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 Germany 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..
Reviews
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!
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.
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.
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?...
