COUPE ROUGE

This work is the debut of the young director Sandro Mendes. A 7 mins lenght short film, filmed in digital format.

Statement by Sandro Mendes, director and writer:

"This short film seeks to portray in a metaphorical sense the primary fears and consequences from the post rupture of a relationship. The plot unfolds through a poetic narrative, whether through dialogue or monologue of the characters. The atmosphere and tone, strengthens the feeling of being watching a dream within a dream, but with a reality of profound feelings experienced by the characters."

The surreal elements in Coupe Rouge, come from film genres more attuned with the European and Asian Experimentalist "Art house" cinema, proclaiming therefore the main influences of the Portuguese filmmaker.

The casting consisted of only two actors, Eric Lamoureux and Karnpitcha Sathapitanon.

Eric Lamoureux, a Canadian graphic designer and also a self-taught photographer, showned great interest in participating in the project, revealing a surprisingly good performance in front of the camera.

The young Thai Karnpitcha Sathapitanon (Kwan), was chosen amongst other young actresses because of her solid experience demonstrated in previous works: film, sitcom, soap operas, commercials.

Coupe Rouge (Red Cut), is the first short film of a trilogy conceived by Sandro Mendes. The main concept is the lovers rupture and their self-denial of "mea culpa" through the inversion of roles within the couple. Throughout the trilogy the characters take refuge in the escapism from grim facts and from the re-adjustment of living alone, driven by feelings like obsession; retaliation; passion and Red. Yes, red was chosen as a methafore for such feelings explored in the trilogy, either by visual colored elements or even in as a characters name (symbolizing  the personality,  the object of desire).

In the case of Coupe Rouge, under the form of object/color, the red ribbon represents the lovers relationship and one's inability of setting himself free.