Hell's 'Gate' a heavenly experience
By Patrick Underwood
Staff Writer

     “The Ninth Gate,” the new film directed by Roman Polanski, is all about one of the most intriguing and frequent subjects of literature: the Devil. That supreme figure of evil and darkness has, not surprisingly, become one of the most popular concepts for writers to explore over the years. Classics like “Rosemary’s Baby” and “The Exorcist” have helped to further that trend, with films like “End of Days” and “The Devil’s Advocate” simply adding to the mystique that surrounds what many believe to be, along with God, the driving force in the world as we know it. “The Ninth Gate” is a surreal, compelling look at man’s obsession with the powers of darkness and what happens when one gets too close to finding them.

     Johnny Depp stars as Dean Corso, a greedy antique books expert who cares more about the money than the books. He is hired by Boris Balkan, played by Frank Langella, a wealthy collector and proud owner of the world’s most extensive library of works about the devil, to find the two remaining copies of “The Nine Gates and the Kingdom of Shadows;” Balkan himself, who one starts suspecting as a bit off from the beginning—check out the code he punches in access the elevator and his book vault—has just acquired the third and final edition. Of course, this is no ordinary book: The Nine Gates, published in 1666 and adapted by Aristide Torchia (who was burned at the stake by the Inquisition) from a legendary work written by Satan himself, is said to summon the devil and open the entrance to hell. Balkan enlists Corso to locate the other two editions, both of which are in Europe, and compare them to his. The price is right, and Corso agrees.

     The opening scenes of the film are filled with an uneasy suspense coupled with dark, subtle premonitions of things to come. Polanski gives his picture a very supernatural feel throughout: a simple yet very effective title sequence, a most matter-of-fact suicide hanging, dark and dreamlike shots of New York, and all this while still retaining a solid foundation in reality within the picture. I never got the sense that anything happening in the film was artificial or too far out of the realm of possibility. Polanski, who made no less a classic than “Chinatown” (as well as the aforementioned “Rosemary’s Baby”) is a master at setting a mood and maintaining it. “The Ninth Gate,” with its ominous tone, is no exception.

     Corso, fearing for the safety of the book after he finds his apartment broken into, gives it to his friend Bernie (James Russo) to keep until he leaves. When Dean returns to Bernie’s store, he finds that his friend has met a strange and premature end, Corso calls Balkan and tells him he wants out. Balkan, ever the shrewd businessman, increases his payment, and Corso flies to Europe. In Spain he meets a pair of twin brothers who run an antique books shop. They prove to be an excellent source for information on “The Nine Gates,” with an especially intriguing revelation about the signature on three of the nine engravings found in the book.

     Johnny Depp delivers a wonderfully understated and reserved performance as Corso. On the heels of another dark work, “Sleepy Hollow,” Depp proves once again that he is suited quite well to pictures of this sort. He has perfected that slightly comical look of stunned surprise which conveys both fear and inquisitiveness, and he uses it to great effect in “The Ninth Gate” as well.

     His acting style matches Polanski’s subtle directorial hand, complementing each other well here and adding to the mystery of the film. A strange woman (Emmanuelle Seigner) pops up throughout the first half of the film on numerous occasions: at a talk, in a library, on a train, in a hotel, and she always seems to be watching Corso. Her true identity remains a secret, but Corso finally accepts her as some sort of friendly guardian after she lets on to him that she has intimate knowledge of his job and all his travels thus far. She is never named (in the credits she is called the Girl) but she becomes a powerful force on the behalf of Corso. Her character is a perfect one for this film in that she remains shrouded in mystery, is never named and keeps appearing and disappearing. Her physical appearance, with its striking features, pale hair and eyes so green one can also see through them, also serves the same purpose.

     There is a good deal more of the story that unfolds in “The Ninth Gate” (what I have described here constitutes only about half of the picture), but I am afraid that explaining much more will ruin much of the surprise and mystery. Let me just say that the second half of the film is just as intriguing as the first; the thickening plot only increases in suspense and mystery, and the superbly ethereal ending fits perfectly in the context of the picture as a whole. One other note: If you have seen the commercials for this movie on TV, you have not in any way been given an accurate glimpse of what the picture is about. The ads portray “The Ninth Gate” as a slam-bam, fast-action summer blockbuster filled with a heavy metal soundtrack, rapid-fire editing and lots of sex and violence; in essence, it is showing you a different film (probably the film the studio wanted Polanski to make). Instead, “The Ninth Gate” will give you a riveting, mysterious thriller about that guy we all love to love: the Devil himself.