Plot
A rare book dealer, while seeking out the last two copies of a demon text, gets drawn into a conspiracy with supernatural overtones.
Release Year: 1999
Rating: 6.6/10 (69,627 voted)
Critic's Score: 44/100
Director:
Roman Polanski
Stars: Johnny Depp, Frank Langella, Lena Olin
Storyline Dean Corso, a rare book dealer, is appointed by a renowned book collector, Balkan, to verify the authenticity of one of his books. According to sources, only three copies of that book exist, and in three different places. After losing his friend who has been killed for that book, he leaves on the mission. He wants to verify Balkan's book but finds something else! During his dramatic travels through Paris and Madrid, too many things beyond his expectations are revealed!
Writers: Arturo Pérez-Reverte, John Brownjohn
Cast: Johnny Depp
-
Dean Corso
Frank Langella
-
Boris Balkan
Lena Olin
-
Liana Telfer
Emmanuelle Seigner
-
The Girl
Barbara Jefford
-
Baroness Kessler
Jack Taylor
-
Victor Fargas
José López Rodero
-
Pablo & Pedro Ceniza
/
1st & 2nd Workmen
(as Jose Lopez Rodero)
Tony Amoni
-
Liana's Bodyguard
James Russo
-
Bernie
Willy Holt
-
Andrew Telfer
Allen Garfield
-
Witkin
Jacques Dacqmine
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Old Man
Joe Sheridan
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Old Man's Son
Rebecca Pauly
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Daughter-In-Law
Catherine Benguigui
-
Concierge
Taglines:
Basada en la novela de Arturo Pérez Reverte: El Club Dumas.
Release Date: 10 March 2000
Filming Locations: Challet Biester, Rampa da Pena, Sintra, Lisbon, Portugal
Box Office Details
Budget: $38,000,000
(estimated)
Opening Weekend: $6,622,518
(USA)
(12 March 2000)
(1586 Screens)
Gross: $58,000,000
(Worldwide)
Technical Specs
Runtime:
Did You Know?
Trivia:
The film has a different title from its source novel, "The Club Dumas", because the novel centers around a secret society obsessed with serialized novels, such as those written by Alexandre Dumas père.
Goofs:
Factual errors:
While showing off his collection to Corso, Fargas presents a "Dictionaire Infernal" by Jacques Collin de Plancy, which he says is a first edition from 1844. The first edition of this influential encyclopedia on superstition appeared in 1818, but its sixth edition, published in 1863, is prized for its illustrations, including 72 drawings of demons. The copy Fargas holds has a title page that is from the 1863 edition.
Quotes:
[first lines]
Dean Corso:
It's an impressive collection. You have some very rare editions here. Are you sure you want to sell them all? Old Man's Son:
They're of no use to father. Not anymore. Not since he's been this way. His library was his whole world. Now it's just a feeble memory.
User Review
A Great Film - Highly Underrated
Rating: 10/10
The Ninth Gate is a great film and one of Roman Polanski's most underrated
films. Twenty years from now people will give this film the respect it
deserves and hail it to be the great film that it is.
Fist of all The Ninth Gate is not an action film. It's a slow-paced
psychological thriller very similar in tone and style to Polanski's earlier
films Chinatown and Frantic. Johnny Depp and Frank Langella both give great
performances. Darius Khondji's photography is amazing and it has an even
more amazing score by Kilar. The majority of the film was shot on location
and is like a guided tour through Europe.
Ignore the negative reviews and comments from people who've been brainwashed
and blinded by the current Hollywood fast-food style of film making with the
intention of only appealing to the lowest common denominator. A review
doesn't make a good film better or a bad film worse. A superb film. Rating
10 out of 10.
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