The Ninth Gate - Definition and Overview

The Ninth Gate is a Spanish/French mystery movie based on the novel The Club Dumas by Arturo Pérez-Reverte. It was directed by Roman Polanski, and stars Johnny Depp, Lena Olin, Frank Langella and Emmanuelle Seigner. It premiered in Europe on August 25, 1999.

The movie starts with rare books-collector Dean Corso (Johnny Depp) getting a mission from publishing tycoon Boris Balkan (Frank Langella). Balkan has recently acquired a copy of The Nine Gates to the Kingdom of Shadows by 17th century author Aristide Torchia. The book details the summoning of the devil. Balkan claims the book is a forgery. He wants Corso to find the other two known copies, find out whether any of them are genuine and - in that case - acquire them for Balkan.

It has been suggested that Corso is actually Lucifer himself, lost in the human realm. The nine engravings in the book is a popcorn trail so that he may find his way back. The Girl would be one of the "helpers" of Lucifer referred to by Balkan in the beginning of the movie.

External links

• IMDb entry for Ninth Gate, The (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0142688/)
• The Engravings of The Club Dumas and The Ninth Gate (http://www.eclectichistorian.net/Engravings/index.html)