Every year hundreds, if not thousands, of people disappear. Many are not found and it is never discovered exactly what happened to them. The 1993 movie The Vanishing featured a woman’s disappearance and how her boyfriend dealt with it.
Barney Cousins, who seems to have a perfect life with his wife and daughter, was planning and then attempting to kidnap a young woman. He wasn't after a specific woman and it really wasn't clear why he wanted to kidnap someone.
Jeff Harriman and his girlfriend Diane Shaver were on a vacation together. After having a disagreement, they stopped at a gas station and Diane headed into the store to get some snacks. Diane never returned to the car. Jeff didn’t feel like enough was being done to find Diane and took some matters into in his own hands. Three years later he had gotten involved with Rita but he was still trying to find Diane or answers to what had happened to her. Rita was getting more upset about that and pushing Jeff to stop.
The Vanishing was based on a book by Tim Krabbe. A Dutch movie, Spoorloos, was made in 1998 that was based on the same book. I’ve never read the book or seen that movie version. I have read some things online about how the ending was different for this version of the movie and how many people prefer the ending that was used in Spoorloos. Certain things did seem a bit contrived with the ending though there was a full sense of closure. Some people probably won’t like the ending. I do think the ending in Spoorloos was probably more realistic and disturbing though I’m not sure that I would like it more.
The first several minutes of The Vanishing were devoted to showing Barney with his wife and daughter. He seemed to have a happy life with them, though he was keeping a secret from them. It was clear right from the beginning that he was planning to kidnap a woman for some reason and was even shown in some failed attempts. The movie then switched to showing Jeff and Diane on their trip shortly before she disappeared. The fact that at least some of Barney’s plan was shared so early in the movie did eliminate the possibility for more mystery. There were still suspenseful scenes in the movie. I just think there could have been more mystery and suspense if certain things had been handled differently. There was some violence in a few scenes that wasn’t too graphic.
Most of the movie was focused on how Jeff dealt with Diane disappearing. As time passed, the police wasn’t really doing anything to try to find her and Jeff was the only one trying to get answers. He had to deal with the uncertainty of not knowing what had happened to her and he did end up being obsessed. I thought it was understandable and believable that Jeff would be that determined to find answers. It is very scary to think that people can vanish from a public place in the middle of the day like Diane did. Not knowing what had happened would probably be worse than knowing for sure. That played a big part in why Jeff did certain things, a few of which weren’t smart. I understood his need for answers and closure, but I still thought he was incredibly stupid to do one thing in particular. Flashbacks were effectively used to share certain things and answer some questions later in the movie. It was very clear when the flashbacks were being used.
Given the fact that Jeff was still so determined to either find Diane or find out what had happened to her, he probably wasn’t really ready to be in another committed relationship like he got into with Rita. When they first met, she showed him a lot of compassion. The movie skipped over how they actually started dating and showed them moving in together. After that, Rita wasn’t as understanding about Jeff’s need to find out what had happened. He knew she would be upset, so he kept what he was doing from her which caused her to snoop. Their relationship wasn’t stable and added absolutely no romance to the movie. I think it was added in just to cause more drama.
Diane was very important to the overall plot of The Vanishing even though she was only in a small amount of the movie. She seemed like a really nice young woman who was happy with Jeff even though they’d had the disagreement. The movie wouldn’t have been as effective if Diane hadn’t been so likable. This was one of the first movies that Sandra Bullock was in and I think it was the first performance she was really noticed for. I’ve heard that this small role did lead to the movies that ultimately made her famous.
Jeff was in more of the movie than the other characters so he did end up being more developed. The majority of the movie was focused on his obsession with finding answers. He let that take over every aspect of his life for a long time. Kiefer Sutherland was really good and believable in the part. Rita became a main character after she and Jeff met. She showed him a lot of compassion then that seemed to be gone after they moved in together. She kept getting angry with Jeff and gave him ultimatums about what he was doing. She couldn’t or wouldn’t accept that he just needed answers and she got to the point where she wasn’t understanding with him at all. She got annoying and I didn’t like her at all. She also did something rather stupid later in the movie. Nancy Travis was fine in the part.
Barney was another important character that wasn’t in as much of the movie as Jeff. Barney was around longer than Diane was and he was actually introduced first. He was a college professor with a wife and daughter that he loved. He looked like a normal, sane, nonthreatening man which wasn’t the case at all. He was evil and an effective villain since he appeared to be so normal. Jeff Bridges was amazing in the part. Barney was very different from every other character I’ve ever seen him play. He was consistent in the way he had Barney act and he used a unique voice for the character. Barney’s wife and daughter were in a few scenes without really being that important to what was going on.
Main Cast
Jeff Bridges - Barney Cousins Sandra Bullock - Diane Shaver Kiefer Sutherland - Jeff Harriman Nancy Travis - Rita
George Sluizer - Director
I rented The Vanishing on VHS the first time I saw it. Since then I have seen it on television a few more times. It was the first time in years that I had seen the movie when I recently found it on one of the movie channels I get. The movie is now available on DVD. I haven’t seen the DVD version anywhere, so I don’t know what type of extras might be included.
The Vanishing had a few problems and could have had a stronger mystery but it was still entertaining and worth watching. Fans of the cast may enjoy the movie.
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