A well known book dealer Dean Corso (brilliantly performed by Johnny Depp) buys and sells rare antique books. He is in quite happy and satisfied with his life until some day he is invited to his old client, Boris Balkan (Frank Langella). Balkan shows him his unique collection among which there are rare books devoted to the Devil. Balkan is very interested in this subject but one of the books he possesses — The Nine Gates of the Kingdom of Shadows causes a special interest. With the help of this very book one is able to summon the Devil. He knows that there are three copies of this book among which only one is authenticated. He is not sure if his copy is authenticated or fake and he wants Corso to check it. To fullfill this task Corso must go to Europe, find the other two books and carefully examine them and find all the differences. At first Corso does not agree but the reward for this task is very good. So he takes the Balkan's copy and starts for the journey.

But the matter is complicated by the fact that this book was sold to Balkan by the other book collector named Andrew Telfer who had bought it for his wife Liana and later commited suicide. Now she want to buy it back from Corso but fails. Corso understands that he is in danger and hides the book at his friend. When he drops into to get it he finds his friend dead but the book is in the secret place.

He does not like it. But this is just a beginning in the chain of deathes that accompany Corso's adventure. He comes to Europe and finds both books. He studies them carefully but just when he's ready to finish, the book is burned and its owner is dead. Corso managed to find out that the difference was in etchings - illustrations: they are almost the same in all the books but there are etchings with slight difference that as he was told were depicted with the help of Lucifer himself. Both time when the book was burning he had time to notice that the etchings were torn out. It is obvious that somebody watches his every step.

At the beginning of his journey he gets aquainted with a mysterious girl with the green eyes (played by my favourite Emmanuelle Seigner). She declares herself his guardian angel and indeed she saved his life several times and helped him in his business.

The suspition falls on Liana Telfer. She and her guard friend follow Corso in his journey. And finally she manages to steal Corso's copy. Corso reports this to Balkan but the last one demands Corso to return him his book by all means. So Corso with the angel drive to Liana's mansion but Balkan is the first to get his book killing Liana who used this book for some devilish rituals.

Corso understands that Balkan is probably to blame for all the other deathes. (Though the first death is still unexplainable.) He followes him to his castle and becomes a witness of his ceremony of calling the Devil. But something went wrong and Balkan perished without finishing the matter of his all life.

Corso is puzzled. He asks the angel what was wrong with Balkan's ritual and she answered that the ninth etching was fake. She gives him a clue where to find it, he finds it and the film ends. So you never know who was the angel and why the ninth etching was a forgery. All you can suppose is that Corso went to try to summon the Devil too. A little disappointing in a way and not very smart: how can Corso succeed where Balkan who had studied the question for many years failed?

But in spite of such a disappointing end the film is worth seeing. First, because of the magnificent actors' performance. Not only Jonny Depp but all the other actors play very well. Second, this film is qualified by the very beautiful operator's work. Beautiful interiors, costumes, landscapes full of silent symbols. And third the story is really very interesting even without a proper finish. It happens in life too that some mysteries stay without solution and this is one of them. And besides you really enjoy watching it. Many episodes are subtle and full of hints, very often you just guess what's going on. Though I cannot help mentioning that some scenes are rather weak, like the scene where Balkan calls Lucifer—the complete episode is done by Spielberg pattern that became rather standard by now. I also think that all those murders were not really motivated: one could easily steal those books if he could not live without them. So maybe though one cannot call this Polanski's best movie it is certainly enjoyable and will attract spectators of all categories.

Note. The review of the book El Club Dumas. La Novena Puerta you can read on the earthprobeREPORT site in the section Book Reviews.

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