Rewind: ‘The Vanishing (1988)’ Review
Stars: Bernard-Pierre Donnadieu, Gene Bervoets, Johanna ter Steege, Gwen Eckhaus, Bernadette Le Saché, Tania Latarjet, Lucille Glenn, Roger Souza | Written and Directed by George Sluizer
Adapting Tim Krabbé’s novel The Golden Egg, writer/director George Sluizer begins The Vanishing with Dutch couple Rex (Gene Bervoets) and Saskia (Johanna Ter Steege) enjoy a biking holiday in France. That all changes when they stop at a gas station where Saskia enters to get drinks, only to vanish without a trace. Three years later, Rex remains as obsessed with finding his wife as he puts up posters and pleads his case on television. He is eventually approached by Raymond (Bernard-Pierre Donnadieu), an unassuming chemistry teacher who claims to know what happened.
What could have been a bog-standard thriller instead subverts the expected structure to answer the big questions early on, before taking the psychological route to focus on Rex’s tortured obsession as he promises to not abandon Saskia. Their relationship is depicted early on in believable ways, from rising tensions to little signs of affection. Key to it all is how Bervoets magnificently conveys the lead’s inner pain, wishing to discover the truth while knowing that it may confirm his wife’s death. Credit is also deserved for Ter Steege, bringing alive a character who feels real where a lesser work would have made her just a body to motivate the male lead.
The most terrifying inclusion is Raymond, a cold and calculating villain depicted with an unsettling casualness. The lines blur between his life as a family man and a monster, with the despicable workings of his mind depicted with a chilling nonchalance. While many works depict evil with a flamboyance akin to The Joker, this incarnation is more frightening as it shows the banal disguise which could fool any one of us in life, and Donnadieu unforgettably brings that alive.
A recurring dream mentioned involves unbearable loneliness and the potential reconnection with loved ones, as conveyed through the image of a golden egg. This idea reappears throughout the feature, offering despair and hope in interconnected ways akin to yin-yang, from the carefree opening to the harrowing ending which is capped off with a gut-punch of a final image. The Vanishing is an unforgettable masterwork that will burrow itself into your soul and threaten to never leave.
