The Vanishing (1988 Film) - Plot

Plot

A Dutch couple, Rex Hofman (Gene Bervoets) and Saskia Wagter (Johanna ter Steege), are on holiday in France. While they are driving, Saskia shares a recurring dream with Rex, in which she is drifting through space in a "golden egg". In the latest instance of the dream prior to the holiday, Saskia explains that another golden egg, containing another person, appears, and the collision of the two eggs would signify the end of something.

Following an incident in which the couple's car runs out of petrol, Rex and Saskia stop at a petrol station, where they refuel and temporarily rest. Meanwhile, a man at the rest stop, later identified as Raymond Lemorne (Bernard-Pierre Donnadieu), covertly observes them. Following a promise from Rex to never abandon Saskia again (earlier, he had retrieved petrol on his own) and the romantic burying of two coins at the base of a tree, Saskia enters the petrol station to purchase drinks. However, Saskia does not return, causing Rex to frantically search for her.

The director employs a series of flashbacks to introduce Raymond Lemorne, the observer from the rest stop. A respectable family man, with a wife and two daughters, Lemorne has secretly been plotting the abduction of a woman. He is depicted buying an isolated house, experimenting with the use of chloroform, and rehearsing scenarios in which he attempts to entice a woman into his car. Raymond's initial attempts at an actual abduction are not successful for a variety of reasons. Lemorne eventually decides to pose as an injured motorist in need of assistance as a strategy to lure women into his car.

Three years after Saskia's disappearance, Rex is still searching for her. His new girlfriend Lieneke (Gwen Eckhaus), reluctantly helps him but becomes increasingly dissatisfied with a relationship that she refers to as a menage a trois. Five times over the past three years Rex has received a postcard directing him to meet the kidnapper at the Cafe Beaux Arts in Nimes. Each time the kidnapper refuses to show. Unknown to Rex, the cafe is directly across the square from Raymond Lemorne's apartment. One day, Rex has a dream similar to Saskia's that he is trapped in a golden egg in outer space. Shortly thereafter, Lieneke, unable to take his obsession with Saskia, reluctantly leaves him. Rex then appears on French television, stating that he only wishes to know the truth about what happened to Saskia.

Eventually, Raymond, fascinated by Rex's fanatical compulsion to know what happened to Saskia, confronts Rex and admits to kidnapping her. He tells Rex that he will reveal the truth about what happened to Saskia if Rex comes with him. As they drive, Lemorne describes himself as a sociopath who got the idea of committing a kidnapping after rescuing a young girl from drowning. Heralded as a hero by his daughter, Lemorne became obsessed with discovering whether he could commit an act of great evil as well as one of great good. He describes how he kidnapped Saskia from the rest stop by posing as a traveling salesman and enticing Saskia into his car after she inquires about buying a gift for Rex.

Lemorne takes Rex to the rest stop where he abducted Saskia. He puts off Rex's threats of police action by explaining that there is no evidence connecting him to the crime. He then pours Rex a cup of coffee into which he has added a crushed sleeping pill. Rex is told that the only way to learn the truth about what happened to Saskia is to experience it and is instructed by Lemorne to drink the coffee. As Lemorne waits in the car, Rex rages for several minutes, unsure of what to do. After digging up the coins which he and Saskia had buried, he frantically drinks the drugged coffee. When Rex awakens he discovers that he has been buried alive. Above ground Lemorne relaxes at his country home, his family none the wiser. A newspaper headline displays the strange coincidence of Rex's disappearance.