Director Roman Polanski invited Johnny Depp to star in this supernatural thriller with a budget of only 30 million US dollars. According to the needs of the film, Frank Langra was specially invited to play the devil's book collector. This film spans several countries, from Paris, Spain to Portugal, the whole film is full of exotic flavors. The film’s suspense and unique narrative techniques are quite Hitchcock-like. In particular, the film deeply reveals the good and evil, beauty and ugliness in the human heart by showing the psychological, spiritual confusion and conflicts of the characters in the film. Nevertheless, Polanski still hopes that the audience can appreciate his unique style more.
Polanski used photography to create a bleak and evil oppressive feeling, and the soft yellow tones are a tribute to Rembrandt's paintings. The film depicts a strange outsider who walks in hiding, step by step into the world of demons, and the psychological ups and downs of the character outweigh the external thrills. There are a lot of blank spaces in the film, which allow the audience to imagine for themselves, and increase the appeal of the film. Only the color and atmosphere are used to set off the film, which can be said to be worthy of the master's style.
