Safe
1995
Director: Todd Haynes
Starring: Julianne Moore
First
things first: massive thanks to Chip of Tips From Chip for supplying me the
opportunity to actually watch this film.
Talk about fortuitous timing: the day this was announced as an upcoming
Movie of the Week at Squish’s 1001 Movies Blog Club was the same day that I got
my flashdrive in the mail from Chip with, amongst other things, this film on
it. So a big yay for that, because
otherwise, it would have been much more difficult trying to track this one
down.
Second
things second: I have a fairly massive girl crush on Julianne Moore. The woman can do no wrong for me. I am not one to try to see an entire actor’s
filmography, mostly because I know that there tends to be a ton of junk in any
actor’s filmography, but Julianne Moore is one for whom I would make an exception. Even if her movie is crap, her presence
alone is enough to make me enjoy it. Laws
of Attraction is proof positive of that. How on earth she has not yet won an Oscar is
completely beyond me. The fact that
she’s “only” been nominated four times is also completely crazy. At least to me.
Safe, then, is all about Julianne
Moore (which is a-okay with me). Moore
plays Carol, a diminutive, sheepish, and insipid affluent suburban housewife in
1987 California. Carol has unfulfilling
sex with her husband (Xander Berkeley), shallow conversations with her friends,
and redecorates her house with full-on eighties décor. Slowly, very slowly, Carol starts to get
sick. It starts with just a general
fatigue, but it escalates to respiratory problems and even collapse. Indignant doctors tell her nothing is
actually wrong with her and refer her to a psychiatrist, who is equally
unhelpful. Frustrated, Carol hears of
“environmental illness,” where a person becomes allergic to the chemicals
associated with modern society, and concludes this is her malady. When she sees an advertisement for a New
Age-esque retreat for people suffering from environmental illness, she decides
to join.
