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:

Music box theme

poignant

There are movies about the tension between secular and religious Jews, and movies about Holocaust survivors. This one is both.

Chaiyah, a Jewish college-aged woman in Antwerp, Belgium, couldn't care less about her family's stories, and she finds the Chasidim to be particularly weird. A child of the sexual revolution, she's concerned with having a good time.

Through a family friend, she finds a job as a nanny for a Chasidic family. Although she's ready to quit the first day, she quickly develops a — no, a kinship — with the youngest boy with severe emotional difficulties. The boy, Simcha, can't speak, even though he's four, and when he's under pressure, he wets himself. Chaiyah brings him out. He begins talking, and even sings the Mah Nishtanah at the Seder.

The film shows us reasons for the Chasidic father's seeming aloofness to the youngest son, overt and less than overt anti-Semitism in Europe ("You don't look Jewish.") , and the ways the older generation has of dealing or coping with the past.

As the film progresses, Chaiyah becomes bonded with her people, which I think is the meaning of the final scene.

Some of the scenes can't really be appreciated without an understanding of Jewish culture and practice. I think this is particularly true of one of the late scenes between the two main women characters. It really floored me.

It's a real tear-jerker, but it's not without its happy moments.