Safe

Safe
by Todd Haynes

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Movie Reviews of Safe

Movie Review: Eerie and brilliant
Summary: 5 Stars

"Safe" is the story of Carol White, an adrift California housewife in the 1980s. Her life should satisfy: she lives with a husband and child she loves, spends her days doing whatever she wants to do, and lives in a huge house with plenty of money to throw around. What more could any American woman ask for? Apparently, quite a lot. In between the trips to the fitness center, the frequent lunches with female friends, and the important dinners with hubby's business pals, Carol begins to erode mentally and physically. If there's a starting point for this slow descent into illness, it seems to come when White throws a fit over a furniture company delivering the wrong couch. She soon cannot sleep, develops a hacking cough, and always feels bad. Her husband does not help matters. At first, he is sympathetic to his wife's plight, insisting she see a doctor (who finds nothing wrong with her) and offering emotional support. His goodwill doesn't last long, however, as he soon complains that Carol isn't fulfilling her duties as a wife and partner. The additional stress at home only compounds White's vague health problems. A trip to a psychologist offers little in the way of help, nor does a stay in the hospital after Carol has a seizure outside a dry cleaning business. This lady has a big problem, one that hauling around a little oxygen tank will not clear up anytime soon.

During the stay in the hospital, Carol finds salvation. An advertisement for a health spa called Wrenwood, located somewhere in New Mexico, promises to help people with unspecified health problems. Convinced this place is the only answer, White implores her husband to take her there. Wrenwood turns out to be both more and less than Carol White had hoped for. The facility is populated with a bunch of people, like White, who cannot seem to function in modern society. Even worse, the chap who runs the place, Peter Dunning, is one of those new age types. Dunning claims contracting the AIDS virus led him to set up the clinic so he can help people suffering from strange maladies. His speeches to his "patients," made in a special room complete with podium, cheesy murals, and musical instruments, convey the sense that this guy's running a cult. He likes to play around with people's minds, too, during intense "therapy" sessions where he tries to convince the patients that they made themselves sick. That may well be true in some of these cases, but the way Dunning goes about trying to heal these people is grotesque. In the end, Carol White is worse off than she was when she arrived at Wrenwood.

"Safe" works due to Haynes's masterful direction and sense of atmosphere. On more than one occasion, his cinematic approach reminded me of Stanley Kubrick. Haynes has that same ability to light and shoot a scene that looks like a giant hand squeezed all the emotion and life out of it. This tendency is especially prevalent in the first half of the film as we watch Carol start her slow decline. There's a great scene where we see White standing in her opulent living room, but Haynes shoots it so it looks like a mausoleum devoid of any feeling or life. If you look closely enough, Carol White appears as just another piece of furniture in the room. Amazing, simply amazing, and probably a good hint at the film's central theme. Our heroine really is just another ornament in this house, and her husband treats her that way. I suspect Carol's illness is related to her awareness that her life is essentially empty of meaning. Perhaps the illness is an attempt to get attention from those around her, or her body's way of rejecting the sterile background of her daily life.

Whatever the case, "Safe" is a deeply unsettling film that raises more questions than answers. Julianne Moore turns in a fabulous performance as the deeply flawed Carol White, as does Xander Berkeley as her distant husband. Peter Friedman threatens to steal the show, however, as the smarmy Peter Dunning. A commentary track on the disc done by Moore and Haynes seems to shoot holes in any attempt to see the film as a serious commentary on modern life. Both actress and director laugh and giggle a lot during the commentary, obviously getting a kick out of poking fun at the new age themes in the film. Still, "Safe" is an observation on our sick society, and fans of cinema will definitely want to check this gem out posthaste.

Summary of Safe