Left Luggage (1998)

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

Director:

Jeroen Krabbé

Writers:

Carl Friedman (novel), Edwin de Vries

Stars:

Laura Fraser, Adam Monty, Isabella Rossellini

5 wins & 4 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
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)

Storyline

While escaping from Nazis during the WWII, a Jewish man dug suitcases full of things dear to his heart in the ground two. The war deprived him of his family, and afterwards he endlessly turns over the soil of Antwerp to find the suitcases, which makes him look obsessed. He keeps checking old maps and keeps digging, trying to find, in fact, those he lost. His daughter Chaya is a beautiful modern girl looking for a part-time job. She finds a place as a nanny in the strictly observant Chassidic family with many children, although her secular manners clearly fly in the face of many commandments. One of the reasons she is accepted is that mother of the family is absolutely overburdened by the household, so she stays despite the resistance of the father, normally - an indisputable authority in the family. She develops a special bond with the youngest of the boys, four-year old Simcha, so far incapable of speaking. She teaches him while walking in the park, and it seems that during the ...

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Plot Keywords:

female nudity | female frontal nudity | orthodox jew | jewish | nanny | 

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Genres:

Drama

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Certificate:

Unrated

Details

Country:

Netherlands UK Belgium USA

Language:

English Hebrew Yiddish

Release Date:

30 March 1998 (Netherlands)

Also Known As:

À la recherche du passé

Filming Locations:

Amsterdam, Noord-Holland, Netherlands

Box Office

Gross USA:

$1,069,540

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$2,111,280

Company Credits

Production Co:

CoBo Fonds, Creative Investment, De Vensche

Technical Specs

Runtime:

100 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby SR

Color:

Color (Cinecolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

First-time director Jeroen Krabbé admitted that he very insecure about the movie. When he got a call from composer Henny Vrienten, he was convinced that Vrienten didn't like the first footage shot for the film, and wanted out. However, Vrienten had loved what he saw, and got so inspired that he called to demonstrate some of the score he had written for it.

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Quotes

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

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Connections

Referenced in Ausverkauft! (1999)

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Soundtracks

Music box theme
from "Trois Gymnopédies"
Composed by Erik Satie

User Reviews

Strong character movie.

You have to like this kind of movies to fully appreciate this movie. It's a typical character drama, meaning that there is not really a story, in terms of having a beginning and an end, with in between a story that connects the beginning with the end but it more has a story that slowly and realistically develops, making the events in this movie realistic, documentary like occurrences.

The movie really relies on its characters, with a good result. The actors are all in top form and there are some well known names present in this movie, such as Oscar winner and multiple nominee Maximilian Schell, Golden Globe and Emmy Award nominee Isabella Rossellini and also Academy Award nominee Topol, who in this movie is credited with his birth name Chaim Topol, an obvious Jewish name. Topol is perhaps best known to the general public for playing Milos Columbo in the James Bond movie "For Your Eyes Only" or for his role in the cult camp-classic "Flash Gordon". Also director Jeroen Krabbé himself plays a solid part in the movie, as well as the main character, played by the beautiful, talented, young and sadly (still) mostly unknown Laura Fraser.

The way the story is slowly told and developed is done nicely. It gives the movie a true heart and soul and gives the characters and events some real good emotions. The story focuses mainly on the first generation of Jews born after WW II. The emotions by the parents are still present and fresh, while the children just want to move on and don't want to look back at the past. As the story develops the perspective of the youth, through the eyes of the main character Chaya on the past and the Jewish culture changes of course.

The drama is strong and the story is solid. It however is obvious at times that Jeroen Krabbé isn't the most experienced movie director around. There are some minor weaknesses in the directing of some sequences but all in all most certainly not a bad directing debut for Krabbé, who will most likely grow more and more stronger in the near future with his directing skills.

And for the ones who are interested; The Nino this movie is dedicated to, was the nearly 2 year old baby boy of the screenwriter of this movie Edwin de Vries and well known Dutch actress Monique van de Ven, who died of meningitis.

8/10

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