Left Luggage (1998)

Director:

Jeroen Krabbé

Writers:

Carl Friedman (novel)
Edwin de Vries (writer)

Release Date:

30 March 1998 (Netherlands)

Genre:

Drama

Plot:

Against a background of holocaust memories, a liberal Jewish girl becomes the nanny to a retarded strict Jewish young boy, and grows fond of him.

Plot Keywords:

Jewish | Nanny | Holocaust Memories | Jew | Orthodox Jew

Awards:

5 wins & 2 nominations

Cast

Laura Fraser	...	Chaya Silberschmidt
Adam Monty	...	Simcha Kalman
Isabella Rossellini	...	Mrs. Kalman
Jeroen Krabbé	...	Mr. Kalman
Topol	...	Yacov Apfelschnitt (as Chaim Topol)
Marianne Sägebrecht	...	Mrs. Silberschmidt, Chaya's Mother (as Marianne Saegebrecht)
Maximilian Schell	...	Mr. Silberschmidt, Chaya's Father
David Bradley	...	Concierge
Heather Weeks	...	Sofie
Miriam Margolyes	...	Mrs. Goldman
Lex Goudsmit	...	Mr. Goldman
Krijn ter Braak	...	Grandfather
Mieke Verheyden	...	Grandmother (as Mieke Verheijden)
Noura Van der Berg	...	Selma
Lana Broekaert	...	Chaya (7 Years)

Also Known As:

2 koffers vol (Netherlands)

Runtime:

100 min

Country:

USA | Netherlands | Belgium | UK

Language:

English | Hebrew | Yiddish

Color:

Color (Cinecolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby SR

Certification:

Iceland:12 | UK:PG | Germany:12 | Brazil:14 | Argentina:13 | Australia:PG | Belgium:KT | Chile:14 | Germany:12 (w) | Netherlands:12 | Spain:T | Sweden:7 | USA:Unrated

Filming Locations:

Amsterdam, Noord-Holland, Netherlands

Company:

CoBo Fonds

Quotes:

Mrs. Silberschmidt, Chaya's Mother: It's not the luggage he lost in that filthy war, it was himself.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Ausverkauft! (1999)

Soundtrack:

Get out on the Road

Interesting, with a few minor flaws

This film has a most unusual setting, the Chassidic community of Antwerp, Belgium. The protagonist is a young Jewish (but non-observant) woman, who gets a job taking care of the children of a Chassidic family, and has a humanising effect on all, of them, including the imposing and forbidding father, albeit with an unfortunate side effect.

The film's title refers to a sub-plot, in which the protagonist's father digs holes in various spots around Antwerp, seeking for some trunks of personal effects he buried while fleeing from the Nazis.

After the film was over, I realized a few flaws in the plot (Unlike one of your other reviewers, I did not find the nude swimming scene unpleasant at all. It serves nicely to contrast the protagonist's lack of inhibition with the sexual prudery of the Chassidim.). For one thing, the concierge of the building in which the Chassidic family lives is an anti-Semite, who constantly harasses the family. He denies them access to the elevator, blocks the stairs and even injures one of the children. Yet nobody thinks of complaining the the building's owner about him.

Also, the name of the protagonist is Chaya. Yet it never occurs to her best friend, until it comes up in conversation, that she might be Jewish.