EVERY journey has a first step. For Jeremy Brock and Alison Deegan, writing their debut screenplay for “A Little Chaos” took them straight into the directorial arms of Alan Rickman.

Few actors do better sneer than Rickman. “A Little Chaos” is his second directorial effort (he brought Emma Thompson to Australia for “A Winter Journey” in 1999).

In “A Little Chaos” he also plays le Roi Soleil, Louis Quatorze, enthroned at age 11, longest-ruling of all French sovereigns, nearer to a goodie than any other.

Alison and Jeremy’s fictional screenplay is flawed, not totally boring yet not comfortable. Handsome widow with good horticultural skills Sabine de Barra (Kate Winslet) comes to work in the gardens of the Palace of Versailles under M. de Notre (Matthias Schoenaerts). She ends up being chief engineer on a major water feature in the palace grounds.

The film is heavy on court politics and protocols. Mme de Notre (Helen McCrory) has the king’s ear among other things, leaving her husband free to pursue Sabine. The king is also having it off with Mme de Montespan (a historical reality that in the film under-utilises delectable Jennifer Ehle).

Well pleasing to the eye, reading like a Georgette Heyer bodice-ripper, “A Little Chaos” left me wondering why the French didn’t sooner give their monarchy the flick.

At Palace Electric, Capitol 6 and Dendy.