In 1995's Safe, Todd Haynes creates a world that is so completely mundane, vapid, that it both literally and figuratively suffocates its main character, Claire. This world? Suburbia.
On the surface, Safe is centered around Claire battling a mysterious "environmental sickness" and the emotional breakdown it wrecks on her soul. But past that, Claire's arc and sickness symbolizes realization and awakening. Claire's dialog is rare, but when she does speak, she often envisions people "waking up" to the toxicity of the world, much as her disease allowed her to wake out of her existence as a meaningless drone of a housewife. When she checks into a rehab for her illness in the last act of the film and hopes to find answers and companionship, she only encounters more exploitation and wrong, and her condition worsens. The more she feels "awake" in relation to the sheepish mentality and falseness in the world around her, the sicker she gets, and the more in condition she separates from the regular, blind humans. In one of the film's most defining sequences, Claire sees a man wandering across the grazed land outside her rehab cabin. He is the most separated from regular human societal conditions and borders, and thus looks like a walking mummy, beautifully inhuman, stoic, and removed from any other being. He is removed from the blind, "safe" world, Claire's original world.
Julianne Moore's performance still stands as among the best in her career, and Claire's gradual mental breakdown is among the most intricately and internally well-acted in cinema lore. Haynes is wise to keep everything about Claire subtle and closed in; a lesser filmmaker would've felt the need for "big" crying scenes, but Claire's inner turmoil is portrayed so effectively in Moore's quietness that it creates a completely human character in a world that is not. The film benefits from not feeling the need for over-exposition in either the plot or its messages, Haynes lets the audience put together and interpret the film themselves. In particular the film wisely leaves whether Claire's illness is real or simply mental as ambiguous, but it doesn't matter, the end result of Claire's world making her sick and being forced to awaken from it is the same.
The film is shot beautifully, Haynes as usual has perfect framing in his shots, capturing the slow drawling movement of Claire through her house, driving, or being choked in the rest of her world. Like many great filmmakers he reaches the most effect through images over dialog (which is intentionally useless in most of the film anyway), and again his decisions concerning Claire as a completely internal character and general withholding of exposition, are very wise.
Ironically enough considering the title, Safe is one of the more difficult and daring films I've seen recently, as Claire's bland world is as intoxicating for the viewer as it is for her. But at the very least, the film stands as an extremely ambitious and interesting film, if not near-masterpiece, that certifies Todd Haynes as one of the great present-day directors.
On the surface, Safe is centered around Claire battling a mysterious "environmental sickness" and the emotional breakdown it wrecks on her soul. But past that, Claire's arc and sickness symbolizes realization and awakening. Claire's dialog is rare, but when she does speak, she often envisions people "waking up" to the toxicity of the world, much as her disease allowed her to wake out of her existence as a meaningless drone of a housewife. When she checks into a rehab for her illness in the last act of the film and hopes to find answers and companionship, she only encounters more exploitation and wrong, and her condition worsens. The more she feels "awake" in relation to the sheepish mentality and falseness in the world around her, the sicker she gets, and the more in condition she separates from the regular, blind humans. In one of the film's most defining sequences, Claire sees a man wandering across the grazed land outside her rehab cabin. He is the most separated from regular human societal conditions and borders, and thus looks like a walking mummy, beautifully inhuman, stoic, and removed from any other being. He is removed from the blind, "safe" world, Claire's original world.
Julianne Moore's performance still stands as among the best in her career, and Claire's gradual mental breakdown is among the most intricately and internally well-acted in cinema lore. Haynes is wise to keep everything about Claire subtle and closed in; a lesser filmmaker would've felt the need for "big" crying scenes, but Claire's inner turmoil is portrayed so effectively in Moore's quietness that it creates a completely human character in a world that is not. The film benefits from not feeling the need for over-exposition in either the plot or its messages, Haynes lets the audience put together and interpret the film themselves. In particular the film wisely leaves whether Claire's illness is real or simply mental as ambiguous, but it doesn't matter, the end result of Claire's world making her sick and being forced to awaken from it is the same.
The film is shot beautifully, Haynes as usual has perfect framing in his shots, capturing the slow drawling movement of Claire through her house, driving, or being choked in the rest of her world. Like many great filmmakers he reaches the most effect through images over dialog (which is intentionally useless in most of the film anyway), and again his decisions concerning Claire as a completely internal character and general withholding of exposition, are very wise.
Ironically enough considering the title, Safe is one of the more difficult and daring films I've seen recently, as Claire's bland world is as intoxicating for the viewer as it is for her. But at the very least, the film stands as an extremely ambitious and interesting film, if not near-masterpiece, that certifies Todd Haynes as one of the great present-day directors.