‘Coeur De Pierre’ Is A Gripping French Short By An Indian Film Maker

The premise of this short french feature by Santosh Mohan makes two unassuming people to cross paths in the most unexpected ways. And what eventuates is a tale of intrigue and suspense, that will make you sit up and take notice. ‘Coeur De Pierre’ ( Or Cold Hearted Peter ) starts off by a small flash reel of a french woman ( Played by Marianne Content ) who is practicing a stance feeling bland about something. As the frame progresses, we see the french woman sitting beside a serene pond somewhere in London, reading a Phonebook. Along comes Peter ( Played by Michael Morris ) who tries to strike up a conversation with her. However, they quickly realize that neither of them speaks a common tongue. Peter happens to be an Englishman, with just bits and pieces of french in his knowing. The Frenchwoman on the hand can’t speak English as well. Yet, over the course of the next few minutes, they manage to strike up a conversation, randomly going about their reasons and purposes. Then as we proceed to the last few minutes of a startling revelation is made, which turns the whole premise on its head. ‘Coeur De Pierre’ becomes a whole genre of things, in those reveling moments of brilliant writing.

We got talking to the cast and crew of  ‘Coeur De Pierre’ about their experiences in making this feature. Speaking about equal parts intense equal parts vulnerable role, the lead actress Marianne said “When Mike ( Michael Morris ideating the feature) approached me for the role I was really excited because it was  my first ever role in a short film and I knew Mike had ambition, drive and passion so I was looking forward to doing this film with him. He then introduced me to Santo who appeared to be an excellent director and good fun as well which was brilliant for a first filming experience. We changed the initial script quite a bit – as it started off as a love story! – and did that as a team so we came up with really good ideas and everyone was fully on-board with the story and how we would shoot it.”

“I absolutely loved shooting that film it was one of the best experiences. The team was really good fun and I couldn’t imagine a better result with the colour grading, music, shots, etc. I was so pleased when we won a few festival awards, it was definitely well-deserved!”

Michael Morris helming the project along with Marianne and Santosh Mohan says ” Coeur De Pierre originally began as Finding Translation. It was a simple tale of miscommunication. The choice for Peter to be a stereotypical Englishman with only one language and very little knowledge of any others was an easy choice. English people in general can have a certain arrogance when it comes to their own native tongue which was fairly easy to portray on screen with this character. The tale began to take a darker tone once I approached Santosh to take the helm as Director. I knew he would want something more and so I began to envision the tale very differently”
In his own words Micheal defines the thought process behind it “Coeur De Pierre is a fine example of what can be achieved when three great creative minds from different countries and backgrounds come together and thrash out an idea. One of us wouldn’t have created this film, it took feedback and contribution from us all”

In his own words Micheal defines the thought process behind it “Coeur De Pierre is a fine example of what can be achieved when three great creative minds from different countries and backgrounds come together and thrash out an idea. One of us wouldn’t have created this film, it took feedback and contribution from us all”

Watch The Brilliantly Written Short Feature Here :

https://youtu.be/mNP57PQIHMQ