The two versions of "The Vanishing" are very similar, being the same plot, but they are also different in some ways. There are some underlying themes in both that change and are not necessarily very easy to see.
The original version of "The Vanishing" uses more imagery and foreshadowing of events than the later version. In particular, there is a scene where Rex and Saskia run out of gas in a very dark tunnel. Rex goes to fetch gas, while Saskia waits in the car. As Rex comes back, he notices that she is no longer in the car and is at the end of the tunnel where daylight can be seen. This is heavy foreshadowing of death because of the phrase "light at the end of the tunnel" which is often used when people are on the brink of death and claim that as they slip away, they can see heaven or the after life. Later in the film we discover that Rex shares the same fate as his girlfriend in the end - death. This scene is not in the American remake at all because of the fact that the ending is completely different (the boyfriend and girlfriend do not die).
In addition to ending and the tunnel scene being big differences, another difference is the golden egg scene. While driving their car, Rex is listening to Saskia explain a dream she had recently in which both of them were trapped in seperate "golden eggs" floating on through eternity, never to meet one another again. The golden eggs seem to represent loss and also do a bit of foreshadowing. Saskia's death is foreshadowed in the tunnel, and Rex is trapped in a coffin, which may be what golden eggs were supposed to symbolize. The coins that the lovers bury in the dirt could also be what the golden eggs are supposed to symbolize because both coins are buried in the dirt, just as people are when they die, and the coins aren't buried directly next to each other. The golden egg scene is also not in the remake because of the fact that the two did not die.
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