Roman Polanski’s “The Ninth Gate” is terrific. Having seen it in the theatre decades ago, I returned to it recently and was stuck by how well it held up.
Probably just an excuse to fund Polanski’s vacation across Spain and France, the film is a combination of fine location shooting, good noire-ish plotting, excellent soundtrack, and Johnny Depp smoking Lucky Strikes, having sex, and getting knocked unconscious. The source material, “The Club Dumas”, is a great novel, one especially meant for bibliophiles. The dialogue doesn’t crackle, but it has smooth, genre-specific rhythm. There is deep attention to scene detail; a dilapidated book collection of a dying family lies decaying on an old carpet while its owner Victor Fargas (Jack Taylor) sits nearby, absently soaking up brandy in his near-empty house; Baroness Kessler’s (Barbara Jefford) wheelchair bumps repeatedly, and chillingly, against the window of her office. Polanski masters the mood. Terrific, weird little side-performances are offered throughout, including José López Rodero (a storied journeyman director) appearing as a pair of book-restoring twins. All of this is really really good.
In a sense, however, the star of the show is actually the mysterious book itself. “The Nine Gates of the Kingdom of Shadows” is a leather-bound antique rumored to have the power to summon The Devil and a compelling character all by itself. The book sets the nefarious book collector Dean Corso (a competent Depp) into motion, as he seeks to authenticate it for his client Boris Balkan (Frank Langella is great here) and causes him to bump into all kinds of trouble, including a nasty femme fatale, Liana Telfer (Lena Olin is clearly having fun). Unlike almost every other movie of its kind, the book is not a Mcguffin; rather, the book IS the plot, the central puzzle, and it finds its way into a huge number of compelling shots. “The Nine Gates” is so important to the story, so pretty to look at, and so heavy in the artifice of the movie, that lovingly crafted replicas of the volume are in circulation on Etsy. This is arguably among the best films ever made about a book. That conceit alone, well-executed, makes the movie worth a watch.
Some things clunk. The film’s finale will fall flat for many. The movie takes its time in pacing. Some weird moments involving the supernatural motions of the mysterious guardian angel (Emmanuelle Seigner) are a little awkward. The backscreens in car and motorbikes sequences depend on distractingly dated technology.
But none of this matters. “The Ninth Gate” is a fun mystery with a great, scene-chewing cast and a totally compelling central premise. This one will remain in rotation for me.
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Reviews with images
Una muy buena peli
Excelente, había buscado mucho está movie con lenguaje en Español hasta que al fin. Déjeme ayudarlos un poco, si tiene un reproductor de DVD Philips, enciende lo, entre al setup, seleccione página de preferencias, y con su control remoto teclee 138931 y aparecerá la REGION en que está, luego marque el cero"0" y salga del setup.
Top reviews from other countries
I received the package. It was brought in the house by my ex. All good.
Happy!
Reviewed in Canada on December 15, 2023
