The Ninth Gate (1999) on Netflix
Dean Corso deals in rare books in New York. Collector Boris Balkan hires him to verify which of three surviving copies of The Nine Gates of the Kingdom of Shadows is genuine.
- Netflix3.4/5
- IMDb6.7/10212,070 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes44%
Trailer
Plot summary
Boris Balkan, a wealthy collector of books about the Devil, has acquired The Nine Gates of the Kingdom of Shadows, a 17th-century text by Aristide Torchia that legend says can summon the Devil. Only three copies survived, and Balkan believes just one is genuine. He hires Dean Corso, a New York dealer in rare books, to inspect the other two, held by Victor Fargas in Sintra, Portugal, and Baroness Kessler in Paris. Liana Telfer, the widow of the collector who sold Balkan his copy, wants the book back, and a mysterious woman shadows Corso as he travels. The nine engravings in the book form the riddle.
Cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about The Ninth Gate (1999)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- The Ninth Gate is adapted from Arturo Perez-Reverte's novel The Club Dumas, but Polanski and co-writer John Brownjohn stripped out its literary references and a subplot about a lost Three Musketeers manuscript to focus purely on the hunt for the book of engravings.
- Roman Polanski initially doubted Johnny Depp was right for Dean Corso because the character was written as forty while Depp was only 34, and considered casting an older actor, but Depp pushed to stay attached simply because he wanted to work with Polanski.
- Barbara Jefford was cast as the Baroness Kessler at the last minute after the German actress originally hired fell ill with pneumonia and a second replacement couldn't learn the dialogue; Jefford then learned the role, delivered with a German accent, with only days to prepare.
- After the film's release, distributor Artisan sued Roman Polanski for allegedly taking more than $1 million in French value-added-tax refunds from the budget instead of returning them to the completion bond company that guaranteed the film would be finished.
- The film's main musical theme is loosely built on Camille Saint-Saens' violin piece Havanaise, with part of the score featuring a vocal aria sung by Korean soprano Sumi Jo.
