The Ninth Gate (1999)

I really LOVE watching hollywoodian actors in Europe! And 'The Ninth Gate' is one of them. You will see Johnny Depp as a book dealer. One day, a wealthy book collector asks him to authenticate an ancient satanic book of him. For this, he has to visit the owners of the two other copies that reside in Europe. There the journey starts! He goes to Portugal and France to see the owners of the other books.

The story goes a little mysterious here; however I wish they didn’t use this song which interrupts the movie from time to time, mostly in the second half and takes the movie from seriousness to a comedy level, makes it look like a cheap thriller...

I find the story nice, photography not too bad (especially I enjoyed short Portuguese shots). However, the movie lasts two hours which is too long and loses its excitement through the end. Also, the special effects are not good at all.

Johnny Depp carries his character successfully; however I cannot say the same thing for Emmanuelle Seigner (wife of Roman Polanski). Maybe it is the language to blame that it seems bizarre when she speaks or maybe she tried to give a mystic side to the character that she performs…

Another good thing in the movie is Lena Olin. I admire her beauty and I think she’s one of the very successful actors. I’ve seen her in an '88 movie, The Unbearable Lightness of Being, along with Daniel Day-Lewis and Juliette Binoche and in The Reader (2008). Her performances are fascinating and so realistic.

I love the scenes where Depp speaks in French. In one of them, he talks to a baker:

Depp : Nous cherchons la maison de Mme st-martin.
Baker : Le château vous voulez dire?
Depp : Où est le château?

or with a restaurant owner
Depp : Mme! (showing the address at the back of a cardpostal) C'est où ça?
:)
The Ninth Gate is one of those “cup of tea” movies, might go well at a boring snowy/rainy weekend when you don’t have anything to do, you can waste your two hours to see some holywoodians in Europe ;)

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