Chasing Cotards (2010)

May contain spoilers!

Here's a kitty also warning you:

 

Consider yourself warned!

Synopsis

This biggest short film of all time is about existing beyond non-existence. It's about the hardships of grief and it's affects it can leave on a person left to live through it. We have Hart and Elizabeth Elliot-Hinwood telling us their story without a single word being spoken.

Chasing Cotards is about Hart unable to deal with the aftermath of his wife's early passing. The name Chasing Cotards derives from a rare condition called Cotard Syndrome; also known as Cotard Delusion or Walking Corpse Syndrome. As the names suggest, it is a "rare mental disorder where sufferers imagine that they are decomposing, dead or non-existent.".

Main Characters

There are only two characters in this short film; Hart and Elizabeth Elliot-Hinwood. As their names suggest, they are married. Were married.

Hart Elliot-Hinwood

Hart is played by Andrew Scott, who you may recognise as a consulting criminal who may burn the Hart out of you.

Hart is an artist and a lost soul who we see grieving for the passing of his beloved wife; Elizabeth. We see him in such loneliness and darkness, unable to move on from what used to be. We see Hart in the depths of this unloved room watching time pass him by insisting him to forget what he cannot. We live through his life as the Cotards Delusion teases him through a painting that hangs above his mantlepiece. 

Hart's Costume Desgin

Hart wears a black suit and tie throughout the whole short film. The suit is worn out and creased with his shirt collar and tie left askew. From the very beginning of the film, we are told that this snippet that we relive with Hart takes place two weeks after the funeral. This explains the state of Hart's suit but also the sadness of his suit. It is clear that Hart has not been taking care of himself since the funeral and has been living in the exact same clothes two weeks after they were first pressed. His hands and face are dusty from the room that he has existed in with his jawline dotted with stubble. The grief has become too strong for Hart that nothing is as important as Elizabeth despite her absence.

Elizabeth Elliot-Hinwood

Elizabeth is played by the very beautiful Olivia Grant with her ginger-red locks and blue eyes. With the little screen time that her character has, this does not stop Grant playing Elizabeth so beautifully and so powerfully.

Elizabeth is the dead wife of Hart's who we are physically (or delusionally) introduced to through her walking out of the wall of which her portrait hangs. She unexpectedly died of cancer and was taken away too soon to handle. Hart's delusions bring Elizabeth back to him and we see Elizabeth just as regretful of the the limited time she had with her husband.

Elizabeth's Costume Desgin 

Elizabeth wears a simple, white, knee-length dress. It makes her look at peace despite the masses of emotion we see her experience upon reuniting with Hart. The simplicity and flow of the dress makes Elizabeth almost appear to be an angel in her appearance.

The flower detail that can be seen underneath slightly matches the swirling flower design of the room's tapestry that she walks out of. As the idea is that she is the portrait in physical form, it's a nice small touch that her dress has some similarity with the wall in which her portrait hangs. It's as if she lives on within the house despite leaving the real world. The flowers could also symbolise Elizabeth as dainty with such beauty in which she carries with her wherever she goes; even into the afterlife.

DVD Design

DVD inserts for me are just as important as the content inside. It is like a book cover that should intrigue you of it's present inside. Having studied Media Studies, I understand how important colours, images, fonts and sizes are to implicitly explain the deeper meanings.

The use of black as the dominant colour suggests the darkness in which we experience with Hart as the light of his life, Elizabeth, has left him. Both images on the front and back are snippets of scenes we see Hart in during the short film.

The front image is a blended image of Hart in a bath tub of water in which he lays in his suit and of the flowery wall tapestry design. Hart looks drained with sadness as he is submerged in water with the additional drain of colour of his image. The only colour comes from the tapestry which could connote Elizabeth as this is how she walks back into Hart's life for a brief moment after her passing. It could further suggest that Elizabeth is the only colour of Hart's life.

The image on the back of the DVD insert is of Hart's silhouette facing towards the light which correlates really quite perfectly to the end scene of the short film, which I talk more about further into this blog post.

And finally, the font that is used for the title is a font that I would love for my own handwriting to be in! It looks so much like handwriting with the loops in the C's and G, and is almost like it's written with a paintbrush. As Hart is an artist, I like to think that the font symbolises exactly that, like how an artist would sign his own work. Beautiful detail.

Favourite Scene

Okay, so I'm finding it a little (MASSIVELY) difficult to pick just the one scene as there are several scenes that I love for different reasons! Theoretically because it's a short film of 12 minutes (including credits!), it would be easier to pick just the one scene as there are only a few scenes to pick from but hey, how can I when every scene is just as brilliant as the previous! Because of this dilemma, I'm going to be a little cheeky and include my Top 5 scenes in chronological order!

Elizabeth Watches; Artist's Talent

We are first introduced to Elizabeth as a portrait hanging on top of the mantlepiece. It is not till later on in the film that we understand it is Hart's dead wife as he begins to twiddle with his wedding ring on his finger in a later scene. I like how Elizabeth lives on in this portrait and watches Hart's every move within the limits of this single room but also as a constant reminder of what was.

The painting was painted by Christine Comyn who is a Belgian artist whom the director and producer, Edward and Samantha Dark (Fazackerly), had stumbled acrossed her work whilst on holiday. They had seen this painting below called the Ice Queen and was understandably blown away by it. After talks with Christine and her manager, it was agreed to have a painting especially painted for Chasing Cotards of Olivia Grant's character, Elizabeth.

A small detail that I missed the first time watching the short film that you should definitely look out for, is Elizabeth's expression in the portrait before and after her meeting with Hart. The smallest of details really make a lot of difference to the story telling.

Cascading Shadow; Lighting & Visual Effects Talent

The cinematography of this scene I just can't handle! We see Hart looking at his hand in the dusty mist pondering on his own existence as the shadow of his dances in the light. A lot can be said for this scene alone. The dust illustrates the time that has passed Hart as he lives in the confinement of this unloved room. It depicts the untidy and unkept life that Hart now leads after the death of his wife. I absolutely love the contrast of light and dark during this scene as Hart sits in the darkness only to look towards the light of life through the questioning of his own decaying existence.

The dustiness of the room is amplified with the use of the seeping light through the draping curtains. Cleverly, the dust is actually duck feathers which on screen look incredibly realistic. And the angle of the light really captures the sun perfectly as it looks down upon Hart at his desk.

Eating Hart; Composer Talent

No, a flesh-eating zombie does not burst into the room and eat Hart or any heart for that matter!

The importance of the music for the whole film is immense purely as that, along with the screenplay, it is the only method that is used to tell the audience the story.  This scene in particular is where I felt the composer, Paul Thomson, really displayed his story telling talent musically. 

It is a scene where we see Hart forcing himself to eat despite his internal grief.  All becomes too much as the silence becomes deafening and his own company in his own thoughts becomes beyond comfort. The music intensifies and becomes louder and a lot more noticeable as the scene goes on symbolising Hart's intensifying grief. This scene gets me all the time. You can just feel Hart's lonliness radiate from the screen. 

Elizabeth & Hart Reunite; Acting Talent

If I'm not already teary eyed before this point in the film, let the blubbering commence! It's like the Titanic all over again! Even though you know what's going to happen, you just become so overwhelmed by what you see and your heart just empathises so deeply every time you watch it.

This scene is definitely the climax of the the short film where Hart is reunited with Elizabeth; arguably as a Cotard's delusion or a painting spirit. Both actors, Olivia Grant and Andrew Scott, really got the opportunity to display the depths of their acting talent. You no longer see Hart and Elizabeth as just characters played by two actors but as real people who exist. You are totally convinced by their powerful performances and deserves a blubbering, standing ovation every single time. Truly Hart-breaking.

The Beginning of the End; Director, Writer and Camera Work Talent

We leave Hart after his meeting with his wife. He walks down the hallway leading towards the door to the new life he is about to begin without Elizabeth. I love the three main camera shots that was used here: the tracking shot that follows Hart from behind as he walks down the hallway, the long distance shot where we watch from the top of the stairs as Hart apprehensively opens the door and the final camera tilt shot of Hart inhaling his new life outside as it fades into white.

It is clear that each of the camera shots were picked with such accuracy. When we watch Hart walk down the hallway, as the audience we are almost following Hart as he wanders out of one chapter of his life. We carry on watching Hart from afar as the camera forces us to stop and watch Hart take the next steps from the top of the stairs like this is something that we have to leave Hart to do on his own. We are then greeted with Hart now outside accepting this new chapter.

What I find really quite interesting is that we don't see Hart's face expression throughout the whole end scene including this very last moment of Hart outside. It leaves it to our imagination and our own interpretation. Is Hart inhaling in contentment of now being able to move on in his new life or is Hart almost shrugging at the accepting fact that he has to move on despite whether he wants to or not?

Huge credit to both the Director, Edward L. Dark, and the screen writer, Olivia Wakeford - also not forgetting the creator of the original story, James Clarke.

Recommendations

I coincidentally stumbled across Chasing Cotards through watching Andrew Scott's work. The first time I watched Chasing Cotards, I felt an immense love for the short film as it just inspired me from the word go. It was very different to what I had ever seen with it having no speech but telling the story so articulately.

I watched it repeatedly, with each time discovering something new about the story. It just fascinated me incredibly. Upon further research into the name of the short film, I discovered that it is based on the Cotards Syndrome.  Knowing this made me fall in love with the detail of the short film even more helping me understand scenes such as the Cascading Shadow scene with such depth.

And if that wasn't enough awesomeness, the ambition of the film was big! It was shot using a Vista Vision camera.

Now this may not mean anything to you at first but upon further research, VistaVision allows filming for the widescreen which is perfect for IMAX. It was created by Paramount Pictures and was first used to film an American Musical film called White Christmas in 1954 but is still massively used today on most, if not all, big blockbuster, Hollywood movies. The fact that this short film wanted to use such an intricate piece of equipment to get the best quality they could and then premiere it at the BFI IMAX cinema is just epic! It's quite literally "the biggest short film of all time", as quoted by Stephen Fry, on it's ambition alone!

I would hand on Hart (see what I did there!), recommend this short film to anyone and everyone. Whether it be being alone at night, social anxiety or loss of a loved one, I feel like everyone will love this short film on the basis that everyone has felt such sadness and loneliness to some degree and can really find an empathetic connection with Hart.

One of the best things about this short film is that there are no words in it at all and it is done so brilliantly. It's a short film that has no language barriers but speaks to many hearts. Simply beautiful.

Improvements

Though this short film radiates cinematic perfection, but there is one teensy, weensy, itsy, bitsy improvement that I would add to make it that little bit better.

Add a cat.

...Specifically, an Andrew Scatt.

*clears throat*

This was in no means an excuse to put in more cats in this blog post...maybe...

Finding the Creatively Awesome

So if you're anything like me, you revel in finding other works that incredibly talented people, who make cinematically, beautiful things happen, have worked on. So here are some of the creatively awesome on Twitter and IMDb!

All the cast and crew's IMDb profiles can be found by clicking here.

Those who are on twitter are listed below.
Go tweet them some love from your Hart to theirs!

Olivia Grant as Elizabeth Elliot-Hinwood (@olivia_grant)

Director: Edward L Dark (@edwardLdark)

One of the Producers: Stephen Follows (@Stephen Follows)

Screenplay Writer: Olivia Wakeford (@livvywivvy)

Photography by Steve Brooke Smith (@SteveIMAX)

Composer: Paul Thomson (@MrPaulThomson)

Sound Effects Supervisor: Stefano Pepin (@Stefanomeccano)

Costume Designer: Alex Watherston (@wolletpops)

Where do I get one?

I got mine by emailing Ed and you can do the same by sending an email to ed@buttonupproductions.com. I believe they currently do still have a few DVDs left to buy. You can find out more by contacting the official Chasing Cotards Twitter (@ChasingCotards), contact the official Facebook page or visiting the Chasing Cotards website by clicking here. If you decide to buy a copy, it will be signed by the Director himself, Edward L. Dark, which is really lovely!

For those interested, the DVD includes the short film, behind the scenes documentary and still shots of the short film and production.

Also I believe Andrew Scott Online is doing a special giveaway to celebrate their 10,000 tumblr followers.

One of the prizes is a Chasing Cotards DVD; amongst others of Andrew Scott's work. So for your chance to win a free copy, check out how to by clicking here. It's open worldwide and I believe you have till 5th July 2014 to enter. Good Luck!

And on that lovely note, that concludes this blog post!

I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I've enjoyed writing it for you.
Let me know what you think and if you've had the pleasure of watching Chasing Cotards yourself.

I can only wish to work on such an inspiring production myself one day!

Keep smiling lovelies, and we'll speak soon!

Take care,

Skeena xxx