Safe (1995)

Beautiful, moving film.

Admirable film.

I was totally surprised at how great this film.You could feel your paranoia rise as the film went on and as you gradually learned the details of the real situation.

Clever and entertaining enough to recommend even to members of the 1%

Put simply, it's probably best to describe this as a portrait of a certain type of neurosis. Some folks out there are going to relate especially well to the images in this flick. I'm reminded of Linklater's "Slacker", NOT in the sense that the two flicks address precisely the same thing, but rather that both flicks show you lifestyle choices/crises down the side lanes of otherwise normal American life. I felt the same way at the end of "Safe" as I did "Slacker": Whaddayaknow... someone made a movie about the kinds of folks I used to hang with.Haynes is a wonder. "Safe" is at the same time all these things (and no doubt a few others beside): It's a loving AND clinical portrait, a deep psychological thriller (to the extent you find it compelling), it could very well be a cautionary tale, it finds the line between straight-up narrative and documentary and dances on that line with incredible skill.If you are willing to invest your attention in an enormously artful film with no pat, happy ending--and in fact a burden of unresolved lostness-- watch it. Just be ready to ask yourself how much of Carol White there may be in YOU.

A terrific, unsettling film. A great performance by Julianne Moore. Great cinematography, of Los Angeles interiors and exteriors, highways and streets, restaurants and stores, and a health club - all amazing. A story that unfolds slowly and has loads of hints and pointers about what director Todd Haynes is trying to tell us, but in the end, the viewer is more or less left alone with Carol White in her dark bubble.I've read a lot of discussions and reviews about people wondering what exactly is going on here. My thoughts are all over the place as well, but I'm not getting into that, except for adding that it felt like one of those conspiracy / paranoia thrillers from the seventies, mostly those by Alan J. Pakula. This isn't really the same thing, maybe, but the vibe was at times very similar.What else can I say? I watched it twice within a short period of time, and that doesn't happen all too often these days. A must-watch for any film fan who likes to take a look outside the usual and familiar. A big 9 out of 10 for now, but that may change...

Seems like Todd Haynes is definitely a director with a certain skill for visualizing and really executing certain themes and ideas in ways that, if not entirely original, are surely very unique in their presentation. This film, like many have said, could really stand for a lot of different things (AIDS being the most obvious one) but it's definitely concerned with those types of ambiguities and metaphors that serve another type of resonance. The acting is fantastic, Moore actually giving one of the best performances from her entire career (shame it's such an underrated/underseen flick because I could see it having been a lot more popular). The film as a whole is very well developed.

Well what can I say. Julianne Moore is superb as Carol White. I don't know if I should say too much about this film, because essentially you will interpret this based on your own feelings and opinion depending on what you received from this film.To me, this is a film about a woman who becomes ultra sensitive to the world around her in terms of chemicals and starts having seizures and all sorts of symptoms. But what the film is also trying to say is how the plastic life one can lead can sort of make yourself distant from who you are and what you really enjoy. The fakeness that can sometimes surround you and the purpose of your life can be questioned at many times in your life.This isn't a film for everyone and I know if I recommended this film to some of my friends, they would watch it and then say to me 'What the hell was the point of this film?' This film does move at a somewhat slow and subtle pace in that you aren't given all the answers, and in fact you really aren't given any answers, but rather things to think about so you can discuss what is happening to this character. I was actually expecting the film to go down a typical path in the third act in that there is more to this than what it seems, but I was pleasantly surprised in that it strayed away from that thriller convention and gave us what the film has carried all the way through. You really just have to see it to understand it.Sometimes in my own life I feel this sense of alienation from the world and wonder about why things are happening the way they are and what I'm doing here. Safe sort of made me think about that in that if I was allergic to things that make up such an important part of my life, what would I be doing if that happened.Julianne Moore is a stunning actress and this film highlights how convincing she can be as a character that makes subtlety so loud in a performance.This film will make you think a lot, but perhaps it will make you think for good reasons.