Le Concile de Pierre

For X-Files lovers, you will find anything you like: paranormal powers, folklore, gifted child, conspiracy, military bases, forest by nights… However, put in action by french cinema, I left disappointed. OK I knew beforehand that it was a scary movie but with such a title, I expected to go to Rome and Vatican. So going instead in Kazakshtan is not my cup of tea because I don't have connections with this culture… However I appreciated to see the large, bare landscape and typical town…

Next I wanted a recent movie with La Belluci as I stopped watching her in 2005 and I'm surprised to see that this one was shot in 2006! I just wanted to see if she was able to act again instead of being the silent, sexy lady with the dynamism of a elephant! OK, here she speaks and in addition Russian, her accent is still charming and soft but honestly, she drags the movie down with her lack of vitality: always head down, never nervous, it's irritating to be with such a slug whatever sexy she can be!

At the end, I found that Deneuve was much more involved as for one time, she put her outside her comfort zone! I support paranormal french movies but I think it would have been much better with a more involved and reactive mother instead of La Belluci!

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 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!

This is a totally by-the-number supernatural thriller that cannot be saved by the aura of its lead, nor by the exotic locales.

Le concile de pierre tries hard to hit all the buttons. Tensed atmosphere, amazing locations, some adventurous bits and action... but the wide variety of situations is all poorly thought out and the execution is even worse.

It seems the filmmakers were also under the impression that just putting the beautiful Monica Bellucci on screen with a more neglected appearance than usual would turn an Oscar-worthy performance that would carry the film. It is not the case and although Bellucci does have the star power and presence to carry such a film, she turns out an average performance at best. As for the other actors, the performances are even worse, including Catherine Deneuve who goes through the motion and looks like she wanted to collect a paycheck and nothing more.

I'd give it a 3 but since some shots are pretty enough, I'll go for a 4.

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. (**)