Movie

Traces of Smoke

1992 · 105 min

A slow, unsettling puzzle that keeps you at a distance, asking you to piece together fragments of voice and space without resolution.

Directed by: Frans van de Staak
Genres: Drama
Starring: Marlies Heuer, Peter Blok, Joop Admiraal

Overview: A portrait of a woman and 26 witnesses who appear to be accusing her of something but we'll never know what. We'll never even know who she is and who the witnesses are. A complex experiment about space, voice and speech.

Your rating is saved. See your suggestions, or find titles like this one below.

Rate it, and Mesmero finds titles that feel like it. You do not need an account.

Search YouTube for a trailer

In the UKNo streaming, rental or purchase options known.

Directed by: Frans van de Staak
Genres: Drama
Starring: Marlies Heuer, Peter Blok, Joop Admiraal

In your watch list

How it feels

Written by AI. It can be wrong.

Tone: eeriestrength 2 of 3
tensestrength 2 of 3
melancholicstrength 2 of 3
darkstrength 1 of 3
Pacing: slow-burn, 1 of 4, from slow-burn to relentless
Attention: demanding, 4 of 4, from background-friendly to demanding
Themes: identity
isolation
guilt
memory
justice
Places: None
Era: contemporary
Audience: adult
Form: nonlinear
unreliable narrator
Content intensity: Gore none
Language mild
Violence none
Sex none

All scales, 0 to 10

Scales, 0 to 10
Scale	Value	0 to 10
Action	0
Horror	2
Humour	1
Realism	6
Romance	1
Tension	6
Darkness	6
Complexity	9
Emotional weight	7

Titles like Traces of Smoke

Movie

Deed Undone

1989

A quiet, formally experimental chamber piece that asks you to sit with silences and watch strangers become each other.

Same director: Frans van de Staak · Eerie, tense, slow-burn · about identity and isolation · nonlinear

Also: Same director: Frans van de Staak
Via: eerie
tense
identity
isolation
nonlinear
Pacing: slow-burn
Attention: demanding
Runtime: 73 min

Details

Deed UndoneHidden from your suggestions.

Movie

Hunger

2026

A disorienting, dreamlike plunge through fractured memory, beautiful and unsettling, that asks you to surrender to its logic and sit with its ghosts.

Eerie, tense, slow-burn · about identity and guilt · nonlinear

Via: eerie
tense
identity
guilt
nonlinear
Pacing: slow-burn
Attention: demanding

Details

HungerHidden from your suggestions.

Movie

And He Bid You Farewell

1993

A slow, unsettling stay in a strange house where memory and identity blur, leaving you disoriented and quietly moved.

Eerie, melancholic, slow-burn · about identity and isolation · unreliable narrator

Via: eerie
melancholic
identity
isolation
unreliable narrator
Pacing: slow-burn
Attention: demanding
Runtime: 90 min

Details

And He Bid You FarewellHidden from your suggestions.

Short film

Pool Version

2016

A quiet, self-aware puzzle that blurs fiction and reality, asking you to piece together a film about itself.

Eerie, melancholic, slow-burn · about identity and isolation · nonlinear

Via: eerie
melancholic
identity
isolation
nonlinear
Pacing: slow-burn
Attention: demanding
Runtime: 20 min

Details

Pool VersionHidden from your suggestions.

Movie

Windschaduw

1986

A quiet, meditative drift of images and poetry that rewards patience but keeps you at an emotional distance.

Same director: Frans van de Staak · Tense, melancholic, slow-burn · about identity and isolation · nonlinear

Also: Same director: Frans van de Staak
Via: tense
melancholic
identity
isolation
nonlinear
Pacing: slow-burn
Attention: demanding
Runtime: 71 min

Details

WindschaduwHidden from your suggestions.

Movie

After the Rehearsal

1984

A hushed, claustrophobic chamber piece where memory and confrontation blur, demanding patience but rewarding with raw emotional precision.

Tense, melancholic, slow-burn · about identity and memory · nonlinear

Via: tense
melancholic
identity
memory
nonlinear
Pacing: slow-burn
Attention: demanding
Runtime: 74 min

Details

After the RehearsalHidden from your suggestions.

Short film

Pre-Loved

2020

A quiet, wordless drift through neglect and decay that asks you to sit with unease rather than follow a story.

Eerie, melancholic, slow-burn · about isolation and memory · nonlinear

Via: eerie
melancholic
isolation
memory
nonlinear
Pacing: slow-burn
Attention: demanding
Runtime: 4 min

Details

Pre-LovedHidden from your suggestions.

Movie

The Scar

2013

A quiet, brooding psychological drama that keeps you uneasy as a man's buried past slowly surfaces.

Tense, melancholic, slow-burn · about identity and isolation

Via: tense
melancholic
identity
isolation
Pacing: slow-burn
Attention: engaged
Runtime: 90 min

Details

The ScarHidden from your suggestions.

Movie

Un país imaginario donde los perros comen flores

A slow, fragmented drift through quiet lives, asking patience as it builds unease from small, ordinary moments.

Eerie, melancholic, slow-burn · about identity and isolation · nonlinear

Via: eerie
melancholic
identity
isolation
nonlinear
Pacing: slow-burn
Attention: engaged
Runtime: 70 min

Details

Un país imaginario donde los perros comen floresHidden from your suggestions.

Movie

Olivier, Olivier

1992

A quiet, unsettling plunge into a family's grief that keeps you uneasy about what is real and what is wished for.

Eerie, tense, slow-burn · about identity and isolation · nonlinear

Via: eerie
tense
identity
isolation
nonlinear
Pacing: slow-burn
Attention: engaged
Runtime: 104 min

Details

Olivier, OlivierHidden from your suggestions.

Movie

People Passing Through Me in an Endless Procession

1981

A slow, abstract puzzle of repeated scenes and shifting actors, more like watching a thought unfold than a story.

Same director: Frans van de Staak · Eerie, tense, slow-burn · about identity and isolation · nonlinear

Also: Same director: Frans van de Staak
Via: eerie
tense
identity
isolation
nonlinear
Pacing: slow-burn
Attention: demanding
Runtime: 86 min

Details

People Passing Through Me in an Endless ProcessionHidden from your suggestions.

Movie

Un film

1969

A slow, wordless drift through inner states, more like watching a dream unfold than following a story.

Eerie, melancholic, slow-burn · about identity and isolation · nonlinear

Via: eerie
melancholic
identity
isolation
nonlinear
Pacing: slow-burn
Attention: demanding
Runtime: 60 min

Details

Un filmHidden from your suggestions.

Where to watch in the UK

No UK streaming, rental or purchase options are known.

Streaming data from JustWatch.TMDB

Details

Genres: drama
Directed by: Frans van de Staak
Written by: Frans van de Staak
Starring: Marlies Heuer, Peter Blok, Joop Admiraal, Rein Bloem, Sacha Bulthuis, Carine Crutzen, Hildegard Draayer, René Eljon
Runtime: 105 min
Country: Netherlands
Languages: Dutch

TMDB IMDb Letterboxd Wikipedia Wikidata

Something wrong on this page? Tell us.

Traces of Smoke

How it feels

More like this

Titles like Traces of Smoke

Where to watch in the UK

Details