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Writer's pictureIssrae Ouassima Touahria

Roses in popular culture films and stories

Updated: Feb 8, 2023



A Little Chaos (2014) - A Wise Rose Scene

While I was sitting to rest from a long working day, I couldn’t stop thinking about roses and their presence in our popular culture -by the way, I am super obsessed with roses, if you don’t know it yet- so I started looking for references and switched on the TV to have some background sound or music, and how astonished I was when in THAT TV, Kate Winslet was holding a Rose and giving it to a King with a magnificent perfume of Wisdom.

I was breathless. This was not the first time Roses spoke to me through such synchronicities, but this one was so much onto the point!

But before I share with you that scene, let me tell you more about this movie.


A Little Chaos is a realistic historical drama movie that was produced in 2014 featuring Kate Winslet, Matthias Schoenaerts and Alan Rickman. The story takes place in the 17th-century France ; King Louis XIV's chief landscape architect (Matthias Schoenaerts) makes an unusual decision to hire Sabine (Kate Winslet) to create a lavish garden at Versailles. This sturdy everyday woman is a magnificent modernist before her time and proves her knowledge and genious by designing the unorthodox Rockwork Grove, an outdoor arena-like ballroom of tiered steps through which water gushes as an unseen orchestra plays behind the shrubbery.


In the scene I was witnessing, what I loved most was the wise metaphoric dialogue around the Roses that transcends time … for all women.



A Four Seasons...Rose

King Louis: "Some of the roses seem faded and overblown"

Sabine: "That fate awaits all roses, Sire"

King Louis: "Continue, Madam"

Sabine: "All roses are open to the elements, Your Majesty. They bud, bloom, and fade.

King: Is that so, Madam?

Sabine: The rose grows entirely unaware, changing naturally from one state to another. And although the elements may treat her cruelly, she knows nothing of it and continues to her end without judgment on her beauty. Alas! This not the same for us"

King Louis: "If such a rose could speak, what would she say"?

Sabine: Yes! I am here; and gave service under nature's eye, and after me, my children will be". "Is there any greater contribution, or more graceful end"?

King Louis: A wise rose.

King Louis: What protection can the gardener afford this rose from the harsh elements of change?"

Sabine: Patience, care and a little warmth from the sun, are our best hope, Your Majesty".

King Louis: "I'm obliged to you, Madam for that sweet reminder"


This scene does not only address the passage of time but is pure wisdom from the realm of Roses, where we learn about Natural and Cosmic Laws.


Here is the Scene if you want to watch it : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_1fHeesAez0


The Roses are present in many other movies.



We can’t omit writing about Roses in Alice in Wonderland where the Queen of Hearts demands that only red roses be grown in her garden. Gardners get terrified and paint over in red the white roses they have planted by mistake. If the white roses represent purity, innocence and serenity, why does the Queen of Hearts like only red roses?


The symbolism given to roses in the movies shows our values and principles, and our fears.


In the futuristic thriller V for Vendetta, “V” was the only person able to cultivate roses as they were thought to be extinct. In this movie, roses symbolize both destruction and prosperity, put next to next to the men and women V killed, red roses are present where death is, yet promising a better future.



Even if roses have been given all these symbolism, they are way much more. If you want to explore the wisdom of Roses, you can read this book to know more about them, or visit the Temple of Roses here.



Much love,

Ouassima Issrae

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