Spoorloos (1988)

User Rating:

8.0/10   

Director:

George Sluizer

Writers:

Tim Krabbé (novel)
Tim Krabbé (screenplay)

Release Date:

27 October 1988 (Netherlands)

Genre:

Crime | Drama | Horror | Mystery | Thriller

Plot:

Rex and Saskia, a young couple in love, are on vacation. They stop at a busy service station and Saskia is abducted. After three years and no sign of Saskia, Rex begins receiving letters from the abductor.

Plot Keywords:

Abductor | Love | Truck Stop | Road Trip | Flashback

Awards:

6 wins & 2 nominations

Cast

Bernard-Pierre Donnadieu	...	Raymond Lemorne
Gene Bervoets	...	Rex Hofman
Johanna ter Steege	...	Saskia Wagter
Gwen Eckhaus	...	Lieneke
Bernadette Le Saché	...	Simone Lemorne
Tania Latarjet	...	Denise Lemorne
Lucille Glenn	...	Gabrielle 'Gaby' Lemorne
Roger Souza	...	Manager
Caroline Appéré	...	Cashier
Pierre Forget	...	Farmer Laurent
Didier Rousset	...	TV Journalist
Raphaeline	...	Gisele Marzin (as Raphaëline)
Robert Lucibello	...	Teacher
David Bayle	...	Lemorne (16 Years)
Doumee	...	Lady 'Prisunic' (as Doumée)

Also Known As:

L'homme qui voulait savoir (France)
The Vanishing (International: English title)

Runtime:

107 min

Country:

Netherlands | France

Language:

Dutch | French | English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Finland:K-11 (2005) | Iceland:16 | France:-12 | Netherlands:16 | UK:12 | USA:Unrated | West Germany:16 | Singapore:PG | Australia:M

Filming Locations:

Buitenveldert, Amsterdam, Noord-Holland, Netherlands

Company:

Argos Films

Trivia:

The central plot of the film (and the novel on which it is based) is from an archetype Urban Legend related to the Paris Exposition of 1901. A woman and her daughter travel to Paris for the exhibition, and whilst the woman unpacks, the daughter goes to a nearby shop. When she returns to the hotel, the mother is gone, and no one in the hotel remembers having seen her. The idea also formed for the basis for Alfred Hitchcock's The Lady Vanishes (1938), Terrence Fisher's So Long at the Fair (1950), Robert Fuest's And Soon the Darkness (1970) and Philip Leacock's Dying Room Only (1973) (TV).

Goofs:

Continuity: Raymond tells Rex that when he was a teenager, he jumped from a balcony and lost two of his fingers. However, the adult Raymond clearly has 10 fingers for the duration of the movie.

Quotes:

[last lines]
Rex Hofman: Saskia!

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Try Before You Die: (#1.4)" (2005)

An absolutely chilling, deeply unsettling horror masterpiece

The Vanishing is a movie only those with ice in their veins can ever forget. The direction is absolutely brilliant, from the opening frames until the very end. I felt Saskia's fright when she thought she lost Rex initially, and her description of her dream made me feel chills. When she disappeared, Rex's combination of rage, frustration, anxiety, and grief was torture to watch. A particularly powerful moment was when he slammed the car door shut so hard the window crumbled into pieces.

Watching Rex become consumed in every way by his quest to find Saskia was also extremely difficult to watch, although it was certainly inevitable. I found the professor's description of his actions appalling in many cases, the most notable one being when he fixates on Saskia and we see his POV. Seeing Saskia warmly respond to him was devastating, knowing what would happen. Throughout the film there was an overwhelming sense of doom and isolation, like this was a cruel world where even in the most idyllic settings evil lurked everywhere and attempting to fight it was futile. Rex undergoes one of the most harrowing emotional ordeals of any movie character ever, and when he is at the end of his rope his crucial decision would seem so insane out of context but viewers understand that it really is his only choice. The shock ending, especially the way it was done, almost made me scream, and I will never forget the final shot. The Vanishing could be shown in any film class on direction, as an example of perfection. Material that could have been turned into just a mediocre thriller with would have seemed like a lame twist was turned by George Sluizer into an utterly harrowing filmgoing experience. And that is the right word, because a movie like The Vanishing is not just watched-it is experienced.

I estimate I have seen around 700 movies in my life, and horror is my favorite genre. I have only seen two films that left me so scared that after they ended I couldn't even move. One was Psycho, which I saw 10 years ago when I was only 12. The other one was just this year-The Vanishing.