The Vanishing Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		5.0
Video		5.0
Audio		5.0
Extras		3.0
Overall		4.5

The Vanishing Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov October 10, 2014

Director George Sluizer's "The Vanishing" a.k.a. "Spoorloos" (1988) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Criterion. The supplemental features on the disc include an original trailer for the film; exclusive new video interview with the Dutch director; and new video interview with actress Johanna ter Steege. The release also arrives with a leaflet featuring an essay by critic Scott Foundas. In Dutch and French, with optional English subtitles for the main feature. Region-A "locked".

"You must make a decision"

They touch and look at each other like lovers do. Saskia (Johanna ter Steege, Rembrandt, Immortal Beloved) is the more energetic and impulsive of the two. Rex (Gene Bervoets, Shades) is the calmer and more reserved one.

At a gas station somewhere in the south of France, Saskia goes to the store to buy some drinks while Rex waits for her in the car. Then she vanishes without a trace. Initially Rex gets angry, then he panics and finally becomes terrified when he realizes that something very bad might have happened to Saskia. Eventually, he returns home without her.

The rest of the film focuses on two fascinating character transformations and for both Saskia's vanishing becomes something of a litmus test. Here past and present events frequently overlap, but they are arranged in a way that makes the film very easy to follow.

The first character is Rex, who vows to discover what has happened to Saskia. His determination gradually evolves into an unhealthy obsession that has a dramatic impact on the way he lives his life and communicates with the people around him.

The second character is Saskia’s kidnapper, Raymond Lemorne (Bernard-Pierre Donnadieu, The Professional, Beatrice), whose identity is revealed immediately after the vanishing. Naturally, the whodunit element is effectively eliminated in favor of something completely different.

The something is a terrific study of the breaking point -- that very specific motivation/condition that forces a seemingly normal mind to switch into a different mode and completely change one’s identity. The past and present events mentioned earlier highlight precisely the motivations/conditions leading to these switches.

For Rex and Raymond the events are different, but the manner in which their minds respond is very similar. These responses sum up the message of the film: The mind is a powerful switchboard which can be easily corrupted. And once corrupted, it becomes completely unpredictable.

The Vanishing is directed by Dutch filmmaker George Sluizer, who passed away last month at the age of 82. It is based on Tim Krabbe’s novel "The Golden Egg", which was inspired by a newspaper article documenting an event similar to the one chronicled in the film. In 1988, the film was selected to represent the Netherlands at the Academy Awards, but was disqualified because large portions of it were in French.

Bervoets and Donnadieu’s characters have drastically different identities but their performances quickly and easily earn the respect of the audience. During the final third of the film, where both make crucial decisions, the two actors are quite simply extraordinary. Steege is equally impressive as the young and naive girl.

In 1993, three years after The Vanishing had its world premiere, director Sluizer directed an English-language remake with Jeff Bridges, Kiefer Sutherland, and Nancy Travis.

The Vanishing Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Presented in an aspect ratio of 1.67:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, George Sluizer's The Vanishing arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Criterion.

The following text appears inside the leaflet provided with this Blu-ray release:

"This new digital transfer was created in 4K resolution on a wet-gate ARRISCAN film scanner from the 35mm original camera negative. Thousands of instances of dirt, debris, scratches, splices, and warps were manually removed using MTI's DRS, while Digital Vision's Phoenix was used for small dirt, grain, noise management, flicker, and jitter. The original monaural soundtrack was remastered at 24-bit from the 35mm magnetic track. Clicks, thumps, hiss, hum, and crackle were manually removed using Pro Tools HD, AudioCube's integrated workstation, and iZotope RX 3.

Scanning: L'Immagine Ritrovata, Bologna.
Colorist: Lee Kline, New York."

The new 4K restoration has produced marvelous results. Indeed, there are drastic improvements in every single area we typically address in our reviews, from image depth and clarity to contrast stability to color reproduction and fluidity. All close-ups boast outstanding depth and clarity. The most striking visuals are during the daylight footage, but even areas of the film where natural light is restricted look exceptionally strong (see screencaptures #3 and 16). During the wider panoramic shots fluidity is excellent (see screencaptures #4 and 7). Because of the high-quality scanning, grain is exceptionally well distributed and consistently appears beautifully resolved. There are no traces of sharpening corrections. Color reproduction is outstanding -- there is a wide range of stable and strikingly healthy colors (a quick comparison with the old R1 DVD release immediately reveals all sorts of different format and encoding limitations that have been completely eliminated on the Blu-ray release). Lastly, overall image stability is excellent. To sum it all up, this is one of the best technical presentations that I have seen from Criterion this year. (Note: This is a Region-A "locked" Blu-ray release. Therefore, you must have a native Region-A or Region-Free PS3 or SA in order to access its content).

The Vanishing Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

There is only one standard audio track on this Blu-ray release: Dutch/French: LPCM 1.0. For the record, Criterion have provided optional English subtitles for the main feature.

There is an excellent range of nuanced dynamic and Henny Vrienten's score easily breathes in all the right places. Balance is excellent -- there are areas of the film where dynamic movement is quite flexible, but there are no balance anomalies. The dialog is clean, stable, and exceptionally easy to follow. For the record, there is no crackle, pops, audio dropouts or distortions to report in this review. The English translation is excellent.

The Vanishing Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Trailer - original trailer for The Vanishing. In French, with optional English subtitles. (2 min, 1080i).

• George Sluizer - in this new video interview, director George Sluizer recalls how he acquired the rights to Tim Krabbe's novel and the script that emerged from it (apparently there were some major disagreements between the director and the writer), his initial encounter with Johanna ter Steege (Saskia), his interactions with actors Gene Bervoets and Bernard-Pierre Donnadieu (director Sluizer wanted Jean-Louis Trintignant to play the main protagonist, but he was not available), and discusses the shooting process and some of the unique themes in the film. The interview was conducted exclusively for Criterion in the director's home in France in May 2014. In English, not subtitled. (20 min, 1080p).

• Johanna ter Steege - in this new video interview, actress Johanna ter Steege recalls how she was approached to play Saskia, and discusses her contribution to The Vanishing and its success. The film won Best Supporting Actress Award at the European Film Awards and Golden Calf Award for Best Film at the Nederlands Film Festival in 1988. The interview was conducted exclusively for Criterion in Amsterdam in June 2014. In English, not subtitled. (15 min, 1080p).

• Leaflet - illustrated leaflet featuring an essay by critic Scott Foundas.

The Vanishing Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

What makes George Sluizer's The Vanishing so fascinating to behold -- aside from the spectacular performances and tremendous atmosphere -- is its ability to keep the viewer in a guessing mode literally until the final credits roll, despite the fact that the viewer is given all the needed information to logically solve its mystery. Indeed, it is a strikingly intelligent and genuinely terrifying thriller which once seen is absolutely impossible to forget. The Vanishing has been recently restored in 4K and looks magnificent on Blu-ray. In fact, together with Insomnia I consider it one of the best looking films in Criterion's Blu-ray catalog. VERY HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.