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While not directly related to the film,『Perez-Reverte’s book contains numerous literary references and a subplot concerning Corso’s investigation into an unpublished chapter of The Three Musketeers』is incorrect in that the chapter, as written in the book, is actually chapter 42, The Anjou Wine (http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Three_Musketeers/Chapter_42), which was part of the novel. Shane Lin 20:34, 21 August 2006 (UTC)[reply]
(The original poster left no headline. I made up one. --Netizen 10:38, 21 January 2006 (UTC))[reply]
Why is this "a Spanish/French mystery movie" rather than "a U.S./Spanish/French mystery movie" (as listed at IMDB)? The present version leaves the impression that it might not have been filmed in English, and it was. - Nunh-huh 03:21, 24 Jun 2004 (UTC)
I don't think it is appropriate to have the paragraph about certain people believing Corso to be Lucifer in the same section as the story description. The fact that this is so has no injunction upon the story nor is it referred to in the book, therefore it can only be observed as a generel opinoin. Just my two cents. Piecraft 12:25, 24 August 2005 (UTC)[reply]
Book M 11:17, 25 October 2006 (UTC)[reply]
Having read the novel and seen the film, I'm relatively certain that the issue of lack of concern for proper book-handling procedures is not symbolic of anything nor otherwise relevant to the plot. Its addition in this article seems more like the work of an over-diligent book preservationist than anything else. Unless anyone objects, I'll remove it.
—Preceding unsigned comment added by 151.196.46.237 (talk • contribs) 02:58, 4 October 2005 (See diff)
References
Chow!
—Preceding unsigned comment added by Davidf2 (talk • contribs) 05:03, 14 May 2006 (See diff)
I would do it myself but I'm not sure how. Seeing as how this film has many mysteries to it a spoiler warning would be lovely.
-Adam
Oops! Now I see it. Maybe it should just be more visible. I'll leave that up to others to decide.
-Adam
While an interesting read, one of the prime tenets of Wikipedia that unsourced, uncited speculation should not be part of its articles. There is quite a lot of it here, including pretty much all of sections 3-6. I'll working on trimming it out over the next few days.---Jackel 03:36, 12 July 2006 (UTC)[reply]
Book M 11:48, 25 October 2006 (UTC)[reply]
The movie offers plenty of riddles to the careful viewer. There is, of course, the main riddle concerning the book's nine engravings/Printmaking, and the murders, but there are more.
The mystery of the missing engraving
Corso is a book lover, but he shows little care for them, even the most valuable one: The Nine Gates of the Kingdom of Shadows, not wearing gloves, carrying the book in a shabby bag, leaving it unguarded, drinking whiskey and smoking while handling it. Why is that? And what's in a name, Corso? In Italian, Corso means 'the path' or 'course' and where might that path lead?
Who is the nameless, mysterious girl (Emmanuelle Seigner) who happens to turn up wherever Corso goes? The girl is shown on the missing page that Corso received at the end of the movie in Spain. The girl is shown on a creature with multiple heads, and she could be the Whore of Babylon, who travels on a beast with seven heads.
Balkan teaches a class on witchcraft where the girl is in attendance when Corso goes to meet Balkan at the beginning. She is obviously a 300 year old witch who levitates twice and appears in the front seat of the SUV at the old castle ruins. As well as having knowledge of the drowning of Fargus and the location of the original ninth engraving. Among other things such as insatiable lust. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2600:1009:B055:D7BE:4D8D:4A68:28B5:E4DD (talk) 02:06, 31 August 2023 (UTC)[reply]
It has been suggested that Corso is actually Lucifer himself, lost in the human realm. (In this theory, he may well have been forced to reincarnate into mortal body after mortal body, and/or may have lost his memory of who he is, perhaps as a result of his association with the book's author, or the works of some heaven-following sorcerer. The "memory loss" theory is the likelier of the two.) The nine engravings in the book is a popcorn trail so that he may find his way back. The Girl would be one of the "helpers" of Lucifer referred to by Balkan in the beginning of the movie. There are aspects to the film that might seem to support this:
A more common theory is that The Girl is Satan, summoned by being called upon so regularly by worshipers. (All three book collectors seem strangely disconnected - Baroness Kessler is writing a book on the Devil; Telfer's widow is part of the cult mentioned that uses the book and holds orgies to call the Devil; Balkan in the end is explicitly shown to believe that he has cracked some code to become one with Lucifer.)
Corso, initially an unwitting accomplice in the summoning, also becomes as obsessed as the other three, except that he is the one ultimately destined to unite with the Devil.
The mysterious Girl character, who has a tendency to appear at crucial moments in the film, thus giving Corso the initial impression that she is working for Balkan and keeping tabs on him, assists Corso because she is the Devil who wants him to decipher the clues and convert him to one of her people.
In the train scene in Europe, where Corso again sees the mysterious Girl and asks her name, a subtle hint that Corso is being groomed for unification with the Devil occurs: when the Girl finds out Corso's name, she laughs a little and tells him that it is an odd name. Corso replies that the name is Italian and means 'run'. She then tells him that he "doesn't look like a runner, more the quiet type".
In fact, Corso is more commonly known as the Italian word for path or course, not run, and the initial engraving in the series of nine plates speaks of 'traveling in silence, by a long and circuitous route', all metaphors for Corso's name, his quiet demeanor, and the journey (both figuratively and literally) that he is now on.
Furthermore, the two Spanish booksellers that Corso visits seem to disappear after their one meeting with Corso. Scaffolding crashes down behind him the moment he leaves the shop, suggesting perhaps that they were minions of Lucifer, planted to just subtly nudge him in the right direction.
Indeed, Corso receives a warning from the Spanish booksellers that danger could descend from above if he "strays too far" - as happens when the scaffolding crashes with Corso far from home and venturing physically (or metaphysically) into unknown territory.
Later, during a scuffle with the platinum-haired black man hired by Lady de St. Martin to obtain Balkan's copy of the Nine Gates, the Girl seems to fly or float to his rescue.
And later, in the chateau of St. Martin, after being held at gun-point, they kill the black man, largely in self defence. After Corso brutally beats him, a violence we had not imagined him capable of before, the Girl smiles eerily and remarks "I didn't know you had it in you" - an odd response to a bare-handed murder, but certainly a triumphant moment for the Devil in having succeeded in turning over a hitherto good man to his/her own side.
Following this, she again smiles eerily when Corso throws on a black gown and pentagram necklace to attend, incognito, the satanic ritual in the St Martin Chateau. Corso tells the Girl, "I'm going down", a metaphor for his descent into hell.
Throughout the movie, the Girl's eyes hold a spark of the sinister, the way they shine and hypnotise.
Also, when The Girl steals a car, it is a red Dodge Viper. This is a significant clue, as not only does the bright red, American car "stick out" in the European setting of the movie, but also as a viper is a type of snake, as Lucifer in Genesis was depicted, and the vibrant red color is a fitting color for the devil.
The nine illustrative engravings in the Nine Gates seem to mirror events that really happen throughout the film. In the last engraving, the Whore of Babylon or the Devil with a face just like The Girl's is astride a Hydra like creature while a castle is ablaze with some unearthly light in the distance behind her. Eventually, Corso and The Girl make love just in front of the blazing castle with The Girl/Devil astride a fully internally demonized Corso who, in the last shot, after the ultimate sexual submission to the Devil has finally obtained the metaphorical key into the ninth gate...the gate to Hell. If this theory is true, then Corso has doubtless earned himself a position of honor in Hell, perhaps as The Girl's consort.
A third and perhaps more plausible theory suggests that although Lucifer is inarguably a central character in The Ninth Gate, he does not physically appear in the film, and is in fact neither Corso nor The Girl.
This theory stems from Balkan and other characters' description of the purpose of the book The Nine Gates of the Kingdom of Shadows. At the outset of Corso's journey, Balkan says that the book contains ancient and arcane information that, when interpreted correctly, allows one to conjure Lucifer. As the plot of the film unfolds, it is revealed that the text of the book itself seems irrelevant to this purpose, and that the key to successfully getting the Devil to appears lies in the nine engravings in the book, which outline a sort of spiritual journey or quest. Ultimately, Corso alone fulfills this quest, so one would assume that if Balkan were accurate in his beliefs as to the purpose of the book, Corso is walking towards the final gate at the end of the film in order to meet Lucifer.
If this is the case, it is interesting to note why Corso (rather than the other human characters) is granted the opportunity to meet Lucifer. While the other primary characters are indeed corrupt, none of them seem able or willing to take the same journey that Corso inevitably completes. Because they each worship the Devil but are unable to completely commit themselves, they each are defeated and meet their untimely ends. Corso, by remaining on the correct path, skirts destruction and ruin and is ultimately successful. The Ceniza Brothers reinforce this idea when they tell Corso to remain on track or face the consequences.
This theory is coherent with both the text and symbolism of the film. While there are other characters who seem in some sense supernatural (The Girl and possibly the Ceniza Brothers), this points back to the opening of the film when Balkan discusses witches and familiars. One would expect other supernatural creatures to appear in this narrative's universe.
There is little in the dialogue of the film to suggest that either Corso or the Girl are the devil themselves. In Corso's case, it makes little sense as to why the devil would need to complete a spiritual journey to meet himself, and there is a clear degradation of morality in this character that takes him from mildly unethical to completely corrupt throughout the course of the film. One would expect Lucifer, at least as described in this movie, to already be completely immoral, whereas Corso needs to undertake this unrighteous quest in order to be evil enough to meet Satan.
It is also unlikely that the film director intended for the Girl to be Satan. Of note, the movie draws heavily from Christian myth, and Lucifer is never represented as a female character in conventional Judeo-Christian mythology. The Girl also appears on the ninth engraving in the book, which would seem to suggest that she is part of the final leg of the journey, rather than Satan himself. In this engraving, she is seen sitting atop a seven headed beast. This is typical of Christian imagery of the Whore of Babylon and is taken from the book of Revelation. In that story, the Whore is a servant of Satan who plays an important role in the end of the world. There are several beasts in Revelation, one of which is a seven headed dragon with ten horns that symbolizes Satan. There are many historical artistic renderings that depict the Whore of Babylon sitting on top of a beast, and which specific beast is portrayed varies. In the context of The Ninth Gate, it would seem likely that the engraving is meant to represent the Whore of Babylon and Lucifer (as the dragon). In the bible, the Whore of Babylon is a servant of Satan who represents the corruption of the Roman Empire, and as depicted in the film, the Girl could be construed to be a servant of Satan who facilitates the corruption of Corso. Regardless her role in the movie, because she is clearly pictured with a symbol of Satan and not as Satan, we must assume she is a separate entity entirely.
One can also form a hypothesis, or theory that The Girl is a Fallen angel cast out of heaven and is on earth for Lucifer, acting as a guardian angel for Corso, leading him to his desired destination. She does the utmost to see Corso along his way, even informing him where the final engraving is located.
Balkan showed that the ninth gate is a path to equality with god. This is the fundamental vanity of Satan and Satan has always been interested in making man a rival of God (e.g. garden of eden and the fruit from teh tree of knowledge). THus the ninth gate is likely immortality of some kind, another way to disrupt the order established by God. At its extreme, Corso is the anti-christ. that would explain the whore of babylon and beast with seven heads reference. Someone above mentioned that Roman Polanksi stated the girl is a minion of Satan.65.78.24.62 (talk) 00:10, 29 June 2009 (UTC)[reply]
I don't understand at all about all this speculation about who Corso and the girl were supposed to symbolize, etc., etc. Do you really think Roman Polanski or the author of the book intended all of those hidden meanings? If so, why don't you ask Roman Polanski and then you can stop speculating once and for all. Instead of speculating, why don't you just do research on some of the easy to grasp details of the movie, starting at places like this:
I think the movie deserve to be continue --Max Mayr 08:55, 12 October 2007 (UTC) 08:51, 12 October 2007 (UTC)[reply]
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BetacommandBot (talk) 04:17, 2 January 2008 (UTC)[reply]
"While eventually only making $18,661,336 in North America, it went on to make $58,401,898 worldwide, well above its budget of $38 million.[1]" - Erm, except that that was the production budget. It doesn't include marketing. So in the opening paras where it says it made a 'profit', that's not proven by the ref, it's just a guess - O.R. Malick78 (talk) 21:47, 13 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
According to Wikipedia, these kinds of sections are discouraged unless sourced so I'm putting here until this happens.--J.D. (talk) 18:43, 8 March 2009 (UTC)[reply]
While the movie follows the book close for the first two-thirds of the story, the finale is severely changed in the film. The most notable change from novel to movie was the ommision of an important subplot revolving around an orginal chapter from The Three Musketeers (the forty-second, Le vin d'Anjou) which falls into Corso's hands (Lucas Corso in the novel) and he must verify its authenticity while at the same time researching on The Nine Gates. The manuscript proves to be authentic, but also proves to be one of several involving the collaboration of Alexandre Dumas's real-life partner Auguste Maquet, effectively endangering Dumas' reputation as sole creator of The Three Musketeers. This is also the reason why Liana Telfer (in the book, Taillefer) and her bodyguard (in the book, an actor pretending to be Rochefort, a character from the novel) chase Corso and effectively steal the chapter back. In the end it becomes evident that Telfer, "Rochefort" and Boris Balkan (who narrates the novel as supposedly told by Corso to him) belong to The Club Dumas, a secret but benign society bent on preserving Dumas' reputation. The plot revolving around The Nine Doors does not involve either of these characters (although Corso does not know that and mistakenly thinks both the manuscript and the book as being somehow connected). Instead, it involves Varo Borja, a satanic millionaire bent on summoning Satan (his character was renamed Boris Balkan in the movie, leaving the real Balkan - along with Club Dumas and the Dumas manuscript - entirely out from the movie). It is Borja who dies while attempting to invoke the devil (but is not killed by Corso). Another important change is Corso's librarian friend. In the film he is called Bernie and is killed early in the story. In the book, his name is Flavio La Ponte and survives the ordeal altogether: he engages in an affair with Liana, who uses him to get the manuscript back; later on he falls apart from Corso as he proves to be nothing but a coward. The final significant change revolves around the mysterious girl who follows Corso around. She remains equally nameless in both book and adaptation (though in the novel she assumes the obviously fake alias of Irene Adler and frequently refers and is referred as that). Her identity is made evident in the novel: while in the film it is alluded that she might be the devil herself, in the novel this is suspected by Corso early into their partnership and later on she confesses to being a fallen angel (but not the devil). In both stories they have sex, but whereas in the film this occurs in the end and leads to an ambiguous ending, the sex in the novel happens halfway through the story and carries no other consequences than remaining together in the end. Minor subplots such as Corso's tortuous flashbacks from a previous relationship with a woman named Nikon, as well as him mentally reliving the Battle of Waterloo over and over again (depending on the situation). Parallels with The Three Musketeers (Liana being Milady, her bodyguard being Rochefort, Corso d'Artagnan, Flavio Athos, etc.) are also ommitted.
why aren't these discussion page corso/girl theories part of the main entry? they're great. when i watched the movie for the 4th time tonight i expected to see this type of theory building on the main page. why aren't i? is it because of the spoiler effect? i'm at a loss for a real reason. Quebex (talk) 03:08, 9 July 2009 (UTC)[reply]
According to my (probably USA) copy of the soundtrack, track 16's title is listed as "Vocalise - Theme from the Ninth Gate (Reprise)" not "Vocalise - Theme from a Summer Place". The track is indeed almost identical to track 1, and is shorter by two seconds.
67.87.154.223 (talk) 20:54, 12 November 2009 (UTC)RYK[reply]
What an interesting film, and realistic concerning the guy dumping gas on his head. It's different actually knowing people like that. Glad they have the warning...75.200.152.234 (talk) 12:58, 7 June 2010 (UTC) —Preceding unsigned comment added by 75.200.150.116 (talk) 12:04, 7 June 2010 (UTC)[reply]
I was a bit puzzled by the setting of the film in time. It's shot in 1999 but there is not a single mobile phone? Everyones uses more or less antique technology. Corso's budget is unlimited but he still travels by commercial air and train and taxi? After all, he is a mercenary; he would live as well as he could on his budget. Perhaps that is a difference from the book? And yes, I agree with some others that just because you have a bookshelf you don't have a library of rare and expensive books. They are kept in darkness, with controlled humidity and temperature if you know what you're doing.
83.251.57.154 (talk) 10:43, 16 June 2010 (UTC)[reply]
The Girl is introduced in the same scene in which Corso arrives to hear Balkan giving his speech about familiars being summoned to aid witches. She then takes an interest in him, as she recognizes that he is intent on pursuing the mystery, and provides aid. She has so much occult knowledge because she's a demon possessing a human. 71.171.79.229 (talk) 10:55, 17 June 2010 (UTC)[reply]
While it is uncertain what the author of the book the film is based on intended, Lucifer (root of word means light) was originally the 'Light Bringer' and represented the Planet Venus. The Moon was known as 'Sin' and was an ancient God that many worshiped.
Christianity had to do away with all these old nature gods (especially female ones that many early peoples worshiped because the female could bring new life) so that the Roman Catholic Church could have a monopoly on power.
In this light (pun intended), Lucifer is not evil/devil - (as in Adam and Ev-il - the woman got the blame for eating from the tree of knowledge) - Lucifer was the light bringer, Venus, that appears just before the Sun rises, therefore Lucifer is good, assisting the Sun/God.
Therefore, when Corso goes into the Castle at the end of the film - (director Roman Polansky picked a Cathar Castle, see below for explanation of Cathars from Wikipedia) - which was the Castle of a Christian sect that believed in an ancient dualism. This Castle was glowing with brilliant light because he would have been attaining en-lightenment with the help of Lucifer's female assistant. If all of this was not the intention it should have been!
From Wiki... "The Cathars believed there existed within mankind a spark of divine light. This light, or spirit, had fallen into captivity within a realm of corruption identified with the physical body and world. This was a distinct feature of classical Gnosticism, of Manichaeism and of the theology of the Bogomils. This concept of the human condition within Catharism was most probably due to direct and indirect historical influences from these older (and sometimes violently suppressed) Gnostic movements. According to the Cathars, the world had been created by a lesser deity, much like the figure known in classical Gnostic myth as the Demiurge. This creative force was identified with Satan; most forms of classical Gnosticism had not made this explicit link between the Demiurge and Satan. Spirit, the vital essence of humanity, was thus trapped in a polluted world created by a usurper God and ruled by his corrupt minions." —Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.108.110.16 (talk) 03:12, 15 November 2010 (UTC)[reply]
I modified the summary - immediately following the box office stats paragraph - to more accurately represent the breadth of published opinions on this film, partly taking into account those that have emerged after the initial critical response.
In support of the words I added, I cited an additional review, by a serious online critic, in the some-critics-had-postive-things-to-say paragraph. I also cited IMDB, something which might be worth discussing. Most genre films - of whatever quality - have their boosters on IMDB, and I wouldn't ordinarily cite these as a ref. In this case, though, the "most useful" reviews of this film on IMDB page accurately reflect opinions widely held by many serious film fans (not just fans of Polanski or of occult-themed films) - to whit, that this film was underrated on its release.
If someone wants to peruse published opinions of the film in greater detail, to confirm or deny this assertion more stringently, I would welcome that. One good starting point is this: http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/ninth_gate/reviews/#sort=fresh Especially, try flipping the switch to "rotten first" and notice that most of those reviews are now inaccessible (that is, much older) Praghmatic (talk) 19:10, 25 May 2011 (UTC)[reply]
| × | Male | Female |
|---|---|---|
| Under 21 | D | D- |
| 21 To 34 | D | F |
| 35 And Up | D | D- |
Which part of "This is not a forum for general discussion of the article's subject." dont some of you guys understand?. 86.182.36.232 (talk) 22:15, 7 August 2011 (UTC)[reply]
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Cheers. —cyberbot IITalk to my owner:Online 01:23, 19 October 2015 (UTC)[reply]
The length is currently 764, rather too long. I will trim it down a bit. Invertzoo (talk) 19:58, 3 April 2016 (UTC)[reply]
Update: It is now 609 words. Invertzoo (talk) 20:29, 3 April 2016 (UTC)[reply]
In the 'Plot' section, first paragraph, we find the sentence "Balkan believes only one of the three is authentic and wants Corso to inspect the other two to determine which one." This makes no sense! I think it's meant to read "...wants Corso to inspect them to setermine which one." Possibly "inspect them all"?
I won't change anything myself as I haven't even seen the film. But somebody should clean that up.
109.159.164.72 (talk) 03:00, 21 September 2021 (UTC)[reply]
What was the breed of the dog in the film that shows up for a few seconds ? 94.14.195.131 (talk) 17:00, 13 February 2023 (UTC)[reply]
