In France, the single translator Diane Siprien adopts an Asian baby named Liu-San in a foundation directed by Sybille Weber. 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. Written by
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misskudzu
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first, i'm not sure those who commented previously (and badly) on this film have seen other Jean-Christophe Grange's adaptations - if you had, you'd admit LE CONCILE DE PIERRE is by far the best. Grange'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.
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disdressed12 from Canada
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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
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Claudio Carvalho from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
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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 cliches 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")
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67rocks from Sydney, Australia
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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.
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Federica Boldrini (federicaboldrini1984) from Roma, Italy
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Some months ago, Italian TV showed a French miniseries called "Dolmen". It was very bad, and they very soon cancelled it and rescheduled it at improbable hours. This film reminded me pretty much of Dolmen. It has the same dark and anguishing atmosphere, the same mythological, esoteric background and, unfortunately, the same bad computer generated wild animals that oppress the characters. The film casts Italian diva Monica Bellucci as the lead character. Quite unusually for her, she wears very short hair and doesn't show much of her celebrated sex appeal. Her acting basically consists in screams and panting. She does the wildest, most improbable things, like crawling in an air conduct and fighting with the previously indicated animals. The most surprising thing in the film is that a great actress like Catherine Deneuve agreed to appear in it. I wonder why - maybe she just needed some money. However, she is barely recognizable. At a point her character turns in a (bad, computer generated) bear (!!). Monica Bellucci even stabs her with a ritual knife. This should explain how ludicrous some scenes are. More, the film is full of cliches, like the Chosen little boy with a mark on his body and magical powers, or as I said, people crawling in air conducts (classic cliche!) and snakes appearing everywhere. At a point I really wanted to leave the theater, I stayed just because I'm learning French and I thought it could be useful for the language. I just hope that if I work very hard, one day I'll speak French as well as the Mongolian people shown in the film... 'cause of course, in this film every old Mongolian man living in an hut in the steppe speak perfect French! Yeah sure! If you want my advice on this film, skip it, you won't miss much. My vote is 4.5/10.
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Siamois from Canada
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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.
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MissMarauder from Australia
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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!
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dbborroughs from Glen Cove, New York
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Monica Bellucci adopts a young Asian child. Years later Bellucci begins having nightmares and someone or something seems to be interested in her son, who it appears has a great hidden power.
I love the idea of Bellucci and Catherine Deneuve in a movie together. I only wish the pairing wasn't in a movie as dull as this. Its a been there and done that film (I mean how many films are there where the adoptive parents didn't know their kid was special?) that has nothing new to offer. Its such an "exciting" film and I was so "intrigued" by what was happening that I didn't bother to finish the film when the DVD I wigged out and wouldn't play, I simply put it into the returns slot and let someone else deal with it. I'm guessing that thats whats been happening all along with that particular copy of the DVD. Don't run the risk of getting the bad DVD thats floating around, don't see this film.
A snoozer.
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gridoon
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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 Grange 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. (**)
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dvdm504 from United States
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I selected this film from the Blockbuster new release shelf b/c I like foreign films and well crafted horror/suspense movies.Catherine Deneuve was very impressive as mother Laura's friend Sybille,a lady who is disarming yet distant,she is easy to picture as quite comfortable strolling a white beach on a winter morning."the Stone Council" is effective in it's climax,timing,and presentation.I would recommend to fans of older films of the genre such as "Rosemary's Baby" and the original "the Wicker Man".Monica Bellucci deserves honorable mention for her portrayal of a mother who won't be stopped from saving her adopted son Liu from his kidnappers,who believe their ancient sorcery will make them immortal (come on you creeps - who really wants to live forever....?)
boy|mongolia|murder|scientist|siberia|police|knife|hospital|forest|child in peril|car accident|blood|bear|female nudity|adopted son|based on novel|
AKAs Titles:
Certifications:
Argentina:13 / Australia:MA / Finland:K-15 / Germany:16 / Portugal:M/12 / Singapore:M18 / Switzerland:14 (canton of Geneva) / Switzerland:14 (canton of Vaud)