Left Luggage

Saw this wonderful film at the Chicago Film Festival. Cast was excellent, story was thought-provoking...but the best element was the inspired direction by actor Jeroen Krabbe. It was truly visual poetry, and gut-wrenching at that.

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.

In 1972, in Antwerp, Chaya (Laura Fraser) is a liberal Jewish student of philosophy living alone. Her father (Maximiliam Schell) spends his time trying to find two pieces of luggage he buried in the Second World War, like he could bring his past back. Her mother (Marianne Saegebrecht) spends her time preparing cakes and sewing, trying not to think in life. In order to raise some money to pay for her rent, Chaya accepts to work as the nanny of two twin babies in an orthodox Jewish home, recommended by her friend Mr. Apfelschnitt (Chaim Topol) to the babies' parents, Mrs. Kalman (Isabella Rossellini) and Mr. Kalman (Jeroen Krabbé). Indeed Chaya feels some kind of affection for their four years old son Simcha (Adam Monty), a boy with serious emotional problems and without speech. Meanwhile, the concierge of the building (David Bradley) is a fascist who hates Jews and Chaya faces him without fear. The story has a very tragic end. This film is a very sad story about losses. The direction and performances of the cast are magnificent. Just as a curiosity, the Brazilian distributor LK-Tel Video wrote the following information in the front cover of the video: `Critics of the site www.imdb.com * As Good As The Schindler's List* ` I noted they used part of the comment made by the user `Sailor Leila (sailor-leila@shomar.co.uk) York, England', who wrote: `In its own way, almost as good as Schindler's List'. My vote is eight.

Title (Brazil): `Amor e Dor' (`Love and Pain')

"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)

Since I live in Israel, I've seen many films about the Hassidic community, but I've never seen a film that combines two of the heaviest subjects in Israeli society. The connection between the two main woman characters (Chaya and Mrs. Kalman), the connection in silence between Chaya and Mr. Kalman, and most important, the connection between Chaya and Simcha, which was nipped in the bud, we're all magnificently described. It also introduces the viewer to the closed worlds of both the Hassidics and the Holocaust Survivors. Excellent, touching and interesting.