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Director
Roman Polanski’s film The Ninth Gate, starring Johnny Depp,
has been misrepresented as a horror film at the box office and has garnered
sour reviews and unhappy reactions from many moviegoers expecting a gory,
spooky combination of Sleepy Hollow and Rosemary’s
Baby. Based on the book The Club Dumas by Arturo
Perez-Reverte, the movie is actually an involving little mystery about
the location and acquisition of an ancient book said to enable the reader
to call up Satan. As mysteries go, it really isn’t bad; the search for
the infernal book is full of cloak and dagger, Frank Langella (of Dracula
fame) is perfect as the rich, murderous collector who hires Depp to find
copies of the book, and as always, Polanski’s direction is precise, controlled
and unique.
But
the film’s true value is as a subtle, funny parody of the horror, mystery
and film noir genres. With its inside jokes, playful soundtrack and pointed
emulation of all that is truly awful in horror films, The Ninth
Gate showcases the often understated and odd sense of humor common
to both Johhny Depp and Roman Polanski.
Bright
Sun, Dark Moon, Back Down to Earth
 Roman
Polanski was born August 18, 1933, in Paris. He moved with his family
to their native Poland when he was just three years old. During World
War II, his parents were yanked away from him and taken to a Nazi concentration
camp, where his mother died. His formative years were spent without his
parents, in the tragedy of war-torn Poland, and he coped with his feelings
by escaping to the movies and acting in radio dramas, on stage and in
film.
Though
he is known for his psychological thrillers, darker sexual themes and,
of course, Rosemary’s Baby, Chinatown and
Frantic, Polanski’s early films, such as Cul-de-sac
and The Fearless Vampire Killers, show a humorous sense
of the absurd. Unfortunately, infamy and horror seem to follow Polanski
around. He was again shadowed by tragedy with the murder of his wife,
actress Sharon Tate, by the Manson Family in the 1960s; and it is doubtful
that anyone will forget his 1979 arrest, imprisonment and subsequent flight
from the United States for his sexual relationship with a thirteen-year-old
girl.
A
Sun-sign Leo with Mercury, his communication planet, also in Leo, Polanski
is a creative and fiery natural to the film-making business. There is
a commanding, intriguing eccentricity to his personality and his work,
as well as a strong drive to express himself and to achieve fame. But
the placement of the Moon in the director’s chart shows us a hint of the
unfortunate fate of the women in his life, as well as his public notoriety:
the Moon and Pluto are conjunct in Cancer, involved in a stressful, dynamic
T-square formation with Mars and Uranus square (making a 90-degree angle)
to the conjunction on either side. This makes for an extremely intense,
abrupt, often erratic person who is often at odds with his own emotions
and with the people around him.
Dark
and brooding and quite changeable, life has always been shaded with black
for Polanski. Luckily for him, these aspects are toned down and softened
by Venus, Neptune and Jupiter in Virgo, where these benific planets provide
an opportunity for a creative release of tensions. It is here, and also
in his Cancer Moon, that we find his sense of humor, his practical approach
to the tides of his life and also, a surprisingly strong connection with
actor Johhny Depp.
Two
Peas in a Weird Pod
Born
30 years later on June 9, 1963, the smart, brash young Depp would seem
to be worlds apart from the jaded and care-worn Polanski. And yet, the
much younger star of Edward Scissorhands, Don Juan
DeMarco and Sleepy Hollow shows a similar personal
intensity and an eccentric, yet earthy and practical approach to his life,
love and work.
Depp’s
Gemini Sun and Leo Ascendant give him a glib, multifaceted, yet commanding
presence. He is a natural communicator with a flair for the dramatic,
and he’s easily able to switch roles, and then switch back again. His
Capricorn Moon is in opposition to Polanski’s rather loony Moon in Cancer,
lending deep wells of emotional give and take to the relationship, as
well as an appreciation for the differences in the personalities of the
two.
With
the majority of his planets in earth signs, and especially Uranus in Virgo,
Depp quite easily taps into the Virgoan vision of Polanski, responding
to his exacting, demanding work style, controlled direction and strange
sense of humor with aplomb. Depp’s Venus, at 26 degrees Taurus, is exactly
trine (120 degrees) Polanski’s Venus and Jupiter in Virgo, which indicates
an ease and flow of affection, humor and understanding between the two
men, as well as a similar drive, ambition and work ethic.
Depp
seemed to thoroughly enjoy this role; his deliberately wooden portrayal
of the sleazy book dealer is funny without being obviously over-the-top,
and his interaction with horror icon Frank Langella’s evil collector is
marvelous.
A
Movie of His Own
Whether
it was billed as a horror flick unintentionally or not, it seems that
Polanski really didn’t make The Ninth Gate for the audience
as much as he made it for himself. After a long string of harrowing, emotionally
draining movies and life experiences, it is past time that Polanski lightened
up and laughed a little. Polanski has been quoted as saying, “I want people
to go to the movies. I am the man of spectacle. I’m playing.” There is
no doubt he had a lot of fun with Johhny Depp and The Ninth Gate.
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