Left Luggage (1998)

User Rating:

7.5/10   

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:

Chaya Silberschmidt: No cinema, no radio, no theater, no television. Not much fun then.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Ausverkauft! (1999)

Soundtrack:

Get out on the Road

Rises Above Tear-Jerking Sentimentality to Explore Children of Holocaust Survivors

"Left Luggage" is an interesting effort to deal with children of Holocaust survivors, not a common subject in films.

The child here is a vibrant, secular college student in 1970's Antwerp dealing with her haunted parents and her new employers, a Hassidic family.

It's an international co-production--Isabella Rossellini is actually creditable as the Hassidic mother and Maximillan Schell who has had a huge career playing Nazis is quite good as the unreligious Jewish father. It pushes too many, way too many schmaltzy buttons (yeah yeah, I cried about the adorable sort-of developmentally disabled kid that the young woman is the nanny for, but come on, and comparing reactions to the Nazis to standing up to a crazy, anti-Semitic elevator operator is a bit much).

The changes that the woman goes through relate mostly to her dealings with her parents and they with her, though the changes she puts the Hassidic family through are more moving.

There's an indication of an impact on her own sense of Jewish identity when she finally declares herself Jewish to her gentile best friend and some impact on her romantic life when she kicks her leechy Marxist blond, blue-eyed boyfriend out of her bed, but that's more to do with her independent streak.

(originally written 10/22/2000)