For those hording toilet paper

The Ninth Gate (1999)

It never fails. I get right back absorbed in Polanski’s Ninth Gate any time it’s on. This time it was syfy showing it Sunday afternoon. Cut, with all that advertising crap from the channel at the bottom of the screen; the movie is up against it considering its on cable television, but the story is basically intact (there are some clips I’ll just watch to make up for that) with little taken from it.

Criticisms (I’m still at a loss the likes of Maltin and Ebert gave it such poor reviews) have been against it since it came out in ’99 (it, as of now, rests as my #1 film of horror in the 90s).

It is more of a Satanic mystery/thriller than horror (I guess, although, it has elements that are very much horror to me) with European flavor (we get to essentially tour Europe as Depp’s “book detective” (I simply love Lena Olin's label for him) researches the authenticity of a book in his possession (a book that just might have been acquired nefariously)).

 Developments galore:

•  the three books supposedly pinned by a Satanic devotee with help from Lucifer himself have clues that provide Depp with the information that will lead him to a significant life-changing event
•  people are dying around him while he attempts to authenticate his Nine Gates book
•  the other two people who own books from the author of Depp’s benefactor (played by Langella) suffer terrible fates because they stand in the way of someone willing to kill to get his/her hands on certain pages from their copies
• a blond black man seems to be following Depp and could hurt him at any time
• Emmanuelle Seigner seems to be a type of “hell’s emissary” (or so I believe) often helping Depp escape hairy situations, and she motivates him into action, even sometimes leading him down the path of discovery.

I love how Langella, so delightfully pompous, considers himself the only one worthy to conjure his Lord Satan and enjoy “the fruits” of his master’s power. His downfall is most certainly gratifying. Getting rid of Lena Olin in front of a crowd of “bored millionaires” wearing robes, by choking her with a pentagram necklace (it cuts into her throat…yikes!) also still rather floors me. Langella just kind of bursts in, scolds and mocks her audience, retrieves the book supposedly stolen from him, and then kills her when Olin strikes at him like a ferocious feline. I guess I find his open murder of her rather startling. Langella even goes “Boo!” The congregation scatters when Langella does that. It is hilarious. By this point, Langella has abandoned any care about law enforcement doing anything to him. He believes he has now secured what he needs (thanks to Depp’s help; Depp’s journey from merely an investigator for him to following his own burgeoning agenda to uncover the mystery of the nine gates proves to throw his mission askew) and can gain access to a power that equals him with God. Depp has become himself obsessed with achieving access to the ninth gate, but Langella believes he is the rightful heir to such a destiny. He learns the hard way that fire burns and hurts, even if he believes that he is now invulnerable to its flames. Depp remains in access to the drawings that could unlock the ninth gate and Seigner could be the key to realizing what went wrong with Langella. Perhaps an engraving not yet discovered is Depp’s final piece to the puzzle that will provide the endgame?

I find the dialogue amusing, particularly when Depp is described by others (he’s not well liked and there’s a reason why; his nature is all about the paycheck, but the journey for uncovering the ninth gate provides incentive for giving his life a type of meaning, beyond his commission when searching for rare books for his wealthy clientele), and I’m of the minority who enjoys the journey instead of the end result. I don’t agree with Leonard Maltin…I do think this should be mentioned in the same breath as Rosemary’s Baby. In fact I like this film better than Rosemary’s Baby. I think if Polanski had provided a look into what lies beyond the ninth gate, the visual effects/art design of this would have been considered disappointing and/or laughable. Anytime there’s a description of hell visually, it can be met with ridicule and scorn. So why not leave it to our imagination?