The Ninth Gate - What the heck?!?!?!?

okay havent seen the movie in a while but here's what I remember. we are supposed to believe that the woman is an angel but i believe she is a fallen angel sent by Satan to facilitate the opening of the ninth gate.

and in the end, johnny depp chose to take the power that frank langella would have taken.

the whole conceit of the movie being that the legend is true and satan and god are real.

like i said, havent watched the movie in a while. i'll check it out.

Saint Fool said:

My niece and I have a Christmas tradition of tracking down and watching Johnny Depp movies we haven't seen. Yesterday, we watched The Ninth Gate. After two hours of pretty photography and a good soundtrack, we looked at each other and said "WTF?"

Does it help to read the book? (The Dumas Club?)

Can anyone explain the ending? Or why the woman flew through the air?

Or must I just accept the fact that sometimes Depp makes really bad script choices?

Click to expand...

I loved the film. And the ending needs little explanation... Depp found the Ninth Gate and the power that went with it.

(And the "woman" could fly because she was never human in the first place.)

I'm almost done reading The Club Dumas and I recently watched the movie for a second time. As I understand it SPOILER ALERT (highlight to read) the woman is the angel Gabriel.

The other explanations up there are about as good as I could do. Reading the book might help. I love that movie.

I wouldn't have picked the woman as an archangel. If she was so all holy and stuff, why was she pictured in the book of the kingdom of shadows? I'm about 99% sure that she was supposed to be a witch, and that SHE, not Depp, snatched the power that Frank Langella was after.

Remember in the opening of the movie when Depp goes to see Langella in the lecture hall? That's the first time we see the mysterious woman, and the lecturer is saying something along the lines of "witches often adopted low creatures--cats and rats--as a familiar."

She's a witch and she chose Johnny Depp's low-life scumbag character as her familiar. That's my theory & I'm sticking to it.

You hit 1,000 posts, Scott! Woo-hoo!

I thought the woman was Satan, and that Depp in the end became a witch (specifically, the "he has had carnal knowledge of the Devil and consorted with dark powers" sort of witch).

I thought the same think and I'm still not sure. But a friend who'd finished the book told me otherwise.

*boggles*

Huh? I like that movie a great deal. And I always thought she was, well, you know...the bad guy.

ETA: Cross-posted with two peeps that see it the same way as me.

OK...the guy who told me she wasn't a 'bad' guy doesn't have literary credentials. He's an OBGYN. *shrugs*

Of all the movies he's done that are creepy, I happen to like this one the most. Dunno why, just do.

I liked Secret Window 'cause it's about a writer...and I didn't see the twist coming although I felt kinda stoopid at the reveal.

I heart Johnny Depp.

vixey said:

You hit 1,000 posts, Scott! Woo-hoo!

Click to expand...

Hey, I did!

I was planning to use my 1000th to go up to P&CE and argue with robeiae somebody, but this is more Christmasy.

It's been a long time so I don't remember the ending. What I remember is that I actually enjoyed the film and didn't find it confusing.

Hmmm, my take was that she was the Devil. Wasn't she pictured in a page of the book as the Devil?

But, I'm cool with the whole "Gabriel" thing also.

I liked that movie. I thought the woman was (spoiler alert) the whore from Revelations. I'm not sure if that's what she was called, but the one who rode the many-headed dragon .

C.bronco said:

I liked that movie. I thought the woman was (spoiler alert)

Click to expand...

Oooh. She's right. I never caught that. But I still like the witch idea--that voiceover in the auditorium doesn't seem like coincidence. Are they mutually exclusive, do you think?

shawkins said:

Oooh. She's right. I never caught that. But I still like the witch idea--that voiceover in the auditorium doesn't seem like coincidence. Are they mutually exclusive, do you think?

Click to expand...

Now I'll have to watch it again. I hope they have it on IO.

What have witches got to do with Satan? Witches don't believe Satan exists. Let's face it, they don't believe God ( as in the Christian version) exists either. Why would they help either one out if they are a fictional entity? Seriously, that's very confusing.


But yeah, thanks for the explanation. I was quite tiddly by the time we got to the end of the film, so I wasn't sure if it was the beer stopping me get what was going on. Glad to see it wasn't just me.

I love the line from earlier, post-coital as twere:

Don't fuck with me!
I thought I just did.

*snicker*

Secret Window's on at 9pm, fellow Britishers. Channel five.

Seen it a bajillion times but it's the Depp, so...never enough.

As far as I understood the movie, she was the Devil and there are no witches. It's about a Satanic cult seeking power and immortality. That's my take on it.

ETA: And it didn't escape me that they use a female for the devil. A very attractive female.

Cassiopeia said:

ETA: And it didn't escape me that they use a female for the devil. A very attractive female.

Click to expand...

Polanski's wife wasn't it? I remember Depp saying he was nervous about kissing her in front of her hubby but Roman kept saying words to the effect of 'Come on man, put your back into it!'

Which would be disconcerting.