Le Concile de Pierre

The Stone Council (as it was titled here in Oz) adds further weight to the theory that, though French filmmakers love tearing American film culture a new one at the drop of a hat, they can't help stealing the Yanks penchant for a loopy, spooky premise should the urge take them.

This Monica Bellucci starrer bottles the winsome beauty and captivating on screen presence of the Italian glamour as well as any movie I've seen her in. And as the frantic mother trying to find and rescue her kidnapped son from the clutches of an increasingly menacing (and kinda silly) secret society, her performance commits to all the emotional tics and B-movie nuances this type of potboiler demands. All credit to her for keeping the emotional core of her character strong as the plot becomes wildly unwieldy.

Shot beautifully with an eye for detail rarely seen in this type of supernatural hooey, the composition of the frame - from its moody lighting to the shadowy, vast set design - provides the film a further grounding in reality and certainly allayed a mounting sense that the film, despite all its fine elements, was asking of its audience a little too much leeway plotwise.

With a central characters journey into a bizarre, ritualized society reminiscent of the cult favourite The Wicker Man, and a wildly fantastical but eerily engrossing story that would have served it well as an episode of Le x-Files, The Stone Council is an above-average white-knuckler thats well worth a look.

I could not agree more with Frederica Boldrini in her comment. It has been a long time that I haven't seen such a bad movie.. I reach to a conclusion: Monica Bellucci is a good actress when her role doesn't oblige her to speak. For example, in the movie "Malèna" she was great because she didn't speak much, in "Irréversible" likewise, etc…As regards to Catherine Deneuve I never liked her very much but I was surprised to see her in such a bad movie and doing an awful acting… More surprised I was with the German actor Moritz Bleibtreu. He is an outstanding actor, and during the film I kept asking myself what the hell is he doing in this movie?..Does he understand fluently French when he read the script?..Well, I hope that I'll never see him again in a movie like this. Please, don't go see this movie. I'm sorry for the director..but even me as a humble spectator I'm able to see that it's a bad movie with bad acting, so how is it possible that the rest of the crew didn't reach the same conclusion?...

I began watching this film with great interest due to the genre and the 2 lead actresses. I was told it was the French 6th Sense. I only wish my 6th sense had been working and told me not to waste my time watching it. only got to the end by playing games on my computer at the same time. as it had subtitles I had to keep looking for a while but soon there wasn't much dialogue and all I could hear was Monica Belluci gasping and panting as she struggled to survive a series of shocks and physical feats that would have put Bruce WIllis under a lot of pressure. Catherine Deneuve must have had a laugh making some of the scenes and had a frozen blank for most of it ( trying not to giggle perhaps)? The camera concentrates on close ups of Monicas face a lot too and as she appears to be in shock and gasping for air for a large part of the film it becomes very annoying. Yes there are a few spots that keep you watching for the special effects and but mostly these sort of scenes have been in many other films. If you get to the end well done!

first, i'm not sure those who commented previously (and badly) on this film have seen other Jean-Christophe Grangé's adaptations - if you had, you'd admit LE CONCILE DE PIERRE is by far the best. Grangé's books - besides sucking - are hard to adapt, caus way too dense and not cinematographic; that's why directors/writers usually take lots of liberties w/th the storyline, turning it into a big farce w/th a grandguignolesque denouement (remember LES RIVIERES POURPRES and L'EMPIRE DES LOUPS?). knowing that, i expected the worse, but was pleasantly surprised. Guillaume Nicloux managed to keep his own distinctive style, creating a sticky, haunting atmosphere. now about Monica Bellucci... she's good, period. yes, she moans, cries, looks sad/lost, but damn, she's credible. it's totally refreshing to see her in a different role. as for Catherine Deneuve's being over the top, i never thought she was that much of a good actress, so no comment. rest of the cast was OK, and it's nice to see Moritz Bleibtreu in a french film.

so basically don't expect too much from this movie and (maybe) you'll be pleasantly surprised.

Monica Belucci's fully committed performance, as well as her commendable willingness to appear as unglamorous as possible (with very short hair, limited or no make-up, often bloodied-up and dirty), are wasted in this semi-supernatural thriller that suffers from a muddled script (just like a previous adaptation of a Jean-Christophe Grangé novel, "Crimson Rivers" - maybe his books are just too hard to condense in under two hours of screen time), an incomplete finish that feels like a set-up for an (unlikely) sequel, cold direction, plodding pacing, and a completely humorless tone. I honestly found it a bit of a struggle to get through. It will probably be watched / remembered only for the first "cross-generational" on-screen meeting of Belucci with Catherine Deneuve. (**)