The Vanishing (1988)
November 11, 2022 6:09 AM - Subscribe
[TRAILER] Rex (Gene Bervoets) and Saskia (Johanna Ter Steege) are enjoying a biking holiday in France when, stopping at a gas station, Saskia disappears. Confounded, Rex searches everywhere, but to no avail. Three years later, he's still obsessed with finding her, pleading his case on television, putting up posters and ruining his new relationship in the process. Eventually an unassuming chemistry teacher, Raymond (Bernard-Pierre Donnadieu), approaches Rex, intimating that he knows what happened.
Original title: Spoorloos. A Dutch film, in both Dutch and French. Directed by George Sluizer, based on the novella The Golden Egg by Tim Krabbé.
98% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes, implying that approximately 2% of critics sniff glue.
Currently streaming in the US on Criterion. Also available for digital rental via Apple and Amazon. And oh hey, it's also on YouTube.
Presented as part of elkevelvet's sponsored theme day, in which I'll be posting six Dutch movies. Donate $20 to MeFi and I'll post six movies on the theme of your choice, too!
Original title: Spoorloos. A Dutch film, in both Dutch and French. Directed by George Sluizer, based on the novella The Golden Egg by Tim Krabbé.
98% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes, implying that approximately 2% of critics sniff glue.
Currently streaming in the US on Criterion. Also available for digital rental via Apple and Amazon. And oh hey, it's also on YouTube.
Presented as part of elkevelvet's sponsored theme day, in which I'll be posting six Dutch movies. Donate $20 to MeFi and I'll post six movies on the theme of your choice, too!
And also subsequently an illustration of how a remake can be very, very bad, even when fairly faithful to the source material.
Avoid the American remake at all costs, even though George Sluizer directed both.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 6:33 AM on November 11, 2022 [2 favorites]
Avoid the American remake at all costs, even though George Sluizer directed both.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 6:33 AM on November 11, 2022 [2 favorites]
I remember seeing this years ago, and being terrified by it.
posted by Archer25 at 7:03 AM on November 11, 2022 [4 favorites]
posted by Archer25 at 7:03 AM on November 11, 2022 [4 favorites]
Yep, I break out into a cold sweat just remembering it.
posted by TWinbrook8 at 7:06 AM on November 11, 2022 [3 favorites]
posted by TWinbrook8 at 7:06 AM on November 11, 2022 [3 favorites]
No.
posted by polytope subirb enby-of-piano-dice at 8:16 AM on November 11, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by polytope subirb enby-of-piano-dice at 8:16 AM on November 11, 2022 [1 favorite]
Avoid the American remake at all costs
I don't know. I think the American version did a better job of selling the desperation of the man searching for his lost girlfriend, desperate to the point that he's willing to bargain with her kidnapper. The protagonist in the Dutch-French version seemed too cold and detached by comparison.
Likewise, in the American version, watching the kidnapper work himself up to committing the act was an insight into his motivations. The Dutch-French version appeared completely cerebral and abstract.
I will agree that the "Hollywood ending" of the American version was... disappointing.
posted by SPrintF at 8:42 AM on November 11, 2022
I don't know. I think the American version did a better job of selling the desperation of the man searching for his lost girlfriend, desperate to the point that he's willing to bargain with her kidnapper. The protagonist in the Dutch-French version seemed too cold and detached by comparison.
Likewise, in the American version, watching the kidnapper work himself up to committing the act was an insight into his motivations. The Dutch-French version appeared completely cerebral and abstract.
I will agree that the "Hollywood ending" of the American version was... disappointing.
posted by SPrintF at 8:42 AM on November 11, 2022
That was one of the scariest movies I ever saw.
posted by acrasis at 12:46 PM on November 11, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by acrasis at 12:46 PM on November 11, 2022 [1 favorite]
I was fortunate enough to see it with no knowledge of it beyond maybe having seen the trailer. It was an absolute shocker to see it play chicken with the darkest possible resolution and never turn aside.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 6:06 PM on November 11, 2022 [4 favorites]
posted by ricochet biscuit at 6:06 PM on November 11, 2022 [4 favorites]
This movie is like watching the most horrible thing you've ever seen come towards you slowly from out of a quiet fog. IIRC it is pretty mundane and realistic and not very manipulative like other films that really go for the bad end.
The protagonist in the Dutch-French version seemed too cold and detached by comparison.
I think it creates a kind of grim inevitability. The logic leads to that place.
I actually saw the US version too, sometime after this one. Tbh I didn't hate it. It's just a different movie. If it had been the same, and had the same ending I think people'd find some other reason to hate it lol. But I'm a known "It's ok for Roy Hobbs to win" person.
posted by fleacircus at 11:06 AM on November 12, 2022 [3 favorites]
The protagonist in the Dutch-French version seemed too cold and detached by comparison.
I think it creates a kind of grim inevitability. The logic leads to that place.
I actually saw the US version too, sometime after this one. Tbh I didn't hate it. It's just a different movie. If it had been the same, and had the same ending I think people'd find some other reason to hate it lol. But I'm a known "It's ok for Roy Hobbs to win" person.
posted by fleacircus at 11:06 AM on November 12, 2022 [3 favorites]
You are not logged in, either login or create an account to post comments
posted by DirtyOldTown at 6:12 AM on November 11, 2022 [1 favorite]