Diagonaldi Very well executed

SeeQuant Blending excellent reporting and strong storytelling, this is a disturbing film truly stranger than fiction

Billie Morin This movie feels like it was made purely to piss off people who want good shows

Dana An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

BA_Harrison A Dutch couple, Rex Hofman (Gene Bervoets) and Saskia Wagter (Johanna ter Steege), are on vacation, driving through France. They pull over at a busy service station where Saskia goes to the shop for drinks, but she never returns, having been abducted by calculating chemistry teacher Raymond Lemorne (Bernard-Pierre Donnadieu). Three years pass and Rex is still obsessed with finding out what happened to Saskia, so when Raymond contacts him, he agrees to anything in order to learn the truth.I'd read that the ending to The Vanishing was a real shocker, but to be honest, I saw it coming a mile off and it had very little impact on me other than to make me think how stupid Rex must be to agree to the villain's terms. The rest of the film is a leisurely study of two characters, and is reasonably entertaining, but far from the gripping, creepy and disturbing tale that many claim it to be. Perhaps I've just seen too many really messed-up movies in my time, but I won't be losing any sleep over this one.

JP_Shay 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.

FilmCriticLalitRao Dutch film "The Vanishing" (Spoorloos) was released quietly in 1988 but its popularity has grown exponentially over the years. Its impact on mainstream cinema especially Hollywood has been tremendous as its director George Sluizer got a chance to direct American version of this film with established actors Jeff Bridges and Kiefer Sutherland. The reasons for liking "The Vanishing" could be many but anybody who has seen it would agree that it makes its way to viewers' hearts and minds as it portrays a highly intelligent criminal who keeps everybody guessing about his real motives. George Sluizer was able to extract excellent performances from all his leading actors especially from Bernard-Pierre Donnadieu who is truly unbelievable due to his profile of a 'common man' who bumps into most of us on a daily basis. 'Spoorloos' is recommended for those viewers who tend to forget their watches when they see an intelligent story unroll on screen. As there is no match for an original product, 'The Vanishing' continues to enjoy a new lease of life partially due to its discovery by new admirers of thriller cinema due to its release on DVD by Criterion collection.

lasttimeisaw My first George Sluizer's film, a bleak but tantalizing examination of psychological sociopath and the obsession of finding out the truth beneath. The plot-line is pretty straightforward, Rex (Bervoets) and Saskia (ted Steege) are a young Dutch couple on a vacation to France, en route, they stop in a busy gas station and Saskia is disappeared, three years later, the abductor Raymond Lemorne (Donnadieu) contacts Rex, the latter has been bedeviled by the incident ever since, Raymond asks Rex if he is willing to face the same treatment which Saskia had experienced so as to conclude his pathological obsession, his answer is astonishingly perverse and the finale is uncompromisingly gut-wrenching.The film starts with a foreboding tunnel accident, where Rex waywardly leaves Saskia alone in the pitch-black, there is a cryptic smile on his face when he is walking out of the tunnel to fetch gasoline, viewers may think - what is he thinking? what a complete jerk! Not to mention it is completely his fault for running out of gas in the first place! As one might expect Saskia will be mysteriously gone when he returns, it doesn't happen, but the scar is clearly lacerated, however they mend fences pretty soon, as Rex apologizes and explains that it is the moment when he leaves her there that he realizes how much he loves her. This perhaps justifies the smile, but it is deeply dark. They arrive the bustling gas station and Sluizer immediately introduces the perpetrator Raymond in parallel, but the narrative is still homing in on the lovebirds, after some casual flirting, a romantic ceremony to bury coins under one of the trees and a promise that she will never be abandoned by him, Saskia goes to the convince store and never comes back. After that, it is Rex's futile and desperate attempt to find her, until the morning after.Then, the film steers into Raymond's life, he is a chemistry teacher and has a perfect family, a gentle wife with two daughters admire him. But his dark side is innate, it is his passion to be a sociopath, his rehearsal of the abduction, detailedly recording his heart rates, it is utterly radical existentialism for him to implement his wrongdoings, he can be the hero to rescue a drowning girl, at the same time, he can ruthlessly murder a totally strange woman, there is no logical motivation, whatsoever, which is the most bone-chilling fact the film dares to divulge. Meanwhile, Rex is entrapped in the mystery, his persistence pushes his new girlfriend Lieneke (Eckhaus) away and his option between letting-go and embracing the worst outcome is the harbinger of his fate. When Raymond suddenly appears in front of him, apart from the initial rage, he is deadly under his clutches, up until the final decision, cogently enhanced by Henny Vrienten's thrilling score and the final blow is when finding the coins he and Saskia buried, he cannot run away from his oath, his suicidal act is simultaneously beyond credibility and thoroughly conceivable, it is the only way to follow his incubus to the hilt. The three leading performances are all awards-worthy, Donnadieu is formidably sinister and Bervoets singles out his desperation with awesome commitment, Johanna ter Steege, as the innocent victim, demonstrates how easily one can approach the doom by a whimsy of credulity. Arguably one of the darkest ending in the film history, THE VANISHING is the sort which one dare not to revisit since it leaves indelible imprint on one's memory with poignantly awe-and- shock side effect, it is also a cautionary tale to warn us never get into a stranger's car, no matter how innocuous or benevolent he or she looks.