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Safe | Year: 1995 Classification: Drama Directed: - Todd Haynes Actors/Actresses: - Julianne Moore - Xander Berkeley Safe can be deadly I think this is one of the best and most significant films of the 90s. It is a very introspective film, so if you require shootouts, steamy sex scenes and explosions to remain interested, this is definitely not the movie for you. Even fans of independent films may find their attention spans challenged by the deliberately slow paced and downbeat style of Safe. It is, however, well worth paying attention to. I've seen this movie three times now, and I notice more with each viewing. The opening frame, which puts brackets around the title [Safe] is a study in itself. Carol White (the name, like many details in this film, is quite significant), played by Julianne Moore, is an affluent suburban housewife who apparently becomes allergic to everything around her. Yet Safe, which might first seem like a made-for-television disease-of-the-week affair, has a far more subtle and thought-provoking theme than illness. From the start, we are oppressed by the white, sterile perfection of Carol's environment. The interiors of her house could have been designed by a feng shui consultant. The colors are all soft; everything is arranged in perfect symmetry. When a furniture store accidentally delivers a black rather than teal couch to the house, Carol panics (black=impurity). Carol at first attributes her illness to stress and her doctor concurs. Yet her life is anything but stressful; we see her float from the health club to the hair salon to lunch with a friend at a restaurant. Her symptoms worsen, and she learns about environmental illness; "Are you allergic to the 20th Century?" a flyer asks. As Carol becomes unable to cope with her life, she enters Wrenwood, a new age retreat center that promises to cleanse the body and spirit of impurities. Wrenwood preaches a self-righteous philosophy of asceticism, withdrawl from society and positive thinking. In Safe, director Todd Haynes has taken a profound look at some disconcerting aspects of modern society. What is perhaps best about the film is its nuanced performances. Carol, though ill and upset, is never completely out of control for long; she always returns to her "I'm fine" persona (which is part of her problem). The new age center and its staff, which could have been a parody of silliness or cultishness, is similarly subtle. If you listen to what they preach and the effects it has on patients (everyone is always on the verge of tears), you can see the flaws and distortions, but it's sophisticated and plausible enough that you can also see how people might fall for it. Safe suggests that the desire to escape all forms of impurity may be one of the most pathological things about our culture. Anything but safe. Safe - movie, 4 stars Named by the Village Voice as the Best Film of the 1990s, this resounding social statement a-la-TV-movie-of-the-week is certainly anything but what its title suggests. Director Todd Haynes has the reputation of pushing limits and making audiences strangely uncomfortable, and this film is no exception. San Fernando Valley, circa 1989. Carol White (Julianne Moore) is living her perfectly stereotypical upper-middle-class life when suddenly she becomes sick. When she has allergic reactions to all sorts of chemicals around her, her husband (Xander Berkeley) and doctor think it's all in her head. However, the hopelessly reserved Carol knows her "environmental illness" is legitimate, uprooting herself and moving into the chemically-sterile community of Wrenwood, New Mexico. There, she is treated for her mysterious illness by self-help guru Peter Dunning (Peter Friedman) and his bright-eyed cohorts; however, her health continues to decline. The film's statement is quite difficult to detect upon first viewing. Certainly, the plot is extremely reminiscent of many TV-movies of the 80s and 90s, all showcasing a new disease of the week. However, it eventually becomes apparent that the film is not a commentary on environmental illness. Performances in the film are all at best adequate, with the exception of Moore, who is undeniably brilliant. Her detatched, sad carriage and demeanor arguably echoes more loudly than the film's social statement. Of course, she depends heavily on her subtleties as usual, and when she's onscreen, it's difficult to pay attention to anything else. Her birthday scene, toward the end of the film, is particularly moving. Haynes's direction is seemingly bland at times-- one may feel as if he's watching a horror movie on Valium. However, Haynes's complexities eventually show through and what we see is a brillantly sincere and deep commentary on a rather provocative question: Is anyone ever really safe? Excellent Psychological Drama with Lingering Effect Carol White (Julianne Moore), a homemaker, lives a life without doing the daily chores of a housewife as the family maid takes care of household tasks. In essence Carol has only one responsibility: her leisure time. She tries to fill her free time with aerobics, beauty salon visits, and new acquisitions for their safeguarded home. These activities do not provide an outlet for Carol's own identity as she is a mere trophy wife. Eventually Carol's body begins to rebel against herself through nausea, headaches, and nose bleeding. The family doctor examines Carol and he finds nothing wrong as her physical miseries worsen. Carol is sent to a psychiatrist, but her subdued persona does not cooperate. Carol's health continues to deteriorate as she discovers an organization that enlightens people about environmental illness. Environmental illness is an over hypersensitivity to pollution, pesticides, and all other toxins in the environment that exist in foods, perfumes and make-up among other things. This means that Carol must remove herself from civilization and the world in which she lives. Carol departs for a new age health sanctuary, Wrenwood, where she begins her recovery. Initially Carol improves physically, however, as she comes across a closely located highway her health begins to decline again. Buy Safe at Amazon.com Buy posters at Allposters.com Jamster - the latest ringtones for your phone!  Search with Walhello on the Internet on Safe Search with the Priority Search Engine on Safe This page in other languages: Suomeksi | Nederlands | Deutsch
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