User Reviews

Polanski's engaging devil-worship chiller is lush with a rich Gothic atmosphere and style to spare. The storyline is deceptively simple: bookseller Johnny Depp is tasked with tracking down copies of an ancient text believed to have been written by Satan himself. He soon finds himself menaced by dark and mysterious forces and discovers that nobody can be trusted. Although the film's nothing to do with the writings of H. P. Lovecraft, I found its depiction of sinister mysteries and ancient books to be extremely Lovecraftian in tone.

It's a film with plenty of mystery and little solution. If you watch it waiting for a big ending, you'll be disappointed: the pleasure's in the journey rather than the denouement. Nonetheless, Polanski shoots his film just right, and employs a wonderful orchestral score which adds to the atmosphere no end.

Depp's on solid form as the brash, rather unlikeable protagonist and Frank Langella delivers a powerhouse supporting turn. There's also Mrs Polanski, Emmanuelle Seigner, in the role of an ally not dissimilar to the one in Frantic. Bypass the occasional missteps - the jarring use of wirework in one sequence is a big mistake, and there are other cheesy moments - and instead relax and soak up the atmosphere.

This is not a thriller, and that’s a good thing. Instead, this is an intellectual film about the relationship between the viewer and the filmmaker. Anyone who knows Polanski, and for that matter many of our best filmmakers, knows he wonders about what it means to make a real movie, one that works as art. Which is to say it does more than amaze and entertain.

This movie is to Polanski as “The Name of the Rose” was to Umberto Eco. That was a book about what books aren’t. This is a movie about what movies aren’t.

Caution, spoilers ahead!

The story is frail -- that’s the point, in fact a little too obvious for my taste. The book in question has been poured over for over 300 years, with everyone focused on the text. And that text is completely irrelevant, disposable, just as the story of the film is. The whole point of the film is in its images, the story is deliberately degraded to make the point. (The images are great: Polanksi working in partnership with LCR?)

It’s all about abstraction. How could viewers not catch the layers of the inferno/hosts of angels references?

--at the bottom level, you have the Frenchman who owns the book but isn't interested except for the beauty of the binding

--then you have the Baroness who has spent her life writing about the devil and never even considering the pictures, even though she had the best clue--she SAW him.

--at a higher level, you have Liana Tefler, who knows there’s some power in the artifact but is still focused on the text (and incidentally sex)

--higher still you have Balkan who knows the text is worthless, and the pictures the real value but thinks the magic is in the pictures

--then you have the two brothers who have the power to tinker with the power of the pictures

--finally Corso who we see moving from the bottom of the list to this layer where he knows the power is not in the pictures themselves, but in the quest. (At the beginning, the value of the book to him is neither in its text, nor pictures, but in its binding and rarity.)

--then we have “the girl” who IS the pictures

--and we have the viewer.

This is a cross, four people stacked, the two brothers and then three more people stacked -- A layering actually used in early 17th century tracts on the nature of abstraction, which in retrospect are called occult. In fact it is the same layering of semiotics outlined by Eco, and much earlier used in the apprentice novels of Goethe (including Faust, which this story quotes).

That’s nine players, eight levels of consciousness created by the filmmaker, each layer tossing aside something. Who is the ninth player, the final abstractionist? You.

I never got what people liked about Johnny Depp, but I kind of liked the way he played this part. There was something very natural about his portrayal of a sort of detached rare book dealer. What a weird and intriguing concept. A bachelor in his 30s who is kind of cynical and sleazy, but who makes a living dealing with articles of high culture.

Frank Langella plays evil beautifully here.The director cast his young wife in the role of a mysterious stranger and she plays it with a truly eerie, all-knowing aloofness. The one thing I didn't get is why Depp's character never freaks out about this woman's special powers. How could he spend a whole movie seeking the key to evil and not notice the supernatural strangeness of his companion? He asks her who she is a few times, and then just accepts her as some weirdo who follows him.

I loved the European settings and as much as violence and satanic themes normally disturb me, I have to say that the death scenes and portrayal of evil in certain characters really stuck with me.

I see that many people on the net are attempting to explain the plot and conclusion. I think the best one I read had it right. The girl is the Devil and she's in love with Depp. So she guides him to her kingdom so to speak.

I would have preferred more character development, but that is my complaint about most films. How did this guy become who he is? He is ultimately seduced by the devil. How does one go from being a book dealer to wanting to summon Satan? A little more background please. We do see in the first scene that he is not ethical in his dealings.

This one requires two viewings.

In New York, the money-driven dealer Dean Corso (Johnny Depp) is a rare-books expert and partner of Bernie (James Russo), who owns a bookstore. He is contacted by the renowned collector of books about the devil Boris Balkan (Frank Langella), who has just acquired the rare The Nine Gates of the Kingdom of Shadows from the collector Andrew Telfer, to verify whether his book is authentic or a forgery. Balkan explains that the book was written by the writer Aristide Torchia, in 1666, with Lucifer and he was burned at the stake with his entire work. There are only three exemplars of The Nine Gates and in accordance with the legend, its nine engravings form a riddle to conjure the devil.

The skeptical Corso accepts the assignment and has to flight to Sintra, Portugal, and Paris, France, to contact the owners Victor Fargas (Jack Taylor) and Baroness Kessler (Barbara Jefford) to find the genuine exemplar for Balkan. Meanwhile, he asks Bernie to hide the rare book. Before traveling to Europe, the widow Liana Telfer (Lena Olin) wants to retrieve the book and has sex with Corso, but he does not accept her offer. When Corso goes Bernie's bookstore, he finds his friend murdered in the same position of an engraving.

Corso travels to Toledo, Spain, to meet the Ceniza twin brothers and learn more about The Nine Gates. During his journey in Europe, Corso is pursued by Liana and her bodyguard, who belong to the sect The Order of the Silver Serpents, and is protected by a mysterious Girl (Emmanuelle Seigner) with supernatural powers. Meanwhile, the owners of the two other exemplars of The Nine Gates are murdered. Corso becomes obsessed with the book and discloses the truth about it.

"The Ninth Gate" is a great movie with a confused conclusion that is not clear. There are many messy interpretations, but mine is very simple: neither the skeptical Corso nor the Girl is the devil. Corso becomes passionate with The Nine Gates of the Kingdom of Shadows and is protected by a supernatural creature. In the end, he succeeds in summoning the devil and The Ninth Gate opens to him and he will meet Lucifer. Just it! My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "O Último Portal" ("The Last Portal")

SPOILERS - - - - - - -- I just watched this movie again and there are a few comments I would like to add to the general ideas. Firstly, my impression of THE GIRL was that she was like a Valkyrie of Norse Myth, she chose who would make it to Valhalla, or Hell in this case. But she could be the devil herself certainly. Although this movie was about choosing one person to be enlightened (as they said "Thus let the light shine" on the front engraving) or if you insist on being terribly judeo-Christian-Islamic about it, de-enlightened, this could have been only one of many through the ages as De Torquia himself must have been chosen, for example.

Also, The actual 9th plate engraving shows a 7 headed beast which may be the 7 deadly sins, however, it shows the beast harnessed and being ridden by the girl reading a book, meaning she had overcome the pull of the sins and tamed them by education.

Also, the 2nd time Corso visits the shop of the brothers Ceneza, the two guys there (workmen) were played by the same one guy who played both Cenesa brothers. I checked the credits to be sure. Plus, the same child's voice on both visits says, "Si, Si Mama!" suggesting that the shop exists outside of "real" time.

To eat from the tree of the KNOWLEDGE of good and evil is to understand duality thus the serpent could be seen as the bringer of enlightenment not death. the first two times Corso sees dead bodies (Bernie and Vargas) he says Jesus Christ or God Almight, thus signaling the god as he is generally understood is the bringer of death, not life.

The girl is overlooked because she appears poor, badly dressed and unwashed. Telfer and Balkan would never have spoken to her, even though she is the way to what they claim to seek. They can never "see" her. Balkan wears thick glasses and Corso's glasses get broken symbolizing that what is commonly accepted as a way to see really hinders actual "seeing".

The Baroness "saw" the devil when she was 15 and sought him ever since but she also fell by the wayside by distraction. Balkan, by sending Corso to do the work (even though it was his idea to compare the books) shows he is not worthy. Corso did things he never thought he would do. He went through streams, begged rides, rode with animals and walked to get to the tower. He may have followed those who forged the way, but HE was willing to see her and personally do what it took. I think any of those people could have been chosen if they had "seen" and done the work themselves. Instead they all got rich and lazy while Corso is described as "lean and hungry". Just some ideas I got from this great great work of art. I'm going to read the nove on which it was based.

The movie was quite exciting at first... decent build up, some suspense, quite atmospheric. But, ultimately, it goes nowhere.

A very stupid, lazy ending, which actually cancels out any value this movie had previously held.

I won't even mention that sex scene... I don't think I've ever seen something THIS ridiculous and cringe-worthy.

The acting was O.K., but the characters were majorly under-developed. Johnny Depp looked BORED throughout the whole movie.

The second part was... like watching a different movie. Incredibly lame, unthoughtful, and lazy. It was poorly pieced together and rushed.

The ending was VERY unsatisfying.

The premise was good, there were some great actors, and it wasn't a low budget movie, so I don't understand why it turned out the way it did.

It could've been a MUCH better movie...

A SPOILER

I was inspired to write this, my first film commentary ever, when I was reading through those already posted. It struck me that nobody seemed to have got who "the girl" (played by Polanski's wife Emmanuelle Seigner) is! Everybody who mentions her -- and most do -- say she's in the film for no reason, she keeps appearing and disappearing to no effect, she's never explained, and that the film would've been much better if Polanski had only left her on the cutting room floor.

I hope Polanski is getting a kick out of this: the fact that nobody has got the secret of this, his most recent (and I think brilliant) film. I hope he's reached the point in his life and career where he cares more about making the art he had in mind than he does about whether people are getting it.

Darlings, "the girl" IS Lucifer!! It's right out there in plain view. And this is the beautiful irony of this movie: that s(he) IS right out there in plain view, to all these people who are seeking her, and doing all this stuff to summon her, and she's right there -- which is one of the oft-told truths about gods and deities throughout time, that they're right there, right next door to you, and you don't even notice them. This is the truth (one of them) that Polanski is putting on screen here. Witness the scene in the St. Martin Chateau where "the girl" crosses paths with Mrs. Telfer; look at the expression on the girl's face; it is ironic and absolutely amused. And there are more "clues" -- many more.

The girl is the only person in the film with actual supernatural powers. She floats. She is always around whenever Lucifer is being discussed. Although she repeatedly rescues Corso, she has anything but an angelic face. Her beautiful face has a subtext of evil and corruption. She anoints Corso with her blood in an arcane symbol on his forehead! And -- the giveaway -- when she finally has sex with him, didn't you notice that her eyes turn into demon eyes? that she morphs into a devil?

This is really a love story. It is about Lucifer finding a mate -- the person s(he) will accept to enter through the Ninth Gate into his/her kingdom. You can see how "the girl" is evaluating all the candidates throughout the film and how s(he) decides on Corso who is, after all, corrupt from the very beginning and therefore a likely candidate. Witness the scene when Corso is beating Pablo to death, pounding him repeatedly on the face. "The girl" says "Well, Mr. Corso, I didn't know you had it in you." She is obviously pleased with him; she is choosing her mate!!!! The reason she keeps rescuing him is because he is the one she's seriously considering.

Watch the film again. See if I'm not right.

Anyway, what probably has Polanski laughing is the fact that he managed to disguise all this so brilliantly simply by making Lucifer a girl. He's probably a bit surprised by how completely this simple gender-switch had the audience totally fooled! If "the girl" had been "the boy" -- an equally beautiful young man who follows Corso throughout the film -- I'm sure half the audience would've gotten it. But nobody, still, can imagine that the mythic figure of the devil could be female. But of course! The gods are androgynous; they have to be!

And Polanski adds yet another layer of irony and humor by dressing "the girl" as a student with different color socks: the most innocent, innocuous, universal and asexual dress imaginable. Put yourself in Lucifer's shoes. Isn't this how you'd disguise yourself, if you were making a visit to earth? Obviously it is because, if the people who saw this movie are any sample, nobody would suspect.

The Ninth Gate starts as New York based rare book dealer Dean Corso (Johnny Depp) is hired by wealthy businessman Boris Balkan (Frank Langella) who collects rare ancient occult books which deal with the devil & satanism. Balkan hires Corso to authenticate his copy of 'The Nine Gates of the Kingdom of Shadows' that legend has it was co-authored by Satan himself & of which there are only three in existence although Balkan believes only one is real while the other's are fakes & he wants to know if his is kosher. The first of the other two books resides in Portugal with a collector called Victor Fargas (Jack Taylor) & the other in Paris with Baroness Kessler (Barabra Jefford), wherever Corso travels death seems to follow as he digs deeper into the meaning of the books & discovers that they may be the key to unleashing Satan himself upon the Earth...

This French, Spanish & American co-production was co-written, produced & directed by Roman Polanski & has a few admirable qualities but ultimately isn't that successful & let down by a few things. The script by Polanski, John Brownjohn & Enrique Urbizu was based on the novel 'El Club Dumas' by Arturo Perez-Reverte (it actually had a large subplot about a secret society obsessed with serialised novels such as those written by Alexandre Dumas during the 19th Century, a subplot which wasn't included in this filmed adaptation) takes itself extremely seriously & indeed wants to be taken very seriously which is sort of it's downfall. The basic story is interesting for a while but it takes ages to get to where it's going & the straight faced nature of all the mumbo jumbo nonsense is a little hard to take seriously. At well over 2 hours in length the film outstays it's welcome, for a film with a fairly simple plot & little on screen action it sure takes it's time & I have to admit I was starting to lose interest in it. I didn't like the ending either, the ambiguity surrounding the identity of the woman is frustrating to say the least, I had sat through over 2 hours of this to get to a resolution but if anything the end just poses more questions. In fact on the IMDb 'FAQ' page for The Ninth Gate the only question asked so far is 'Who was the girl?' & every vague response is different which says everything about the mess of an ending. Also, if Balkan was prepared to kill people for the other two books so readily why did he need Corso? Surely Balkan could have just have the people murdered in the first place & steal the books, does that not make a bit more sense instead of letting Curso wander around Europe with his copy & indeed the only one in existence? Having said that I thought the film had some interesting ideas & the basic story behind it was solid & could have made for an exciting supernatural thriller which to be fair it almost is. The character's are pretty good & the dialogue is fine but it's just a bit too slow & hard to stay with.

Director Polanski returns to the horror genre for the first time since The Tenant (1976) & The Ninth Gate is a surprisingly bland film, it's well made & there are one or two little touches of style & imagination but not many. The film is very grounded in reality until the very end & tries to pile on the paranoia & mystery which is alright but at the expense of being scary or frightening, in fact until the final few minutes there is no indication anything supernatural is going to happen at all. There's no blood or gore & few special effects.

With a supposed budget of about $38,000,000 (which sounds a lot considering how the film turned out) this is well made with that big budget Hollywood look, shot on location in France, Spain & Portugal. Depp made this before he shot to mega stardom as Jack Sparrow in the Pirates of the Caribbean flicks, the rest of the cast are pretty much unknowns to me.

The Ninth Gate is a straight faced supernatural thriller which could have been better but then again it could have been worse, some of it works while some of it doesn't. I liked it, just about, but I doubt I'll ever want to watch it again.

i loved this movie.i bought it on DVD with really no expectations.boy, was i pleasantly surprised.the performances were excellent, the music was perfect for the film. depp gives an understated performance which kept me riveted for the whole movie.frank langella is brilliantly cast as the bad guy.emmanuaelle seigner was particularly effective as the mysterious girl who always seems to show up where depp's character, dean corso happens to be to lend a helping hand. but of course all is not as it seems, as the ending reveals.the ending reveals just enough to tease the viewer.i can find no fault with this movie.many people complained about the ending, but i thought the ending was as it should be, leaving the viewer to wonder what might happen next, which was, i think the point.all of the deaths in the movie were very creepy and eerie, especially the death of the baroness with her and her wheel chair ending up in flames. i had not seen a polanski movie before, but he really impressed me with this effort.I have watched this movie several times and loved it each time.to those people who hated this movie, all i can say is"to each their own"and maybe it is an acquired taste.this movie is definitely in my top ten.

Frank Langella is a wealthy collector of rare books who hires expert investigator Johnny Depp to travel around France and make sure that his, Langella's, copy of a medieval book is authentic by comparing it to the two other copies known to exist.

The content of the book has some sort of supernatural significance. As Depp probes into the other copies he finds that all three are identical except for some discrepancies in the nine illustrations. Most of the illustrations carry the initials of the historical artist, but scattered among the existing pictures are slightly different illustrations signed by "LCR" -- or "Lucifer." It emerges that an examination of the Lucifer illustrations leads (somehow) to a ritual that will enable the successful puzzler to enter the Ninth Gate and become all powerful -- or something. Yes, the plot is odious, an imitation of the cheap garbage that now fills our screens. They have names like "Night of the Demons" and "I Dismember Mamma." What those cheapies don't have is style, and this one does.

There's not a car chase or an exploding fireball in the whole movie, and only one gun shot, which is a bloodless mercy killing. Now, that's a refreshing fact in itself. This is a thriller based on character, everyday incidents, and mooning over musty old books, and it works.

I was grateful too for the absence of supernatural special effects. Granted that Emmanuelle Seigner's strong-jawed face and hypnotic, feral, and almost horrifyingly beautiful cornflower blue eyes, sometimes takes on a demonic aspect, but that's it. All the events we witness could actually take place.

All the events except one. And that's the last one. Depp solves the final puzzle. Don't ask me how, but one of the illustrations has a naked babe riding some kind of monster, the babe resembles a 17th-century version of Seigner, and that opens up the Ninth Gate for Depp.

On the other hand, Polanski's work has always had one feature that has sometimes weakened the whole work, and that's a surprise, usually tragic ending, a final bitter twist. He was into tragic endings long before the Manson affair. "Rosemary's Baby" involved devils before the flesh-and-blood devils destroyed Polanski's family. Even a comedy like "The Fearless Vampire Killers" ended disappointingly in an unamusing way.

The last shot is of a figure we presume to be Depp walking through the portals of a blindingly back-lighted château. I couldn't figure it out.

What I enjoyed most was seeing the troglodytic Johnny Depp wandering around Paris in his extra-long overcoat and poking into musty old book stores with comic proprietors, or into private collections in the hands of oddly eccentric characters who have monstrous lesbian secretaries.

What I enjoyed second-most -- and this is a confession -- was watching the wild-eyed Frank Langella convincing himself that he has solved the puzzle of the illustrations, has become immortal and pain-free, then setting himself ablaze and finding out that he was WRONG. I don't usually laugh at full-body burns but I was expecting some computerized imaging to transform Langella into a Disneyoid manticore and, instead, here he is, running around yelling and brushing at the flames just as the rest of us mortals would! Langella is pretty good, by the way. Depp is required to be polite and introverted. (That is, he doesn't act like an American.) Seignier is given a lot of attention, but I never could figure out her role in the story.

Not bad overall. Perhaps better than that, if you catch it from the beginning, as I did not.

Regrettably, I never saw this film at the theatre. I wish I had, though, as it is just my type of movie. I first saw it on TV, and after taping it and watching it numerous times, I realised this was a film that I simply HAD to buy on DVD. And so I did. I've watched it a few times since then, and it's still as good as the first time I watched it (if not better), which is why I regret not getting to see it at the cinema.

So...what makes this film so great? Well, to put it bluntly...EVERYTHING. The story, the way it's told, the way the film looks, the characters and the actors, the MUSIC - it all combines to make what I think is a superb (yet sadly underrated) film. Okay, so it may not be for everyone. It's not mindless action, for one thing. It actually requires some *thought* and some may perceive it as "slow and boring", but for those who like a good psychological thriller filled with mystery, intrigue and supernatural elements, then this is the film for you.

Johnny Depp adds yet another fine performance to his already extensive resumé. Dean Corso is a character who, in the hands of a lesser actor, may have come across as someone quite unlikeable. In fact, at the start of the film, Corso isn't a particularly likable guy. But Depp wastes no time in making you grow to like him, and pretty soon you're on his side, as he goes on this rather bizarre assignment of his. And what a journey it is, filled with an assortment of weird and wonderful characters - all brought to life by actors with varying degrees of experience (but all of whom give equally solid performances).

Frank Langella as Boris Balkan is an ever-looming presence in the film. Although he doesn't share that many scenes with Depp (and is mostly just heard over the phone), Balkan's voice is more than enough to remind Corso of what he's gotten himself into. He's a scary guy, and Langella does scary more than adequately. Then there's Lena Olin. What can you say about her? She's - quite simply - awesome. She's sultry, sexy and deliciously evil. As Liana Telfer, Lena Olin gets to play low-key menacing, only to switch to over-the-top chest-biting/face-scratching psycho woman on a dime.

Then there are other characters that Corso encounters, like the twin Ceniza brothers, Victor Fargas and Baroness Kessler (and her scary secretary), not to mention Telfer's ridiculously-haired bodyguard. All these characters have their quirks and every one of them makes for an interesting encounter with Corso. However, the best - hands down - has got to be The Girl (nicknamed "Green Eyes" by Corso), played to perfection by the mesmerising Emmanuelle Seigner. I had never seen her, nor heard of her prior to this film. I can safely say that I have been missing out in the BIGGEST way. What a find she is. Emmanuelle is everything this quite essential character needs to be: she's alluring, she's mysterious, she's wicked and most importantly, you can understand why Corso would be drawn to her. In her mismatching socks, dirty sneakers and baggy anorak, she is the most unassuming person Corso could meet...but there's this underlying sense of malice. With her otherworldly features (most notably, her brilliant green eyes - which cannot be anything but supernatural in nature, given the way they flare up occasionally), not to mention the way she seems to - on occasion - FLOAT, you can tell that she's bewitching Corso (in a sense) and aiding him on his journey towards what he seeks.

All of their scenes together are great (and yet, she's not overused in the film. She only appears at key moments and her interaction with Corso is all the more effective *because* of the rather limited amount of scenes they share). It all culminates in a rather steamy scene outside an appropriately flaming castle. This scene is most memorable, due to the excellent use of effects. They're so subtle, and yet incredibly effective. Just watch her face (and yes, I realise that's probably not the thing your eyes would be immediately drawn to in the scene), keep an eye out for the blink-and-you'll-miss-it changes and how eerily effective they are. It's one of the creepier moments in the film (and quite possibly my favourite moment of all). The music also helps make the scene unforgettable.

This movie is filled with great moments, though. It's all exquisitely shot, the music is perfect throughout, and it's evident how much precision and care has been put into the film (even the beginning and end credits are memorable/unsettling). And the moral of the story? Beware the blonde with the excessively hairy eyebrows. Don't have sex with the devil in disguise in front of a burning castle.