The Vanishing (1991)

Excellent but underrated film

A lot of fun.

This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.

Let me be very fair here, this is not the best movie in my opinion. But, this movie is fun, it has purpose and is very enjoyable to watch.

George Sluizer's "The Vanishing" is a deeply profound and disturbing film. The plot is simple enough - A man desperately tries to find out what happened to his girlfriend after she went missing during their vacation, to which it is later determined she was kidnapped. What makes this story so disturbing is the unforgiving ending and the fact that it could happen to literally anyone at any time. In this case, at a crowded gas station in the middle of the day. The screenplay and the novel of which it is based off of was written by Tim Krabbé after reading an article in the newspaper about a female tourist who had gone missing. This sort of thing happens all the time in real life and Krabbé made a story that explored the terrifying reality of it. The characters are introduced early on as a madly in love young couple who get along just fine, despite having a fight the night before. There is no reason she would have ran off and ditched him but there is no proof of a kidnapping, so the police will not do anything. For the next three years, Rex (Gene Bervoets) obsessively searches for her the best he can with no luck, until one day he starts receiving letters from the abductor. One interesting thing about this film is how it is structured. We backtrack to the day the kidnapping took place, this time from the abductor's (Bernard-Pierre Donnadieu) point of view. We see everything that takes place and how it came to be. Donnadieu gives a captivating performance as Raymond, the kidnapper. He is so chilling in the role because of how normal he looks and acts. He is a wealthy family man who blends in with the crowd and whom nobody would suspect could be a bad guy. He tricks unsuspecting ladies into his car where he knocks them out with a chloroform-soaked rag and drives off. He has probably done this many times. In one scene, we see Raymond lay down and put his own self to sleep in the same manner while he holds a stopwatch to see how long the drug-induced sleep lasts. Crazy!The Vanishing is a very thought-provoking film. It explores the concept of fate and altering ones own destiny. The villain performs a heroic act and we begin to understand why he is the way he is. Meanwhile, Rex has a new girlfriend but still obsesses over finding out what happened to Saskia that fateful day. He tells her, "Sometimes I imagine she's alive. She's very happy. Then, I have to make a choice. Either I let her go on living and never know, or I let her die and find out what happened. So, I let her die." This statement sums up the main characters' mindset pretty well. Rex cannot move on and is relentless with his searches, which gets the attention of Raymond, who is "banking on his curiosity", as he proclaims. Their encounter with one another is truly memorable. This is where the story really picks up. Some may see this movie as too slow or boring. The Vanishing is anything but boring. It is a slow burn, but the suspense is what drives the film into something truly worthwhile. The suspense and the way the chemistry is between the two leads is astounding. Despite the dark tone of the film, there are also some funny moments that lighten up the mood.As I mentioned before, the structure of the film is unique, but the story itself drives relentlessly to one destination. It is a psychological thrill ride, but it is the final scene that makes the film such a profoundly disturbing experience. Everything leading up to the end is done in such a brilliant and subtle way that we never see it coming. The ending is depressing but it is what makes the film a classic, in my eyes. I have never been affected by a movie in such a way as this film left me - I even waited a couple days after viewing to write this review and I still feel just as unsettled thinking about it! The Vanishing is quite a fascinating film in almost every way. As you probably know by now, there is not happy ending for everyone, but don't let that discourage you. This is a very fulfilling movie with great performances and it will leave you feeling something, for better or for worse. I would not label it "horror" but it is a horrifying movie. Stanley Kubrick called it the most terrifying film he had ever seen and I can understand why. There are no jump scares, nor is there anything supernatural about it, but it is the continuous suspense and unsettling atmosphere that builds and makes you wonder where it is all going...and then BAM[! It hits and will haunt you for days. If you enjoy riveting filmmaking and suspense, check out The Vanishing. Highly recommended.

Rarely has a film held my attention like this, and rarely have I been more frightened of the cold, hard inevitability that comes with the ending of Spoorloos. It builds its tension not from the revelation of plot points that we want to see, but how far Rex will go to see them. In this sense it is a subversion of the conventional thriller, which would slip little hints and clues throughout, like the brief but revealing shots of Raymond applying his disguise of a fake cast and sling, and ask us to play detective. Sluizer, however gives the game away early. He makes the unusual choice of showing one man's actions, that when pieced together, become the horrifying realisation of an intent. The man is played by Bernard-Pierre Donnadieu with a cold, hard efficiency about his plans. Raymond is good, but perhaps not as good as he thinks. He doesn't play the every-man as well as he should when his loving kids and wife are around, and you can spot tiny little moments where he seems unsure. But beforehand he has made sure of everything else. Donnadieu goes about the process of planning the kidnapping with a scientific clinicalism and a natural curiosity to match. It is frightening because he approaches the task like a game, like an experiment of his own moral absence. Where the audience usually looks for a fault, a motive, insanity and passion, there is nothing. Even the usual sexual deviancy that we have come to expect is not a factor here. A friend makes this mistaken assumption, and we see how it is added into his schemes. If only it was an affair. That could be explained, even justified, but this cannot. Even as he partakes in the serial killer's favourite pastime, taunting the victim's loved ones through mementos and postcards, Raymond does not seem to act out of malice or threat. It is he, eventually, who makes contact with Rex and proposes to show him everything about that fateful day. If we are exhilarated by Rex unleashing physically onto him and getting some semblance of revenge, it vanishes almost immediately when Raymond agrees with what he has been dealt. It is all the more disturbing that this man does not hold the same concepts of vengeance that we do, and still that he again makes the same proposal. There is no second thought of him lying or tricking Rex into something he has not promised. What would he gain by doing so? We sense he is wired with the same sort of curiosity that Rex has been tortured with for three years. He has even prepared sandwiches. Sluizer has made something of a living nightmare that does not end when you wake. He avoids leaning on the cheap scares that inhabit many of this genre; the shakiness of the camera, the soundtrack blaring and dictating our emotions, the money shots that are inevitably littered through the promotion and media. France has never been made duller; Raymond chooses remote, ordinary locations that are a far cry from the postcard prettiness where the tourists flock to. But the most important notion is how he constructs the threads that build to the climax. There is no mystery that the audience is clamouring to hold the answer too. True, we are held in perpetual suspense and anguish like Rex is over the fate of Saskia. Yet Sluizer builds his tension from the slow growing realisation of what is to come. Both men know that Rex will not turn down this opportunity, to be plunged back into the state of not knowing. From the moment they meet, it is then simply a matter of time before he concedes to whatever Raymond must do. To examine this from a rational perspective would be a critical error. This seems to be a common response to the film, to pick apart its logic, to point at the absurdity of it all. But they miss a point. Both men, through watching the film, are revealed honestly and straightforwardly to be who they claim. Raymond would not deviate from his promise, and Rex knows exactly what he wants, and how it will bring about his doom. But the alternative to this is an empty life plagued by horrors of uncertainty, and so he walks willingly into the arms of a murderer. There is no sanitising this, and there is no chance of saving him from this fate (that is, until the short-sighted American remake).

Rex and Saskia are driving on a holiday. They have a fight and make up. At a gas station, Saskia disappears. Rex relentlessly searches for her. Raymond is outwardly a normal family man. In secret, he's been methodically preparing to satisfy his evil desires. He had kidnapped Saskia. Three years later, Rex is still looking for Saskia and has new girlfriend Lieneke. Evenutally Lieneke leaves him. He gets an offer from Raymond to reveal the truth of what happened.This is a cold-hearted character. The situation is intensely harrowing. It's not really a mystery because the killer is revealed quite early on. What it does is it shakes the viewer to the core. Raymond is unrelenting. We see this through Rex's eyes and it's a runaway train. The tragedy unrolls and the audience is helpless in its face.

Spoorloos is an unusually horrifying film that doesn't dwell on sudden scares or supernatural underpinnings. It is about the romantic relationship two lovers share, and how anything can happen to any person at a whim. One of humans' greatest accomplishments is the drive to seek knowledge. Our curiosity has led to modern advancements, but it sometimes takes us too far. We call those whom do immeasurable good "saints" in our culture, but what about those whom complete both the greatest good and the greatest evil? The most unsettling factoid is that this person may be praised, well-known or even camouflaged within society. Defying normalcy, even in a world of billions, is not common. It's when we oppose traditions and order that we discover freedom. What happens afterwards, though, is inconceivable to the casual man. It's the unknown that we strive to know, yet it is also something we must fear.