Roman Polanski's effete supernatural yarn about a cagey rare-book dealer (Johnny Depp) tormented by catastrophes while tracking down books about the Devil for a collector (Frank Langella) gives off the aroma of art-house Euro-rot, a whiff of decay and hauteur. And, like pages falling out of an old tome, the movie comes unglued slowly, while Polanski indulges his taste for creepy voluptuousness.

