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"French Constitutional Council?
Is that something like our Supreme Court?"

Something like it, yes.

French courts do not have the power to overturn laws on constitutional grounds. Judges are the mouths that pronounce the words of the law, which is passed by Parliament or decreed by the President (under certain circumstances). There is no such thing as "French Common Law", in the American sense anyway. Courts do not make law. They enforce the law as made by the lawmaking powers.

There are several systems of law in France. First, there are the civil tribunals, which try all of the criminal and civil cases involving citizens and private disputes, and which has the Cour de Cassation as its "Supreme Court". Then there are the administrative courts. These try all matters in which the French state is a party to a dispute. So, if you get knifed by your neighbor, you prosecute him criminally in civil court. If you have a contract dispute with the telephone company, you try it in civil court. If you had a contract with the government and the government didn't pay, you go to administrative court. The "Supreme Court" of the administrative justice system is the Conseil d'Etat. Administrative law decision by the CE DO have precedential value, because one party in all administrative actions is always the French state.
A third system of courts are the labor courts, the Conseils de Prud'Hommes. When there are labor disputes between labor and management, or between individuals and their employers, these disputes are adjudicated in the labor courts.
There is NO French court into which one can go and argue that the government is breaking the constitution. The Conseil Constitutionnel - the Constitutional Council - is a special court that only adjudicates disputes over the constitution, and it only does so under certain circumstances. BEFORE a law is promulgated by the President, certain parties (the President himself, or a certain number of members of Parliament) can bring the law before the Conseil Constitutionnel. The Conseil hears the case, and pronounces as to whether the law does or does not violate the French constitution.

Now, note that even if it DOES, the President could in theory promulgate it ANYWAY, and it would be law. Neither the civil nor administrative courts would have the authority to use the decision of the Cons. Const. as precedent to strike down an act of Parliament. However, the political hullabaloo would be enormous, and French Presidents as a matter of practice DON'T promulgate laws which the Conseil Constit. says would be unconstitutional.

Note, too, that once a law has already been promulgated, it can't be brought before the Conseil Constitutionnel for review. So, the Cons. Constit. has only a limited, but real, power of review of laws for constitutionality, before they are promulgated. It does not have a reputation as a political body.

The French constitution doesn't have the same meaning as a repository of rights that the US Constitution does. In France, the rights are contained in the law.