When The Ninth Gate was first released in 1999, it wasn’t a big commercial success. Critics said the movie “meandered aimlessly” and had a “lackluster ending” that not even Johnny Depp’s star power could save.
At first glance, the critics were correct: The Ninth Gate appears to be about Johnny Depp running around various countries while lighting cigarettes at every opportunity he gets. And after about two hours, the movie ends in a rather anti-climactic way.
But at second glance, these critics completely missed the movie’s point. The Ninth Gate is not a Pirates of the Caribbean-style adventure but a highly symbolic story of initiation where the protagonist’s “meandering” is actually an allegorical ritual, and the “anti-climatic ending” is nothing less than spiritual illumination guided by the Whore of Babylon in the flesh.
https://vigilantcitizen.com/moviesandtv/the-much-overlooked-symbolism-in-roman-polanskis-the-ninth-gate/Watch it for free. Polansky is evil but that doesn't mean he's a shitty film maker. He's better than most directors working today. And I wish Madame St. Martin would sit on my face and smother me to death with the creamy flesh of her bum. It's a nice travelogue through France too..
https://fmovies.ps/watch-movie/watch-the-ninth-gate-online-16205.1042932