History Film / TheNinthGate

[[quoteright:310:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/img_1122.jpeg]]
[[caption-width-right:310:''[[TagLine The only thing more terrifying than searching for The Devil...is finding him.]]'']]

''The Ninth Gate'' is a 1999 mystery thriller film [[TheFilmOfTheBook freely adapted]] from the Spanish novel ''Literature/TheClubDumas'' by Creator/ArturoPerezReverte, directed by Creator/RomanPolanski and starring Creator/JohnnyDepp, Creator/LenaOlin, Creator/FrankLangella, Creator/JamesRusso, and Creator/EmmanuelleSeigner.

The investigation causes Corso to cross paths with many other collectors, who like Balkan seem to believe the book has genuine power and will do anything to learn its secrets. Initially disbelieving of the supernatural, the things Corso sees begin to change his mind, and he discovers a secret of ''The Nine Gates'' that could be the key to solving its riddles and achieving ultimate power.

Corso (Depp), an expert on rare books, is hired by a collector named Boris Balkan (Langella) to authenticate his copy of ''The Nine Gates of the Kingdom of Shadows''. Written in [[NumberOfTheBeast 1666]] by Aristide Torchia, the book is supposedly an adaptation of another book, the ''Delomelanicon'', written by Lucifer himself, and contains instructions on how to summon the Devil and gain supernatural power. After Torchia was burned at the stake, only three copies of ''The Nines Gates'' survived to the modern day, but Balkan believes that only one is authentic and the other two are forgeries. He asks Corso to compare his copy to the other two and find out which is the real book.

''The Ninth Gate'' is a 1999 mystery thriller film by Creator/RomanPolanski, freely adapted from the Spanish novel ''Literature/TheClubDumas'' by Creator/ArturoPerezReverte, starring Creator/JohnnyDepp as Dean Corso, an expert on rare books.

Corso is hired by a collector, Boris Balkan (Creator/FrankLangella), to authenticate his copy of ''The Nine Gates of the Kingdom of Shadows''. Written in [[NumberOfTheBeast 1666]] by Aristide Torchia, the book is supposedly an adaptation of another book, the ''Delomelanicon'', written by Lucifer himself, and it contains instructions on how to summon the Devil and gain great supernatural power. After Torchia was burned at the stake, only three copies of ''The Nines Gates'' survived to the modern day, but Balkan believes that only one is authentic and the other two are forgeries. He asks Corso to compare his copy to the other two and find out which is the real book.

The investigation causes Corso to cross paths with many other collectors, who like Balkan seems to genuinely believe the book has power and will do anything to learn its secrets. Initially disbelieving of the supernatural, the things Corso sees begin to change his mind, and he discovers a secret of ''The Nine Gates'' that could be the key to solving its riddles and achieving ultimate power.

[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/theninthgate_2861.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:300:''[[TagLine The only thing more terrifying than searching for The Devil...is finding him.]]'']]

* EvilerThanThou: A major plot element in the film is that two very rich and rather nasty people -- a Satanist and a guy who [[ScrewTheRulesIHaveMoney just wants the power]] -- are both after [[TomeOfEldritchLore a book believed capable of summoning the devil]]. Ultimately this leads to an epic scene in which the latter [[spoiler:crashes the former's black mass, kills her in plain sight of the other cultists, and gives a rant saying "You Satanists are amateurs, only ''I'' understand the true power of this book" while they flee in terror.]]

* HotAsHell:
** [[spoiler:The Girl]] is heavily implied to be the Devil, and is extremely attractive.
** As far as we can see, none of the current female members of the Silver Serpent cult is unattractive.

* AmbiguousEnding: What did [[spoiler:Corso]] do and what does the ending scene mean for him? The interpretation is different depending of how you interpret the movie's characters and scenes before it.

* APartyAlsoKnownAsAnOrgy: The gatherings of the Order of the Silver Serpent have degenerated over the centuries into an excuse to have sex under the pretense of worshipping the Devil, according to both Kessler and Balkan.
* BeautyIsNeverTarnished: Even after fighting off two of [[spoiler: Liana Telfer's henchmen]], Corso and The Girl manage to walk away alive with just a bloody nose, a concussion, scratches and some broken glasses.

* BikerBabe: The Girl hitches a ride on her motorcycle in a few scenes and often rescues Corso on one or transports him to specific locations.

* APartyAlsoKnownAsAnOrgy: The gatherings of the Order of the Silver Serpent have degenerated over the centuries into an excuse to have sex with the excuse of worshipping the Devil, according to both Kessler and Balkan.

* GainaxEnding: [[spoiler:After Corso kills Balkan when his rituals fails, he goes outside to smoke in his car as the castle burns. The Girl appears in the car, kisses Corso, and the scene cuts to the two of them having sex on the grass, during which the Girl almost seems to transform and Corso is frightened by what he sees. The next morning the two are driving down the highway and the Girl explains Balkan's ritual failed because one of the engravings was fake, and Corso wants the real one. When they stop for gas she vanishes, but leaves a clue to the location of the real engraving. Corso returns to the home of the Ceniza brothers and finds the true engraving, showing the Girl riding a seven-headed dragon before a castle with the sun shining from behind it. Corso returns to the castle and the doors open to welcome him, light shining beyond them, and then it fades to the credits.]]

** MissFanservice: Liana Telfer, played by Creator/LenaOlin, is a [[UglyGuyHotWife trophy wife]] GoldDigger in her early 40's who is ''also'' a member of a Satanic sex club and is not above trading sex for the book she needs in her rituals. Predictably, she has a sex scene and another fully nude scene from the back, and her last appearance in the movie can be seen as a mockery of this trope ([[spoiler: Balkan pushes her dead, virtually nude body away by kicking her in the crotch]]).

* ImpoverishedPatrician: Both Victor Fargas, the Portuguese owner of the second copy

* YourCheatingHeart: It's all but spelled out that Liana had Satanic sex orgies in her French country home while her late husband was completely in the dark about it (at least almost right to the point when he sold the book and killed himself). Corso also ponders that she had a relationship with her [[WhereTheWhiteWomenAt black bodyguard]] while her husband was alive.

** Victor Fargas is a proud and elegant man who's possessions are all expensive and fancy. However, as he freely admits, he doesn't have many of those possessions left (owning only a single set of wine glasses). His house also lacks any servants, and he's sold over a fifth of his proud library of rare books (which he calls his only reason for living) to pay the taxes on the mansion that he's too proud and sentimental to sell.

* ImpoverishedPatrician: Both Victor Fargas, the Portuguese owner of the second copy, and Liana Telfer, who married Andrew as a way out of her ruined French aristocrat family.

* ForeignRemake: Subverted. The original novel begins in Madrid and Corso is presumably Spanish. The movie begins in [[BigApplesauce New York City]] (though given Polanski's notorious legal problems, it had to be faked in Paris) and Corso and several other characters are changed to American or immigrants to America. However, the movie is actually a French-Spanish coproduction that was filmed in English for a wider international release.

** The black man is never named in the movie, though he plays the part of the ([[RaceLift Rochefort]]) in the book.

* RaceLift: Rochefort, an EeriePaleSkinnedBrunette in the book, becomes an unnamed bleach blond black man.

* ForeignRemake: Subverted. The original novel begins in Madrid and Corso is presumably Spanish. The movie begins in [[BigApplesauce New York City]] (though given Polanski's notorious legal problems, it had to be faked in Paris) and Corso and several other characters are changed to American or immigrants to America. However, the movie is actually a French-Spanish coproduction that was filmed in English for a better international release.

** The Ceniza brothers, in the script at least. A deleted line claims [[spoiler: that the Cenizas have been dead for years when Corso returns to their bookstore.]] Ceniza means "ash" in Spanish. [[spoiler:I.e. the Cenizas are servants of Hell, "fire", and crumble to dust after Corso interacts with them.]]

''The Ninth Gate'' is a 1999 mystery thriller film by Creator/RomanPolanski, freely adapted from the Spanish novel ''Literature/TheClubDumas'' by Arturo Pérez-Reverte, starring Creator/JohnnyDepp as Dean Corso, an expert on rare books.

* ForeignRemake: Subverted. The original novel begins in Madrid and Corso is presumably Spanish. The movie begins in [[BigApplesauce New York City]] (though given Polanski's notorious legal problems, it had to be faked in Paris) and Corso and several other characters are changed to American or immigrants to it. However, the movie is actually a French-Spanish coproduction that was filmed in English for a better international release.

* DescendedCreator: The Ceniza brothers are played by the production manager of the scenes filmed in Spain, José López Rodero.

* DescendedCreator: The Ceniza brothers are played by producer José López Rodero ActingForTwo. Rodero was an assistant director before he was a producer and this was his first acting billing ever.

* ForeignRemake: Of a sort - the original novel begins in Madrid and Corso is presumably Spanish. The movie begins in [[BigApplesauce New York City]] (though given Polanski's notorious legal problems, it had to be faked in Paris) and Corso and several other characters are changed to American or immigrants to it.

** The Ceniza brothers, in the script at least. A deleted line claims [[spoiler: that they'd been dead for years when he returns to their bookstore.]] Ceniza means "ash" in Spanish. [[spoiler:They are both servants of Hell, "fire", and crumble to dust after Corso interacts with them.]]

* TapToTheHead: Corso is knocked out twice with a single hit to the head, with no ill effects besides being, well, passed out for a while.