with the caprices of the earth and its elements.  it also sums up (three centuries later)  a day at my own landscape architecture office. even if the client list doesn't comprise louis XIV.