Le Concile de Pierre

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. (**)

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?...

for many people who see this film,there may be the temptation to compare it to Rosemary's Baby,which could be valid.both film move tortuously slow,and have similar subject matter.yet for me,the comparison ends there.i found Rosemary's Baby to have almost no merit, whereas Le council de pierre has some compelling moments,,and some decent characters.i would actually say it compares more favourably with The Omen(1976)although i don't think it is any where near as good as that classic film.Monica Belluci and Catherine Deneuve are the main draws.anyway,as i said this movie is very slow, and some people might not be able to get to the end without giving up.for those that can get through it,whether it's worth it in the is really up to the individual.for me,Le council de pierre AKA The Stone Council is a 5/10

In France, the single translator Diane Siprien (Monica Bellucci) adopts an Asian baby named Liu-San (Nicolas Thau) in a foundation directed by Sybille Weber (Catherine Deneuve). Years later, a weird mark appears on the boy's chest and Diane and Liu share their dreadful nightmares. Diane is assigned for a three-day job in German and she leaves Liu with her friend Sybille. However, while going to the airport, Diane finds Liu hidden in the backseat and startles with an eagle flying toward the windshield, crashing her car. Liu falls into a coma and his digital recorder records the boy speaking in an unknown dialect. When Diane searches the translation and the origins of Liu, she is surrounded by mysterious murders. She discovers that the dialect is from the mystic Mongolian Tseven tribe and that Liu is a powerful Observer; further, he is in danger, threatened by sorcerers that need the boy for their Council of the Stone.

"Le Concile de Pierre" is an intriguing and complex supernatural thriller. However, the story is too long for 102 minutes running time, and the director and the screenwriter use the resource of ellipsis to keep the pace of the movie and a poor development of the characters. What I most like in this movie is that there are very few clichés in the mystic story; the locations in Mongolia and of course the performance of the goddess Monica Bellucci wearing short hairs and very few make-up. My only restriction is to the lack of emotion transmitted by the movie, with a cold narrative. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "O Ritual da Pedra" ("The Stone Ritual")