This is the question Safe ponders over its two hours. Julianne Moore plays a disillusioned young housewife who starts to slowly develop allergy after allergy, until she is effectively unable to co-exist with the busy city environment around her. As a result she embarks on a journey both physical and spiritual to come to terms with her crippling allergies.
Right. Plot synopsis out of the way, how does Safe work? Pretty well actually. I don't necessarily agree with the popular summary that Safe is a 'horror movie for the soul' as there's much more to it than that, the summary suggests it's like Ring with allergies, which is selling it short at best. Safe is basically a human drama about someone who has to deal with strange and extreme circumstances, and decides to take equally strange and extreme measures. Via this, director Todd Haynes is able to both examine and partially satirise middle-America's values and accepted environment, and the self-help/new medicine craze of recent years.
He does this with care and emotion, taking a good hard look at Moore's character and the things she surrounds herself with. Moore's character is both obviously unhappy but also too timid to say anything herself, so the allergies seem almost like an internal rebellion from her body, and her journey away from the city an escape for both body and soul. It's a fairly deep movie, and it's nice to see something that grapples with society at large and actually tries to say something as opposed to a movie that seems firmly entertainment.
That said, you need some entertainment. If Safe has a weakness, it is its focus. There is almost no external detail to Moore's life, with even her family painted in giant broad brushstrokes. As a result the movie is a singularly lonely experience although I feel in part this is intentional. It is also a somewhat long film. 2 hours isn't a lot in this age of three-hour blockbusters, but most three hour blockbusters have casts you can't count on your fingers and toes, whereas I'd say a good 75% of screen time is concentrated on Moore and Moore alone. It's an intense, quiet 2 hours and you really feel tired and lonely afterwards.
Thankfully, Moore is both sympathetic and likable, and you want her to do what she feels is right as much as possible. Also, the film's focus on her character enables Haynes to do certain parts of the film in an almost first person fashion. Certain sequences so accurately portray the experience of being really ill that you almost feel ill yourself, and the movie is an artistic triumph, with every shot looking absolutely spot on.
So, I recommend Safe. It's a well-shot, terrifically acted movie, with a genuinely original feel and premise, but be warned that it is a long movie, and one with very few light-hearted moments or external characters.
Right. Plot synopsis out of the way, how does Safe work? Pretty well actually. I don't necessarily agree with the popular summary that Safe is a 'horror movie for the soul' as there's much more to it than that, the summary suggests it's like Ring with allergies, which is selling it short at best. Safe is basically a human drama about someone who has to deal with strange and extreme circumstances, and decides to take equally strange and extreme measures. Via this, director Todd Haynes is able to both examine and partially satirise middle-America's values and accepted environment, and the self-help/new medicine craze of recent years.
He does this with care and emotion, taking a good hard look at Moore's character and the things she surrounds herself with. Moore's character is both obviously unhappy but also too timid to say anything herself, so the allergies seem almost like an internal rebellion from her body, and her journey away from the city an escape for both body and soul. It's a fairly deep movie, and it's nice to see something that grapples with society at large and actually tries to say something as opposed to a movie that seems firmly entertainment.
That said, you need some entertainment. If Safe has a weakness, it is its focus. There is almost no external detail to Moore's life, with even her family painted in giant broad brushstrokes. As a result the movie is a singularly lonely experience although I feel in part this is intentional. It is also a somewhat long film. 2 hours isn't a lot in this age of three-hour blockbusters, but most three hour blockbusters have casts you can't count on your fingers and toes, whereas I'd say a good 75% of screen time is concentrated on Moore and Moore alone. It's an intense, quiet 2 hours and you really feel tired and lonely afterwards.
Thankfully, Moore is both sympathetic and likable, and you want her to do what she feels is right as much as possible. Also, the film's focus on her character enables Haynes to do certain parts of the film in an almost first person fashion. Certain sequences so accurately portray the experience of being really ill that you almost feel ill yourself, and the movie is an artistic triumph, with every shot looking absolutely spot on.
So, I recommend Safe. It's a well-shot, terrifically acted movie, with a genuinely original feel and premise, but be warned that it is a long movie, and one with very few light-hearted moments or external characters.