it a terrify thought and have a loved one vanish without a trace . one moment youre together and and then youre not . you turn your head for just a second and she go . panic set in while you check everywhere and question everyone and go over every detail until your head hurt and still nothing make sense . you feel nauseous and frustrated and then the fear settle in . it get dark now what do you do . file a miss person report that eventually lead nowhere . your significant other be reduce to a mere statistic . you wait and wait for closure and but it never come . three agonize year pas . it be now an obsession and an obsession that consume your entire life . there be no evidence and no pattern and no body . your life be put on hold until you find the answer . the task seem daunt in that only by shear luck will you ever know the truth . then one day your persistence pay off and you stumble upon a stranger and a stranger who know something . be he the murderer or just a lunatic . do you take the chance . be the risk worth know the truth . this unnerving dilemma beset the protagonist rex in george sluizer 1988 cinematic masterpiece the vanishing . what i find most intriguing and refresh about this film be the seemingly benign approach it create allow the terror to build gradually . the central character and a dutch couple rex and his girlfriend saskia and be average look and behave in unspectacular fashion and laughing and argue a most couple do . they be travel to france for a vacation . the opening scene establish the happy couple while an ominous turn ensues when they stop at a gas station and saskia disappears . a rex search for her in panic and he learn that she be last see leave with another man . three year pas and rex be still search . his obsession consume him and sabotage his relationship with another woman . then everything switch gear and with the entire second half of the film focus on raymond lemorne and the kidnapper . it seem an odd technique to use ( show the villain throughout ) but it work extremely well a we examine his perspective . it be here that the vanishing establish itself a a thriller that will be unlike all the rest and a raymond be present a a frightening but complex villain . a successful teacher with a loving wife and two daughter and strange only in his dullness and his monstrous desire be nourish by the fact that he see himself a a resident above suspicion and therefore undetectable . he a chameleon and an everyday man and who look like the guy next door . this be what make this film so effective and disturb . here be a culprit who blend in so well he can never be catch . he be very intelligent and yet imperfect . there be scene in this movie both comic and unsettling at the same time . we observe a raymond act out his kidnap scheme and and then pitifully attempt to bait young woman into his car without any luck . his plan constantly fail until he meet saskia . at first this film do not portray itself a suspenseful and but develop tension so calmly that by the time it be over and youre leave exhaust . george sluizer genius direction come from the idea of play with the audience nerve and let anxiety build a we learn what ultimately happen to saskia . yet when the reality set in and and the truth be reveal we almost wish the movie hadn not tell u and just like rex and who have his life destroy by saskia unsolved vanishing and come to the realization that maybe he would have be good off not know either . similar to the piece of a puzzle and the story gradually connect . it stay rivet from start to finish and psychologically absorb the whole audience . when raymond offer a chance for rex to see saskia again and he must first experience what she go through and and youre leave wonder where the hell be this go to take u next . the movie move so subtly towards it shocking conclusion and that when it come and we believe it . unlike the usual conventional twist end and the vanish pull off the extremely complex act of seem both shock and inevitable and leave you with a finale that will genuinely leave you numb for day . myles .