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I thought this was a great movie, at least in that it required some thought. It's been a while, so my memory may be fuzzy...
The Girl is enticing him throughout the whole movie. Notice at the beginning he is not a good guy (i.e. tricking the guy out of the rare books), but he is pretty normal. As the movie progresses he gets worse and worse, and it all seems necessary. By the end, he kills someone without a thought.
He is being groomed for the entrance to the ninth gate. Look at the pictures again and notice how they relate to events in the movie. Johnny Depp experiences at least some of them. The obvious one in my memory is the one in the lady's study when he gets hit on the head as he is looking at one of the pictures of someone sneaking up to bash someone on the head.
I remember that whoever went through it got some kind of demonic power on earth and would be the Devil's champion or something like that. I agree with seretogis above. The girl is working on the dark side.
The last picture was a forgery by the two old bookmakers he meets early in the movie. He goes to them, and they say that it would have to be a fantastic forgery to look as good as it does. Right after they say that, they pass a knowing look between them. I initially interpreted that as the picture being authentic, but by the end I had changed my mind. Maybe the book makers were God, or agents of God, that tried to make the entrance impossible by changing the last picture. But the girl leads him through the event of the real last picture by screwing him while the castle burns.
I really liked the portrayal of the devil as a seducer and subtle trickster rather than all powerful evil. She appears to be helping him out, but she is really working her own adgenda.
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"You're not allowed to rent here anymore!" -- Randall
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