Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #7600 in DVD
• Released on: 2008-10-06
• Rating: Suitable for 15 years and over
• Aspect ratio: 2.35:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Formats: PAL, Widescreen
• Original language: English, French, Latin, Portuguese, Spanish
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 128 minutes

Amazon.co.uk Review
For a while it looks like Roman Polanski's The Ninth Gate, adapted from the novel The Club Dumas by Arturo Pérez-Reverte, might recapture the beautiful uneasiness of such masterpieces as Repulsion and Rosemary's Baby. The horror of a Roman Polanski picture is not about spectacle and shock but a goose-pimply sense of evil lurking just outside the frame and hidden behind the faces of slightly unsettling characters. Here, a calm, almost sleepy Johnny Depp plays cynical, unscrupulous rare-book hunter Dean Corso, who's hired by demonologist Boris Balkan (Frank Langella) to authenticate a rare volume that, legend has it, was co-written by Lucifer himself. Dean leaves a Gothic looking New York (re-created in Europe by Polanski as a sinister city of shadows) for Portugal and Paris to compare Balkan's volume with the two copies known to be in existence and uncovers a mystery with unholy ramifications. He also finds himself at the centre of a conspiracy that involves Balkan, a widow who will stop at nothing to retrieve Balkan's book (Lena Olin, who gleefully bites and claws her way through the part), and a mysterious guardian "angel" (Polanski's wife, Emmanuelle Seigner) who shadows his every step. The Ninth Gate is full of rumbling menace and deliciously unsettling imagery, but Polanski's languorous direction and purposefully vague story render a film that's eerie without every becoming thrilling. It's perpetually on the verge of becoming interesting--right up to its obscure final image.-Sean Axmaker, Amazon.com

On the DVD: Roman Polanski provides us with his first ever DVD commentary here, and makes his eye for detail and atmosphere very apparent in talking about design and his use of the camera. He also announces his love for the quality of DVD since he's always hated VHS. You also see him briefly amongst other interviewees in a two-minute featurette. There's also a trailer, 10 pages of production notes, and generous cast and crew information. One novelty is a gallery of The Nine Gates books' spot-the-difference satanic drawings. Best of all is an isolated track of Wojciech Kilar's excellent score, which is as well preserved by this transfer as the rich palette of earthy browns used by Polanski to paint the screen. --Paul Tonks

Special Features
2.35 Wide Screen
English
English
Region 2
Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround English
Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround
Commentary With Director Roman Polanksi
Featurette
Theatrical Trailer
Cast And Crew Information
Production Notes
Isolated Music Score
Gallery Of Satanic Drawings

Synopsis
Based on a novel by Arturo Perez-Reverte (THE CLUB DUMAS) and coscripted by director Roman Polanski, THE NINTH GATE was Polanski's first feature after a long break following the release of 1995's DEATH AND THE MAIDEN--in between, there was an aborted project that faltered when designated star John Travolta opted out. Dean Corso (Johnny Depp) is a cynical rare books dealer hired by Boris Balkan (Frank Langella), a scholar specializing in books on Satanism, to recover the only two remaining copies (in addition to the one owned by Balkan) of THE NINE GATES OF THE KINGDOM OF SHADOWS, a 17th-century text with cryptic illustrations supposedly contributed by Lucifer himself. Corso's investigation takes him to Europe, where he is pursued by a strange girl (Emmanuelle Seigner) who seemes to assume the role of his guardian angel: Bizarre deaths inspired by the book's morbid illustrations befall all those who come into contact with the book--except himself. This occult mystery should satisfy fans of subtly creepy, stylish tales of the supernatural along the lines of Polanski's own ROSEMARY'S BABY.

Customer Reviews

Boffo! a good one
This film is a study of the struggle of knowledge Vs power. The Johhny Depp character searches for knowledge not power and is thus rewarded over the other protaginists.Is Hell/the Devil as evil as man has himself become in his quest for power? The expression 'Hell on Earth' was obviously a factor in the writing of this movie. Polanski, as always, makes you think and question the motives of everyone involved. Those expecting to watch a Roman Polanski movie for just action should hire another directors movie. Powerful performances from Depp and Langella make this a film to watch.

Smart and original adaptation of a great book
I like Hollywood blockbusters and they are my usual poison but from time to time I simply MUST take a break and watch something that is NOT Hollywoodian, is not a sequel and doesn't involve too many car chases, superheroes, explosions, laser beams and idiotic dialogues. If you are looking for such a thing, you will not find much better that "The Ninth Gate".
To begin, one precision - this is the adaptation of a great novel, "Club Dumas" by the Spanish author Arturo Perez Reverte. The book is amazing but very, very hard to adapt to the screen - so Polanski had to make many changes. As the result, you can now watch a great movie and read a great book, in whatever order you like, without being disappointed by one of them.
This movie is about ancient books, people who collect them and people who live by trading them - and it is an amazing thing how passionate this world is. It is a great achievement of Polanski that he managed to keep a very honest pace of events, when placing the action mostly in librairies, bookshops etc. The gallery of persons shown in this movie is, typically for Polanski, made of characters mostly excentrical, frequently upsetting, sometimes very funny, but never, not even once, boring.
This is in large part one Johnny Depp show, and this is a great show. His character (Dean Corso, trader in ancient books) is in this movie slightly less antipatic than in the novel, but clearly he is not a totally nice guy. The way Johnny Depp acts in this movie confirms the impression I had for many years now - he is not only handsome, he is simply one of the greatest actors alive (and doesn't even need dreadlocks and gold teeth to prove it).
Emmanuelle Seigner plays a character that is totally ambigous (she is just The Girl - we never know what is her name) and I will not reveal anything more about her. She is beautiful, mysterious, tempting but distant and she certainly is leading the main hero somewhere. But we do not know where - until the last image.
Lena Olin (Liana Telfer) and Frank Langella (Boris Balkan) are other stars of the show - they are supporting characters and appear less on the screen, but they are both very important.
However the real "hero" of this movie could only be... a book. This book is called - what else - "The Nine Gates" and was written by a heretic alchimist around year 1515. The Inquisition then burned the author with all the copies which was possible to find - and the further we advance in the movie, the most we realise, that for once, for this one time, the Inquisition could very well have done the right thing! You desserve to discover the rest of the story by yourself.
This is an amazing movie. Reading some of the previews below I couldn't understand how you can be bored by it? Thanks to Polanski's unique touch there is more atmosphere in every scene of "Ninth Gate" that we actually can take in. There is a pair of extremely handsome and talented actors. There is the discreet but beautiful musical score by Wojciech Kilar. There is a deep and very very dangerous mystery. There is an almost sadistic, totally unsuspected twist towards the end. And there is finally, well hidden in the shadows, one writer, who really doesn't need an agent to take care of his bookwriting career.... See this movie ! It is worth it!

Mmm...
Definitely a love-or-bored-by film. In terms of plot it draws from similar territory as Dennis Wheatley; there's a bit of real-life history involved, without beating viewers over the head with it. It doesn't beat viewers over the head at all, especially the ending -- people rewatching to see if they missed anything seems to be a common experience.

Corso's is a slow corruption, suggesting that evil prefers its recruits to be drawn in by fascination and imagination rather than by making showy gestures or dressing up. The film score's at times genuinely unsettling, and the deaths more macabre than in-your-face shocking. In terms of setting it has to take place before mobile phones caught on, with which items a lot of the menace and isolation would be drained out of the story.

It's one of the few movies I watch fairly regularly, and you should be able to get it at a reasonable price if you feel like giving it a go. Sit down with one or two people late in the evening for best viewing.