And, of course, he goes about his work in an I-am-casually-beautiful sort of way.Ī sleazier-then-thou book collector, Boris Balkan (Frank Langella) has recently acquired a copy of 'The Nine Gates of the Kingdom of the Shadows' (the Devil's own). Johnny Depp as Corso comes across as a cool customer, combining a sharp intellect with a sullen demeanor and a flexible set of scruples to claw his way into the upper suites of his profession. The chance to commune with the Devil has attracted intense interest among the world's top-of-the-heap book collectors, who vie for the three remaining copies (the rest were destroyed in a long-ago fire).Īs usual, Polanski guides the script with an extraordinary eye for detail, shooting in a shades-of-blue-and-green palette that evokes mystery and intrigue in every set-location, from New York to Spain to Portugal to France.įans of Polanski's 'Chinatown' and 'Rosemary's Baby' will appreciate the visual aspects of the film - part-mystery thriller, part-occult - with its textural, atmospheric look at a fascinating business.Īlas, after building momentum nicely in the first half, the story line eventually comes apart, stutter-stepping to a halt with a series of silly resolutions of an otherwise interesting-enough mystery.

The script by Polanski and two others is based on European bestseller 'El Club Dumas' by Arturo Perez-Reverte. It seems the Prince of Darkness got involved in the book deal so that owners of the tome could summon him into real life if they followed instructions contained in the nine woodcuts accompanying the text, each depicting a gate. The two-plus-hour movie follows the trail of rare-book expert Dean Corso as he pursues the last remaining copies of a volume thought to be co-authored by the Devil himself in 1666. In 'The Ninth Gate' film director Roman Polanski turns his attention to the lofty world of rare-book collectors, where fascination with the Devil and his literary works apparently reigns supreme.

The ninth gate arturo pérez reverte