Voice from the Stone
| Voice from the Stone | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Directed by | Eric Dennis Howell |
| Produced by |
Dean Zanuck Stefano Gallini-Durante |
| Written by | Andrew Shaw |
| Based on |
Voice from the Stone by Silvio Raffo |
| Starring |
|
| Music by | Michael Wandmacher |
| Cinematography | Peter Simonite |
| Edited by | Clayton Condit |
Production companies |
Zanuck Independent Code 39 Films Producer Capital Fund |
Release date |
|
Running time | 94 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English, Italian |
| Box office | $75,269[1] |
Voice from the Stone is a 2017 American supernatural psychological thriller film directed by Eric D. Howell and written by Andrew Shaw, based on the novel of the same name by Silvio Raffo. The film stars Emilia Clarke, Marton Csokas, Caterina Murino, Remo Girone, Lisa Gastoni and Edward George Dring. Filming began in Italy in November 2014 and finished in December 2014.
The film released on 28 April 2017 in limited release, video on demand and digital HD.[2][3]
Plot
The story opens with the death of Malvina, a famous Italian singer at her ancestral home because of some undisclosed illness. On her deathbed she makes her son promises that he will not speak to anybody until she returns. 6 months later a British nurse living in Italy, Verena, who specializes in taking care of sick children arrives at Tuscany to take care of Jakob. Jakob hasn't spoken for the last six months and Verena is the last of the caretakers Jakob's father Klaus recruited to help him. Verena meets the estate keeper Alessio and the house maid Lilia. Though extremely obedient Jakob is cold and distant towards Verena. During dinner Klaus tells Verena that Malvina's family owned the estate and the surrounding quarries for more than a thousand years. Malvina was the first one not to work on the quarry and found a separate career as a singer. The quarry is now abandoned since most of the men worked there died in the second world war. One day Jacob goes rabbit hunting with Alessio despite Verena's protests. The same night she finds the skinned rabbit on her bath room mirror. When she confronts Jakob with this she is amazed to see him keeping his ear to the stone wall and apparently listening to someone. Jakob tries to run away from Verena but Klaus comes in and comforts him.
The next day Klaus tells Verena that Jakob has been listening to the stone wall for quite some time and he believes Jakob hears Malvina's voice. Verena unsuccessfully tries to convince him to send Jakob to an Asylum but Klaus refuses. After encountering Jakob on the edge of a tall tower apparently ready to jump Verena realizes that he is a danger to himself and the best thing she can do is to stay and convince him that his mind is playing tricks on him. The next day Verena sees him listening to Malvina's tombstone on the family mausoleum. Alessio informs her that 40 generations of Malvina's family is buried there on the stone. The night Verena listens to the wall along with Jakob apparently to convince him that he is imagining things. But she realized that any activity in the house can be heard through the wall.
Verena who can't play pianotries to make Jakob play it but Jakob refuses to play. Various instances show Verena listens to walls, stones and even Melvina's tombstone but it is not clear what she hears. On her trip to a treehouse with Jakob she tears and skirt and Lilia offers her Malvina's dress instead. Klaus upon seeing this gets angry first but seeing Verena in a state of undress he notices the striking physical similarity between Verena and Malvina. Klaus an amateur sculptor was working on a statue of Malvina before she dies. He asks Verena to model nude to complete the statue and she complies. That night Verena has a wet dream about sleeping with Klaus. At Jakob's room Verena listens to the wall and hears Malvina's voice for the first time and realized her spirit is alive in the walls. She decides to take over Malvina's role and take care of both Klaus and Jakob. She sleeps with Klaus as he finished his work on the statue and Jakob becomes more friendly towards her though he still remains silent.
Klaus feels guilty for sleeping with Verena and decides to fire her since Jakob hasn't spoken since. Verena upset ask to the wall what to do but is met with silence. Klaus revels to Verena that Lilia committed suicide on the day of Malvina's death. Verena tried to flee the house but collapses on the way due to unknown illness possibly high fever and Alessio picks her up. She is being treated on the same bed where Malvina died and has various visions. First she sees Lilia in the room followed by seeing Klaus going to get the doctor basically repeating the scenes form the beginning of the movie. Finally she sees herself in the tomb of Malvina, alive but unable to move as Alessio closes it. Malvina's body appears near her and runs her hand over Verera's body before disappears. Verena closes her eyes and wakes up on the bed apparently just recovered from a terrible fever and Jakob speaks for the first time. He says 'I miss my mama' for which Verena replies 'I'm right here'. They start living together as a happy family. Later Verena plays the piano flawlessly which she was unable to do previously. Jakob who knows Malvina is a piano player smiles ominously as the movie closes leaving the possibility that Malvina might have possesed Verena's body.
Cast
- Emilia Clarke as Verena[4]
- Marton Csokas as Klaus Rivi[5]
- Caterina Murino as Malvina Rivi[6]
- Remo Girone as Alessio
- Lisa Gastoni as Lilia
- Edward George Dring as Jakob Rivi[7]
- Kate Linder as la Vecchia
Production
Principal photography on the film began in Italy in November 2014,[5] and concluded on December 23, 2014.[8] The film was shot on location in Tuscany, Lazio and at Cinecittà studios in Rome.[8][9] In September 2015, it was revealed that Evanescence singer Amy Lee would be composing and singing the song for the closing credits of the film. The song was recorded at California's Skywalker Ranch and Lee filmed a video to accompany it with the Voice from the Stone crew on location in Tuscany. In October, she revealed that the song would be called "Speak to Me".
On April 11, 2016, Lee released a short clip containing a snippet of the song's piano instrumental as well as behind the scenes footage of its recording at Skywalker Ranch.
Reception
Critical response
On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has a "rotten" rating of 29% based on 17 reviews; the average rating is 5.5/10.[10] On Metacritic the film has a score of 42 out of 100 based on 7 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".[11]
References
- ↑ http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/intl/?page=&country=00&wk=2017W21&id=_fVOICEFROMTHESTON01
- ↑ "Voice From The Stone Film Official Facebook Page".
- ↑ "EXCLUSIVE: Emilia Clarke Is a Long Way From Westeros in First Look at 'Voice From the Stone'". etonline.com.
- ↑ Siegel, Tatiana (June 16, 2014). "Emilia Clarke to Star in Indie Psychological Thriller 'Voice From the Stone'". hollywoodreporter.com. Retrieved July 12, 2015.
- 1 2 Ge, Linda (November 3, 2014). "Marton Csokas Joining Emilia Clarke in Thriller ‘Voice From the Stone’". thewrap.com. Retrieved July 12, 2015.
- ↑ Lesnick, Silas (February 9, 2015). "Take a First Look at Emilia Clarke in Voice from the Stone". comingsoon.net. Retrieved July 12, 2015.
- ↑ Serini, Raffaella (December 23, 2014). "Roma caput Hollywood: il cinema torna a Cinecittà'". vanityfair.it. Retrieved July 12, 2015.
- 1 2 "Voice From The Stone Wrapped Filming". emilia-clarke.net. Retrieved July 12, 2015.
- ↑ Vivarelli, Nick (November 24, 2014). "Rome’s Cinecitta Studios Lures ‘Ben Hur’ Redo And Other Hollywood Pics". variety.com. Retrieved July 12, 2015.
- ↑ "Voice from the Stone (2017)". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved May 6, 2017.
- ↑ "Voice from the Stone reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved May 6, 2017.