I first watched The Ninth Gate several years ago and I liked it for the most part even though I thought it had a few issues. I recently decided to watch the movie again.
Dean Corso was a somewhat shady rare book dealer who would take advantage of people if it benefitted him. He was hired by Boris Balkan, a wealthy book collector. Boris's collection was devoted to books dealing with the devil. He recently acquired one of only three surviving copies of The Nine Gates of the Kingdom of Shadows, a 17th century book. There were nine engravings in the book that were supposed to be able to summon the devil if they were deciphered correctly. Boris was worried that his copy was a forgery and he wanted Dean to compare it to the other two copies to make sure it was authentic.
Dean first visited Liana Telfer, the widow of the woman who had sold the book to Boris. It wasn't long before she was at Dean's apartment claiming that she wanted to get the book back because it had been so important to her husband. She first tried to seduce Dean into giving it to her and then tried to use force. Thankfully Dean had decided to hide the book and while it was safe, his friend Bernie ended up murdered. Dean had second thoughts about staying on the job, but still went to Europe and started to uncover things connected to the books. More people ended up dead and a mysterious woman kept turning up.
The Ninth Gate was based on The Club Dumas by Arturo Perez-Reverte. I have never read the book, so I have no idea what might have been changed for the movie. I'm sure some things were changed since that always happens with movies based on books.
I think that The Ninth Gate is considered a horror movie. There were creepy elements throughout the movie and the plot being connected to a book about the devil that could possibly summon him would fit in that description, but I really don't think of this as a horror movie. I think of it more of a suspenseful thriller, though it could have had more suspense. I did feel that there were some surprises, though nothing that was really shocking. There were one or two things that weren't fully explained and instead left for the viewers to figure out based on certain clues. I did feel that there was a small amount of mystery connected to what was going on with the book that could have been a bit stronger. People hoping for a stronger mystery or more of a traditional horror movie will probably be disappointed with this one.
There really wasn't much in the way of action in The Ninth Gate. There were a few minor confrontations that didn't amount to much as well as a slow car chase. This is not an action packed movie, so anyone in the mood for that type of movie should skip this one. The pace was a bit slow, which will bother some viewers who might even think the movie is boring. I didn't think it was boring, but the pace could have been a bit faster. Some scenes did include a small amount of subtle humor that would temporarily lighten the mood. I did think those tiny bits of humor worked with what was going on. The plot also dealt with the supernatural and the devil specifically, which will probably turn off some viewers. There was also a bit of violence in a few scenes as well that wasn't too graphic.
Not long after Dean met with Liana to ask her a few questions about how and where her husband got the book, she turned up at his apartment. She claimed that she decided she wanted the book back because of how important it had been to her husband. When he wouldn't give her the book, she turned to seduction to get her way. Not much was really shown, but it was made clear that they had sex. Late in the movie Dean ended up having sex with the unnamed woman who kept turning up. More was shown of that encounter, including her bare breasts. The few sexual things along with the violence and profanity got the movie the R rating.
Dean had been a rare book dealer for a while when the movie started. He had a reputation for being a bit shady in connection with his work. Money was his biggest motivator, which was how he got involved with what was going on with Boris and the books. Dean wasn't exactly a good character, but he wasn't really bad either. I did think Johnny Depp dealt well with the part. The woman who kept turning up was never identified by name. She always knew what was going on and she did help Dean a few times. She did seem to have some supernatural abilities. Emmanuelle Seigner wasn't anything special in the part and she actually didn't look that great in some scenes.
Boris was a very wealthy man with a large collection of books dealing with the devil. He was very proud of his collection. He believed that if he had an authentic copy of the book he would be able to summon the devil. The man was willing to do anything to reach his goal and really wasn't a nice guy. Frank Langella was good in the part, though he did seem to go a tad overboard in one or two scenes. Baroness Kessler and Victor Fargas, the owners of the other two copies of the book turned up briefly without much to do.
Liana was more involved with the book than she admitted to at first. She was willing to use seduction to get what she wanted. I did think that Lena Olin was good in the part. Liana's husband Andrew was only briefly shown when the movie first started. She did have a bodyguard who was with her most of the time she turned up. Bernie was just a couple of scenes before his murder, so James Russo really didn't have much of anything to do. Only a few other minor characters popped up. None of them had anything that important to do.
Main Cast
Johnny Depp - Dean Corso Frank Langella - Boris Balkan Lena Olin - Liana Telfer Emmanuelle Seigner - The Girl
Roman Polanski - Director
DVD Information
I picked up the DVD of The Ninth Gate for around $7.00 not that long ago. My copy has the widescreen version of the movie. I'm not sure if there is a full screen version as well. There is a commentary with Polanski that I haven't listened to. There is an isolated music score, gallery of satanic drawings, storyboard selections, theatrical trailers, tv spots, information on the cast and crew, and production notes. There was a very short featurette that included Depp and Polanski talking about the movie and a little bit of footage from the filming of the movie.
The Ninth Gate was an interesting, mostly entertaining movie that is worth seeing. The plot dealt with a subject that won't appeal to everyone. Fans of Johnny Depp may enjoy the movie.
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