Spoorloos
“The Vanishing” (“Spoorloos”) was not exactly what I
expected it would be. I thought this would be sort of a True Crime thing with a
lot of police procedure or perhaps something like the popular TV show (called “Sporløs”
in Danish, the direct translation of the Dutch “Spoorloos”) where missing
people are traced. The opening may well lead us in that direction, but, man, this
takes a left turn!
Rex (Gene Bervoets) and Saskia (Johanna ter Steege) are a
young, Dutch couple taking a vacation to France in their shabby old car. We
have an early incident where their car runs dry on gas in a tunnel and Rex
leaves a screaming Saskia alone to get some fuel (Saskia will not leave without
a flashlight). She is upset and Rex promises never to leave her alone again.
They stop at a gas station where Saskia wants to pick up
some drinks and she never returns. Rex cannot find her anywhere.
In a normal police procedure movie, we would now start the
chase for the missing person. The puzzle, the interviews, the clues. Here, instead,
we go straight to the perpetrator, and we are not for a second in doubt he is
the guy. In fact, we go some time back in time and learn how Raymond (Bernard-Pierre
Donnadieu) slowly practices the abduction. How he tests the drug and time the
elements. His early attempts are almost comical as they abort for silly reasons
and him being a terrible amateur, but he is persistent and, as we learn,
eventually successful. We also learn that he is a family father and to all outward
appearance, normal.
Jump three years and Rex is still looking for Saskia. He has
a new girlfriend, Lieneke (Gwen Eckhaus), but that is not really working as
Saskia is always foremost in his mind. Rex gets postcards from someone who want
to meet about the abduction, but that person (Raymond) is never there. Finally,
Raymond shows up at Rex apartment in The Netherlands, offering to tell Rex what
happened to her, but he must come along with him to France.
This is where the story gets really weird. Along the way,
Raymond tells Rex all about why he does things, essentially to prove fate is
not inevitable, with plenty of detail from his life. When they get to the fatal
rest area where Saskia disappeared three years earlier, Raymond is offering Rex
to experience what she did. He just needs to drink a cup of spiked coffee. Yeah...
The point here is that this is not a police procedure film
or even about searching for a missing person. Instead, these are two other
stories. One is about being so devoted to another person that you will literally
do anything for that person, even when it becomes extreme. Rex promised Saskia
never to leave her alone again and that is serious business.
The other story is that of a psychopathic murderer who kills
from a principle, simply to prove a philosophical point, that he can break
destiny. That he also does that with impunity just makes it even more
distressing.
This can be classified as a horror movie, partly because the
vanishing of a loved one is anybody’s worst nightmare and partly because the
manner of the murders is truly horrific. I recently read a short story by Edgar
Allan Poe on this very theme, and it gave me the creeps. There is also
something very unresolved that adds to the terror. That two people can disappear,
and nobody will ever learn what happened to them.
I found it a frustrating movie. I may well recover from the
disappointment that it just skipped everything that is cool about a missing
person story, but that entire journey to France by Rex and Raymond is totally
surreal. Who in their right mind would go along with that? And why on Earth
would Rex accept that choice Raymond is giving him? I do not buy that bullshit
about Raymond having figured out that Rex must accept. Raymond may think so,
but Raymond is nuts. Rex is supposed to be a mentally sound person. It makes no
sense.
The surrealism also clashes with the ultra-realism of the
filming (or maybe simply becomes extra surreal because of it). The texture of
the movie is what you get with a cheap video camera, as if this was found footage
rather than design.
“The Vanishing” was intended to be the Dutch submission for
the Best Foreign Language Academy Award, but it was rejected because there is
more French than Dutch in it. Guess it is not a foreign language then...
I am weirded out by this movie, so I am not certain this is
really a recommendation, but it is certainly something different.
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