In the scene between the Devil (Gael Garcia) and the Head-Heaven-Angel (Fanny Ardant), when they are in the car after having dinner with their agents, they talk about a book. That the Devil had written a book with a message for Ardant's character. Does anyone know what book they are refering to?
And it's obvious that the two were lovers or had a relationship...is that part of the Devil myth or just an invention of the movie?
They did talk as if they had a definite attraction between them & sort of hinted at the possibility of a prior relationship.
As far as a book written by the devil, the only thing I can think of is another movie reference where the devil supposedly penned a book (as a coauthor). In The Ninth Gate, starring Johnny Depp, the story revolves around a book known as the Nine Gates of the Kingdom of Shadows. Per the movie, the book was written in 1666 (the date being an obvious Satanic referece from the Book of Revelations, Chapter 13, final verse) by an Italian named Aristede Torchia with the direct assistance of Lucifer himself. It's publication was considered a crime by the Inquisition and Torchia was executed and had all his works burned. Only three copies of the Nine Gates of the Kingdom of Shadows survived. The fictional book in the movie is actually an adaption of Arturo Pérez-Reverte's novel El Club Dumas. Maybe researching that book will lead you to an answer. I hope this helps.
A few scenes earlier, they had shown the cover of "The Catcher in the Rye"; I assume this was the book they were referring to in that scene?
I'm not too 'up' on theology, but I think the love relationship was just part of the fun the movie was having with the 'two sides of a coin' good/evil duality...
Thanks for the comments guys....
On terms of theology I don't thing there is any referent to a love relationship between the devil & an angel...but I just thought it was interested of the movie to hint of a relationship...which is kind of taboo...
Catcher in the Rye???? mmmm...interesting...I will have to re-read it...it's been so long but wasn't it about a teenager go wanted to save kids because he himself was so mess-up cuz everyone (aka. his family & other adults) ignore/didnt understand him?
I thought that was a great scene, but I don't think Garcia was the devil. When his character first appears, a subtitle identifies him as Hell's CEO, or Operations Manager, or something like that. Fanny Ardent was his countepart from Heaven.
The book was definitely Catcher in the Rye, but I didn't understand the connection.
I saw this great movie on cable TV yesterday. I'm going to see if I can get it today "On Demand" to catch the subtleties.
Yes, the book was definitely Catcher in the Rye. Ardant said she knew that it was from him--that he _sent_ it, not that he wrote it. Further, she understood it as a message from him that he was in trouble. I don't know about Catcher with regards to taking care of misunderstood kids, but Holden Caulfield (Catcher protagonist) was definitely a misunderstood kid.
sharei think the movie was implying that the devil was the one who wrote or had some influence on the writer of the book. or they could just send each other books that they both enjoyed...
shareThe book was The Catcher in the Rye. If you remember in the beginning when she's having the meeting with the other head angel ppl, she opens up a package and pulls out the book and kind of gives a secret smile.
shareAs most of you said it, there is no doubt that the book they were talking about was "The catcher in the rye".
I was reflecting some time after I finished watching the movie about the connection and symbolism. As far as I understood the book when I read it a few years back, it was about a boy that has lost his innocence and childhood, because he was beginning to grow up (and to become an misunderstood teenager)and had a dream about keeping all the children within the fences of a rye field, which means that he didn't want to let the other children grow up and lose their innocence too.
This I compare to the devil's story, who is a fallen angel and has lost his purity and innocence.
The movie implies that it was him, the Devil who wrote the book. Sort of like his own story and inner feelings have been portrayed in that book. (This doesn't mean that the book is satanic :) It is a quite nice book. It only means that the writers and the director had an original and interesting way of connecting the two :) a new fresh way of looking at both the book and the devil's story as we know it.)
Hope my analysis helps.
As the above poster said, she said he SENT it, she didn't say anything about writing it. People do that all the time; send poems, song lyrics whatever as messages, they don't write them, but it expresses what they're trying to say. Obviously he couldn't send her a letter so I guess the book mean't something to her and she knew it was from him.
As far as him being the devil and her being god, they're only mentioned as being the Operations Managers, meaning they run it, but if they had been god/devil don't you think the movie would have mentioned this is god, this the devil, instead of making them seem like management?
"Look lady I don't come down to where you work and slap the d!ck out of your mouth".