Spoorlos

The Vanishing is a harrowing crime film that in its day won so much applause and attention that Hollywood pounced, frothing at the mouth, on the story, which it got the film's director to direct again, only this time the American way. Reportedly it is nothing to write home about. The thing most people will probably remember the film for, its cynical ending, Hollywood naturally did not have the courage to keep.

Rex and Saskia are a young Dutch couple who go on a driving holiday in northern France. At a rest stop Saskia vanishes without a trace, and there is no clue to her disappearance. Rex, however, never gives up the search. In fact he becomes so obsessed with finding out the truth that his current girlfriend, Lieneke, dumps him, because there is clearly no room for her in Rex's life. On TV Rex announces that he would like to speak to the abductor, and that he is not seeking revenge, only the truth. The French family man Raymond Lomorne seeks out Rex, and Rex agrees to go back with him to France. There Lemorne promises to show Rex what happened to Saskia if he takes a sedative. In the end Rex cannot resist the offer and then suffers the same grim fate as Saskia - probably. What is especially harrowing is that Lemorne seems like a perfectly ordinary man. Apparently no one has the faintest suspicion of the madman, not even his wife and children. An unpleasant affair, most definitely.