Safe, featuring Julianne Moore -- What Makes This Movie Great? (Episode 134)

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Disclaimer: All reasonable comments are welcome, including reasoned disagreements. You will be banned for foolish talk, harassment, and hate speech on sight; it's a tremendous waste of life. I believe in freedom of association and, by extension, freedom of dissociation from you.

[@vulgarlang]

Julianne Moore's performance is on another level in this movie. Maybe one of my favourite performances in history.

[@LearningaboutMovies]

Moore doesn't get the cred of Meryl Streep, but imo she's always been awesome.

[@mulder006]

Just watched it on The Criterion Channel and then watched a recent interview with Julianne Moore and Todd Haynes. Her performance was outstanding. The way the film is framed and shot is also a character in itself. I found the 2 last scenes (Her speech) and the last one of her starting into the mirror absolutely heart-breaking. I wouldn't call the place she went to, a Sanitorium, felt more like a Cult. The leader had a big, huge, lavish house away from everyone.

[@naomisdiary9835]

the ending reminds me of midsommar… you feel happy that they were able to reach happiness in some way but sad because it’s to the detriment of their own selves

[@airmark02]

I saw it on first release in the theater & recently again. Amazing how much of it's subject & content are still very relatable.

[@hayleyhawkins]

just finished this movie yesterday and really loved it. I experience health anxiety and the experience was portrayed really accurately, and i'm sure those with autoimmune or "invisible" diseases will likely feel similarly. it's also about gaslighting and masculinity and finding purpose and fulfillment. powerful!

[@aamirkhan943]

This is one of the best performances I've seen in a long time. Emotionally, everything felt so... real.

[@clgoodson7]

Even more relatable today. Transformative performance that deserved the Oscar by Moore. One for the books. Slow burn. Beautiful. Made me think about nature, humanity, environment, psychology, witchcraft? I noticed early on with the gorgeous color schemes and production design what I think is heavy Dario argento influence. And then Susie banyon herself shows up, Jessica Harper, and as a huge suspiria fan I’m left speechless. How I am I just watching this 3 days before my b day in March 2024?! ❤

[@friendlynightmares]

I had a strange way of finding this movie. I watched a Netflix movie a few years ago called "Casting JonBenet" and in it, there was a song I really liked, so I researched the music that was used in the movie. Two of the songs was by Ed Tomney, and it said they were from a movie called "Safe". As I was looking into the movie, I was really interested. I like ambiguous movies, and the setting seemed interesting. I watched it one night and I really enjoyed it. It was very disconcerting, and very "cold", it is definitely a movie that makes you think, and I like being able to come to my own conclusion rather than a movie just outright giving me the answer to the puzzle.

[@messengerpdx]

Spot on analysis! "Safe" is one of my all time favorite films for its relevant subject material and realization into a film with brilliant acting, cinematography, framing, script, editing, music. There are SO MANY stellar scenes and characters that add to the progressive crescendo of Carol's anxiety, confusion, isolation and nightmarish experiences. Hayne's use of ambiguity and subtext will transfix and engulf any discerning viewer appreciating complex, layered films. When the covid pandemic began in 2020, I immediately thought of this movie as an antidote and a raw, honest representation of what was occurring personally and socially in emotional and physical contexts. It's not necessarily a prophetic film because Hayne's touches on the fears and stigmatization of an earlier pandemic (AIDS) in a subtle but powerful scene with Carol and her friend. Many things make this film great but Julianne Moore's acting as the lead role was paramount.

[@PaulAdler11]

This is one of your very best analyses. Admirable how you embrace the film's ambiguity without picking a side.

[@samtan4729]

A most provocative masterpiece that still holds up. My favorite Todd Haynes movie.

[@BigBadMF43]

The meaning of this movie is that she is sooooo emotionally repressed and disconnected that her emotional distress is being expressed thru her reaction to everyday chemicals. Its psychosomatic illness, but its very real. Her system is overtaxed from repressed unhappiness that she can't even consciously comprehend. She has alexithymia. People with alexithymia express emotions thru psychical symptoms because they don't have the words to explain how they feel

[@amberturdcoloringbook1733]

Multi chemical sensitivities are a real thing. It is not psychosomatic. The real horror from this movie is that no one believes her. as an example, Just imagine that every time you have a headache, a flu or a cold and you tell a friend how you are feeling and they say "Is all in your head" " you have no headache" " that flu sounds fake"

[@LisaSmith-yb2uz]

It reminded me of the book “The Body Keeps the Score” 😙👍

[@MFLimited]

@@amberturdcoloringbook1733it’s not clear if it’s psychological or physical in the film.

[@amberturdcoloringbook1733]

@@MFLimited It is clear, she has nose bleeds when fumes are present, convulsions, asthma, etc, even when she goes to the allergist her skin reacts to certain toxins. In Canada and a few European countries they know "chemical sensitivities" are a real thing and they take the disease seriously. This movie was filmed at a time when MCS was in the early stages and doctors were clueless.

[@letsgobrandonpodcast]

I got thrown in the psych ward for it lol kzbin.info/www/bejne/rnfdYmZ7i9qaack@@amberturdcoloringbook1733 they said I was insane, yet I was the only sane person within 200 yards of the place, scary stuff.

[@chrisw451]

Thank you for reviewing this film. I have been haunted by it since I saw it in the theater back in 1995. I remember seeing it alone and there were maybe 2 other people in the screening with me adding to the feeling of isolation. Just picked it up on Criterion this week and man, it is even more amazing all the years later. I came here looking for some answers and now I see that it truly is sort of open ended in the sense that all of these factors could play a part in her problems and that's probably the point. It's an awakening.

[@LearningaboutMovies]

you're welcome. appreciate your comment.

[@rhobot75]

YES! I tell people about this one- I loved it at the time, saw it in the theater. It is amazing. I felt, at the end, that she is more connected, understood and yet more isolated and vulnerable, and vulnerable to manipulation than ever before. And the director is amazing. And SUPERSTAR, his first in 1987 is AMAZING, and has quite a story to it involving blacklisting, Richard Carpenter, Mattel toys, and Herb Alpert. I saw it screened at ATA Artists Television Access on Valencia Street in the Mission District in San Francisco.

[@LearningaboutMovies]

thank you.

[@yango8778]

Great analysis to a great movie! I also discovered it rather recently. One thing I would like to add is that in addition to the photography I think the score by Ed Tomney contributes a lot to the melancholic, ambiguous and sometimes truly disturbing athmosphare in this film. Safe has definitely some of the most scariest moments that I've ever seen in a movie. So yes I think it absolutely deserves to be part of the Criterion Collection. About the last scene, well, as you mentioned there are so many themes going on in this movie. My guts feeling are that she finally reached a momentary state of happiness and self acceptance in that scene. But we as an audience know that from now on it's only getting worse.

[@LearningaboutMovies]

thank you.

[@philippgoenitzer3976]

One of my favorite movies ever and one of the scariest.

[@alanwatson4249]

Good stuff.

[@LearningaboutMovies]

thank you.

[@ZootTM]

Great to see you covering this movie. I very much agree with your analysis on how the "mystery disease" and its potential causes are portrayed. The movie does a very job of leaving us with ambiguity and questions. I also agree that this is still a very relevant topic, also in the light of Long covid and growing numbers of diseases where classification into psychological / psychosomatic / somatic is murky.

[@dinnerbone444]

love this

[@nika_sk8848]

Thanks for this amusing review of this interesting film!

[@LearningaboutMovies]

you're welcome.

Hello! Thanks for uploading this video. When I finished watching this movie, I was quite confused. Although through all the movie I had been taking my own way to see the film, the final scene really puzzled me

[@fredweisenmiller1328]

Thanks for the recommendation Dr. Matthews! Todd Haynes Velvet Underground documentary is the best film I have seen this year.

[@LearningaboutMovies]

thank you. I have been avoiding that because I do not appreciate their music, yet a doc is a doc, and any doc can be great!

[@VFRZen]

I own the Criterion DVD and agree that it’s a terrific, strange, and rather sad film. It’s definitely worth a watch.

[@millsykooksy4863]

I looooooove this movie

[@chantellekirk2993]

Quaternary ammonium compounds tanked me.

[@MFLimited]

In the US, women are (still) frequently told that their physical illnesses are “in their heads”, even with no evidence of any psychological illness. This is less common, not a massive phenomena, here in the UK; but, it does happen.

[@WarBrah]

Because they’re hypochondriacs

[@sanidhyasingh227]

Todd Hanes is the same guy who made Carol? Love that film, surprisingly never heard of this.

[@LearningaboutMovies]

excellent! enjoy.

[@stimpy2695]

Please watch his other film Dark Waters.

[@yusefendure]

This film is about alienation, repression, and the myth of being normal in a toxic, capitalist society. Carol is isolated in suburbia and isolated in the cult. The final scene shows the emptiness of her words: 'I love you.'

[@drewhowe3446]

Could you talk about Casablanca

[@LearningaboutMovies]

yes! one day.

[@friedem0n2004]

Saw this movie at the beginning of 2020, I remember hating her character the first time I watched it, the second time I grew to understand, and by the third time your defenses as a viewer are totally down.

[@bobbybeard1497]

Why is there a rise in anxiety in late capitalism (a society predicated on an increasingly precarious existence)? It's a puzzle really

[@WarBrah]

I’m sure an alternative mode of production will just fix that right up

[@yelnik9000]

I realize this will not be a popular observation, but this movie is a rather unfortunate critique of modern day liberalism. The cult leader lists the tenants off quite succinctly; climate, multiculturalism etc. There's even a woman wearing an N95 mask in one of the scenes. The notion of people viewing their surroundings as something to be afraid of was largely popularized in the last 3 years. Anyway, great movie. Julianne Moore's performance is top notch.