Just watched "The Ninth Gate," this is why it's one of my favorites: (1 Viewer)

[Elbert Lee]

Liked the 70's "Faces of Death"/"The Omen"-type cinematography and like the nuanced performances, but there really is no edge to the horror and the end definitely falls short of climactic.....

Entertaining for people who have a remote interests in cult movies, and perhaps even fascinating for cult enthusiasts, but I found that mainstream movie goers thought this film was too slow and failed to appreciate the Polanski touch...

Elbert

 

[Dome Vongvises]

The girl is the devil. She marked Corso with her blood and at that point chose him. I don't see a disciple or minion doing that. Also, at one point note the book she was reading "How to win friends and influence people"

I thought that was painfully obvious too (or she could've been a succubus or a minion of the devil). But the ending was still a blah/meh for me.

 

[Justin Doring]

I just watched The Ninth Gate last night, my third viewing, and I've now come to appreciate the ending a bit more. As I said before in an earlier post, I felt that the ending is a let-down, but I'm beginning to like it more and more. It could be stronger, yes, but I'm not sure how. If I were making this film, I'm not exactly sure how I'd end it, so I can't criticize Polanski too much. After all, the rest of the film is superb.

Regarding your questions:

"How did Boris get old man Telfer to give him his wifer's copy? I'm guessing that he found out what she did with and was horrified. He couldn't go on and wanted the book away from her."

That's pretty much what I made of it, and it's as good of a guess as any. Allow me, however, to throw this out, just as food for thought: what if the Devil decided to possess old man Telfer and have him send Boris the book to get the ball rolling? The old man, in a possessed state, then kills himself. Perhaps the devil was originally set on Boris, but when Corso shows up, he changes his mind. I know this is a bit convoluted, but not impossible.

"The girl (RP's wife). Obviously, who is she? I like the devil idea, and she wants Corso to open the gate, not Boris. She twice mentions she is 'something like a student'. Is she studying them to she which she prefers?"

I still think the the girl is one of the Devil's servants, but I won't disagree that she might be the Devil himself. After all, he has many shapes!

"Why would Boris rip out the engravings and burn the two other texts? I'm thinking maybe the authentic one, being how the devil is involved and survived the fires in 16xx, is thought to be fire proof. The discolouration on Boris' copy, as noted by Fargas, is where Boris held a candle to it to test it, which is how he got the idea to get Corso to authenticate it."

I hadn't really thought about this, but I assume he was simply after the engravings and didn't want the other books to survive.

"As for the final engraving being at the Ceniza brothers' book shop, I think they at one time had the only authentic copy of the book and realized the power it contained. The forged two additional copies and divided up the authentic engravings to protect against use, keeping the final one seperate still for more safety."

I do think the Ceniza brothers realized the power the book contained, but I think all three were originals, and that the Ceniza brothers only changed the one illustration in their copy.

"And not that it really matters, but the baroness is the only one who doesn't smoke and drink around these priceless books and Boris is the only collector who stores his books in any sort of archival manner."

I think all three collectors take excellent care of their books (note the bookcases in Telfer's library and how Fargas' mentions his meticulous daily care of his remaining books), but that Boris simply has more money to invest in state of the art facilities. Remember that Fargas comments that "no price is too high" for Boris, or something like that. Regarding the drinking and the smoking, I can't account for that, but I suppose Corso would argue that if one is careful, what should it matter?

 

[Brian Harnish]

I LOVED the film...right up until the ending. I was expecting a spectacular ending after all the build-up and suspense. The ending is what broke the film for me. It's like the ending immediately cut to the credits. I thought "WTF?! That's IT?! Pffffffffft!!!" *thumbs down*. If you're gonna make a movie, at least make a spectacular ending to go along with the build-up. I half-expecting an ending where the Devil appears and coaxes the dude to be one of his minions. That's how I would have ended it, anyways. It would have been far more interesting.

 

[PhilipG]

The drinking & smoking are both film noir staples. Add to that two femmes fatales, the fatalistic atmosphere, and Corso the anti-hero. All that separates it from true noir is the colour photography - although, it does tend to get a bit monochromatic with the reds...
Great film. I loved the ending, because it's just a tad ambiguous.

 

[Justin Doring]

I've never actually thought of The Ninth Gate as a Film Noir, but it does seem to fit (kind of)! Personally, I've never limited my definition of Film Noir to B&W photography.

 

[Garrett Lundy]

Liked the film. They don't spell the ending out for you, but maybe there should be more mystery in film? Did he open a portal to Hell? Did he meet the Devil on the other side? Questions that are never resolved linger in your mind, Like the contents of the "Magic" suitcase from Pulp Fiction: If you knew, you wouldn't care as much.
As for the ending, My friend made this brilliant commentary "Yeah, I don't know why he wants to open a portal to Hell. They don't call Hell 'Happy Fun-Time Land' for a good reason.
My only gripe about the film has to do with one line by Depp. More of an expression really. When he enters the Book Store and see's his friend hanging upside-down from the staircase he lets out a "Jesus Christ!". In my opinion his JC exclamation sounded more like it came from his portrayal of Hunter S. Thompson ala: Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. Yup, It's a very small complaint. Maybe I've just seen FALILV too many times. But Depp's good. I am constantly amazed by his performances, Especially as an old man in Blow.

 

[Robert_eb]

I just watched this film for the second time and can say that it got much better with a second viewing.

 

[Alex Spindler]

I had caught this movie a lot on cable and really came to love it. I love the practical effects, the score is excellent, and I can live with the ending much more now.
I liked it so much I bought it last week.

 

[Richard WWW]

I, too, hate a film with an unsatisfying ending. The ending of a film is sometimes called a 'pay off'. You've invested your time and energy in viewing a film, and the director and whole cast and crew have invested their creative energies into a film, and it's nice to receive something back. Some people are content with the moments of the film, but other people want a satisfying resolution to the story. I didn't feel this film gave that. No pay off. I felt a little robbed. The film was otherwise well made, and the story was interesting up until the end, but that was when I thought it was leading up to something specific.

I liked the film, and I might see it again at some point, but for now, I have no urge to view it in the near future, and I chalk that up primarily to the lack of a satisfying ending.

 

[MichaelAW]

I'd read the book before seeing the movie (I, too, recommend Perez-Reverte's canon) and was mostly pleased with the film. The ending, though, left me feeling flat. But, I was definitely curious to see it again. I haven't picked up the DVD yet, but I might.

Do check out the book, though. It's a very good read.