2000 Talk About Movies
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Contents © 2000
by Jim Holman.
All rights reserved.

The Ninth Gate

Directed by Roman Polanski, starring Johnny Depp, Lena Olin, Frank Langella, and Emanuelle Seigner.

Ernie: To give the film more credit than it is due, maybe the point was to say that fascination with the Devil inevitably leads to ruination since every character with that fascination ends up dying a terrible death. But the central character, Corso, didn't really have a fascination with the Devil until the very end.

Matthew: Right. At worst he's a selfish, unscrupulous man who is a little too sensual and too fond of money. Then somehow, despite his skeptical view of these things, he develops an obsession with the Devil but we're not really shown a credible reason why.

Ernie: Not only was no reason given, it wasn't even shown that he was developing this obsession, that he cared about anything other than his pay check.

Matthew: Except at the very end when the girl chases after his and says, "You've got your check, why are you going after him?" Corso responds, "I think you know why."

Ernie: But we didn't know why. For Corso, up until that moment, it was all about money. Then suddenly the chase is no longer about the money, it's about Satan. But that transformation is not shown in enough detail to be credible.