Is it Safe, or is it just really, really dry?

Safe Starring: Julianne Moore Director: Todd Haynes Similar Films: Blue Velvet Rating: ** 1/2 Adventurous: !! Where you can find it: Any video store with a pulse Todd Haynes (Velvet Goldmine, Poison) directed this loosely-defined “horror picture of the mind.” Starring Julianne Moore, Safe is the story of Carol White (Moore), a suburban housewife and stepmother whose entire existence is designed to make her man feel good. As her character is slowly developed, we see that Carol is practically non-existent in her social circle, as well as in her family. She works out, attends baby showers, and has a headache every night. She is the stereotypical suburban woman, until one day when she begins to feel vaguely ill. After having a few minor symptoms, Carol visits the doctor where she is quickly dismissed as being over-stressed. As her symptoms worsen, Carol looks for an answer to her worries. She finds that answer in the form of an wellness center for the environmentally ill, located in the New Mexico desert. There she is isolated from her social contacts, family, and every chemical known to man, and is subjected to the demagogic blatherings of wellness guru Peter Dunning (Peter Friedling). By the end of the film, we are not sure if Carol really is really environmentally ill, or instead mentally ill. Having seen Poison in my days as a Starlight Cinema dilettante, having rented Velvet Goldmine from the library, and then seeing Safe available on the shelf of my local video store, I decided that it would be worth the $2.00 to give it a try. After all, Velvet Goldmine was one of the most enjoyable movies I’ve seen in recent memory. Poison was one of the most disturbing films I have ever seen. If Todd Haynes could do for Safe what he did for those two masterpieces, it would sure be a treat. And to some extent, he does. But don’t rent this one if you’re looking for a film that demands your total concentration. The subtlety of Julianne Moore’s performance would make it seem that this is so, that the viewer must give his all to understand such a deep and poignant film. And reading message boards about the film, one is struck with a barrage of comments that sound either like, “this sucks!” or like “you just don’t get it. It’s brilliant!” Either way, I’m not interested in debating this one. It was boring (with one or two exceptions). The subject matter, environmental illness, is an important topic. To know that we Americans put thousands of toxins in our body every day (a tidbit that Carol’s doctor shares with her) is great. In fact, I’d be all for a Public Service Announcement by the likes of Timmy the Toxin (voiced by Tobey McGuire), that could be played 24-7 on the Cartoon Network. But beyond that fact, this film has little to say about the toxic effects of our daily grind. Instead, one gets the feeling that Todd Haynes is trying to make the viewer understand something. That ‘something’ (as I have read on these message boards), is that Safe is a metaphor for homosexuality. No, wait. It’s a metaphor for AIDS. No, again. It’s a metaphor for suburban life. No, once more. It’s a metaphor for every film student on the planet to figure out and put a label on! There is no reason to think to deep into this film, because the characters do not draw us into their struggle. They lead a perfectly dull existence, with money galore and little to show for their cornucopia of resources. The film might more accurately be titled Carol Gets Sick. It’s just that dull. There are a couple of exceptions that sharpen the dull blade of Safe. One is Peter Friedling’s performance as cult/wellness center leader Peter Dunning. He really has you going for a minute or two, when he states that life is good, and positive feelings are the only way to survive in our cruel world. After a while, however, his speeches begin to sound a little ‘off.’ At one point he suggests that his followers stop watching the news to drown out negativity. Although I personally subscribe to this philosophy as well, I don’t know that it is the correct antidote for everyone. And I certainly wouldn’t prescribe it (unless I, too, one day run a multi-million dollar wellness center…then I’ll prescribe every whacked out philosophy in the world. The more we screw up our nation’s rich and suck them dry, the better.) Pretty soon, he has everyone at the center believing that they are the cause of the environmental problems. This may be true, for some of the attendees of his cult. But some members lived close to chemical plants and other unsafe areas, so it is possible that they are genuinely environmentally ill. Another interesting area of the film (though his part is very small) is the freak character who lives inside a world of total fear. He fears walking outside his door, and the viewer only sees him as he struggles along, wearing what looks to be a surreal fencing outfit, outside his hutch. He is the archetype of psychological pain, and every step he took creeped me out. Other than those two points, the film is mediocre. The music sounds like it was stolen from Angelo Badalamenti’s scrap pile. The creepy factors of the film can be compared to David Lynch's work also, though again Safe is more subtle. If you’re gay, have AIDS, or have a particular hatred for suburban wealth (or all three), you might want to rent Safe. But if you’re just as abnormally white-bread as I am, you can skip this one and rent either Poison or Velvet Goldmine. They’re just plain better.