The Ninth Gate

I like it and agree with Sedai that the absence of Satan added intrigue and class to the film rather than taking anything away. I'm a big fan of the occult horror/mystery genre and thought The Ninth Gate was pretty compelling stuff right up to the final frame. If Polanski had laid all his cards on the table with some latex or CGI beastie it would have cheapened it for me. Surely the whole point with this subject is that nobody really knows if it's real anyway; that's what makes it so mysterious and interesting. Afterall I didn't hear anyone complaining when they didn't find out who the Zodiac killer was. Plus I can imagine a much more terrifying Lucifer than anything Polanski could have put on screen.

I'll agree that the ending is a little abrupt, but it made perfect sense to me

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100 Favourites From The Future: REWIRED

I haven't watched The Ninth Gate in ages. I'll add it to my queue, so I can give a more informed opinion...

All this has stirred my curiosity up so I'm going to dig out my DVD in a bit and watch it again...

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Added to my 'to buy' list.

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The Freedom Roads

It's really a good watch, it is put together really well, I think. Curious to get everyone's second viewing opinion after a viewing with the knowledge that ending is what it is.

@UF - I think if Polanski would have gone the route you mentioned, instead of the way he did, we would have ended up with another version of In the Mouth of Madness, a film I find is hamstrung by its final act.

@Justin W - I am curious to hear your thoughts on the technical quality of the film. It's Polanski, through and through, although he has clearly lost a step over the years. Still, the dude had me leaning over in my seat AGAIN in an attempt to look around a doorway, right at the start of the film. This is no Knife in the Water or Chinatown, but I think it's a damn good piece, technically.

Of course, we can all blame Linespalsy for the rekindled interest on my end.

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For anyone intrepid enough to do so, here's a link to a tutorial on how to make a replica The Nine Gates to the Kingdom of Shadows book for yourself. It's got downloads for the actual pages (text and woodcuts), and instructions on how to age the pages and bind the book. Pretty cool.

http://www.apocprod.com/Pages/prop_pages/ninthgate.htm

Yeah, I saw that tutorial yesterday, and, since I am in the printing business, I briefly considered making a copy. I have no skills in old school binding, though, so I discarded the idea pretty quickly. I did download and print the Woodcuts...


Here is a lengthy, but interesting section entitled The Polanski Code, which breaks the film down in comparison to the engravings (Fargas as The Hermit etc.).

HEre is a comparison of the forged and authentic woodcut of the ninth and final gate:



SOme interesting things to note:

In the forgery, the castle is incorrect, and it is also on fire. This explains Balkan's misinterpretation of what his actions should be at the final gate. Also note the moon covering the genitals of the woman in the forgery, while her gender is quite apparent in the LCF version. Her hand rests on the beast in the forgery, perhaps denoting where the false gate would lead (to the beast in hell), while in the LCF version, she is pointing to the castle, and final enlightenment, denoted by the flare of light around the castle. The sylph looks a bit more demonic in the forgery, as well.

I find it fascinating how much symbolism and detail the original author of the book put into these engravings. He commisioned an artist to actually draw them, but, word has it he was very involved in the content.

for.me the part that struck me most in the film is the use of music, and france, europe scenery, the mystery at hand, it is just a great mystery thriller to watch, i love the parts of france that were used to shoot the film, and that castle place is just sublime, i have to say i did enjoy the film and im a big fan of johnny depp as an actor, he s got charisma when he s on screen, and that chick from romeo is bleeding is just so hot here

Anyone finds Lena Olin as one of the hottest actresses in the 90s? Darn she is so hot in this film, she s just dripping sexy

She's always fantastic, and she's the most irritating part of that film. For sentimental reasons, Polanski has this habit of casting Emmanuelle Seigner in roles to which other actresses would often make more justice. In this case, it annoys me, because I adored the "irene adler" character in Perez-Reverte's novel, and Olin would have been the perfect cast for her, the perfect style for it (just like Depp is a fantastic idea for Corso, he's like straight out of the book).

The Olin/Seigner roles should have been swapped. And this frustrating miscast (with the lack of objectivity as its cause) is what prevents me to fully enjoy this movie. It's like a perfect jigsaw puzzle with two pieces blatantly swapped around.

And also, when you finish the puzzle, there is a missing piece, probably stolen by the cat, which he then discarded under the refrigerator.

I didn’t feel that Olin and Seigner were miscast, so much as Olin’s part wasn’t well written. Seigner was did well enough with the role.
It’s a decent film, one drenched in paranoia and reminds me of Angel Heart.

to me i loved the movie and johnny depp is one of my favorite actors, he did a great job on it

You should watch The Unbearable Lightness of Being if you haven't already.