Safe (1995) on Netflix
In 1987, Carol White keeps house in a Los Angeles suburb with her husband Greg and his son Rory. Coughing fits, nosebleeds and a panic attack arrive without explanation.
- Netflix4.0/5
- IMDb7.1/1019,689 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes87%
Trailer
Plot summary
Carol White lives in an affluent Los Angeles suburb with her husband Greg and his son Rory, her days filled with gardening, aerobics and friends. After the family's house is renovated, her body fails her in ordinary places: exhaust from a truck sets off a coughing fit, a perm at a hair salon leaves her with a nosebleed, a baby shower brings a panic attack, and she collapses at a dry cleaner's being fumigated. Convinced chemicals around her are the cause, she consults doctors who offer no diagnosis and call her physically healthy, and therapy brings no improvement. Watching television in the hospital, she sees an advertisement for Wrenwood, a community in the desert for people with environmental illnesses, led by the author Peter Dunning, and decides to leave her life behind for it.
Cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Safe (1995)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- Todd Haynes first wanted Susan Norman to play Carol in Safe, she was cast as Linda instead, but Julianne Moore's agent insisted on an interview with producer Vachon, and Moore won the part with an audition in which she kept all weight off her larynx.
- Haynes first heard of "environmental illness" in 1991 on a TV magazine program that called it "20th Century Disease", and he and producer Vachon interviewed real advocacy groups, including Response Team for the Chemically Injured in Atascadero, California and The Chemical Connection in Wimberley, Texas.
- The film's desert commune, Wrenwood, was inspired by a yoga retreat at the Kripalu Center, and Haynes researched the New Age author Louise Hay, whose books told gay men during the AIDS epidemic that self-love would heal their illness.
- Investors wanted Haynes to repeat what had worked in his earlier film Poison, and because Safe was so different, funding took a long time to find; the budget ended up around $1 million.
- For the Sundance premiere, Haynes had cut the shot of Peter Dunning's mansion, then put it back in after hearing audience feedback because he wanted to emphasize the character's hypocrisy.
- Cinematographer Alex Nepomniaschy suggested the look of Red Desert to Haynes after reading the script, and the two decided never to let the camera get very close to any character, to keep the audience emotionally distant.
SPOILER
Safe never names Carol's condition, but director Todd Haynes confirmed it is a depiction of multiple chemical sensitivity.- Safe gave Julianne Moore her first leading role in a feature film and gave Todd Haynes a measure of mainstream critical recognition.
