‘The Vanishing’: the Dutch thriller funded by the French mob
When it comes to acquiring the funds to make your dream movie, many filmmakers often make a lot of compromises in order to see their vision through to the end. However, it’s not always the industry standard to go to criminal organisations when you don’t have the money. That’s exactly what George Sluizer had to do during the making of his most celebrated thriller.
Titled The Vanishing, or Spoorloos in Dutch, the 1988 masterpiece is a strangely unsettling film that plays with the voyeuristic expectations of the audience in unexpected ways. An adaptation of a Tim Krabbé novella, it follows the trials and tribulations of a man who finds himself in uncharted territory when his girlfriend seemingly disappears into thin air.
As we follow his various lines of inquiry, we are not only made to question the nature of their relationship but also the reliability of the camera itself. Utilising an interesting narrative framework within which the psychological thriller gains added dimensions, The Vanishing isn’t exactly about the revelations but about the disturbing journey that delves deep into human obsession.
Although it is now well-known in cinematic circles, The Vanishing had a lot of problems with getting started. Even during the production, Sluizer didn’t have the necessary funds to feed his cast and crew after the shoots. According to his own accounts, the filmmaker had to seek the help of the French mob, who threatened him with serious consequences if the movie did not make it all back.
During a conversation with Criterion, Sluizer said: “The film was, to tell you the truth, not discovered because I could not find a distributor for more than a year after having been also in Cannes. No one was interested. No one… So what happened was that the Sydney Festival missed a film, and the director, whom I knew vaguely, said, ‘I thought you made a film, George.'”
It was that Festival which kickstarted everything for The Vanishing, resulting in an audience award and a boost in its reputation. In the process, Sluizer’s work also garnered a highly prominent fan who spread the good word.
Sluizer added: “Stanley Kubrick asked Johanna to play in his next movie. I must say that, to my own pleasure, he’s the biggest fan. He was the biggest fan of Spoorloos. He saw it, I think, ten times, and he called me when I was working in Los Angeles… He said, ‘You know, it’s the most terrifying film I have ever seen in my life.’ And I said, ‘But have you seen The Shining?”
Due to the eventual success of The Vanishing, it’s safe to say that the filmmaker probably managed to pay back his debts to the criminal underworld. Despite mentioning the existence of the criminal ties, he never elaborated on the nature of the loans the mob supplied to him or the trajectory of his interactions with the criminal financiers. However, even if they had been initially disappointed in the commercial response, it’s hard to stay made at a film that is as accomplished as Sluizer’s masterpiece.
Watch the trailer below.
