For some actors, the performance Julianne Moore gives in Safe would be a career defining masterpiece, their one and only shot at award winning fame. For her, it turned out to be just the beginning of a brilliant career.
Carol is a rather well to do suburban homemaker in the 1980’s. She spends her time obsessing over the decor of the home she shares with her husband Greg (Xander Berkeley) and his son Rory from a previous relationship and going to exercise classes. She’s apparently fit enough that her friends point out that she never sweats while exercising. The good life is within her reach. However, soon Carol becomes ill and her doctor cannot pinpoint why. She’s getting nauseous, weak, and has trouble breathing for no apparent reason and it’s beginning to have an affect on her marriage.
It’s been well noted that director Todd Haynes used this film as an extended metaphor for illness, specifically AIDS, but the brilliance of it lies in that anyone who has ever suffered from a hard to diagnose illness can recognize many of the difficulties that Carol faces from those around. Her doctor doesn’t believe her, her husband is exasperated with her, and her friends don’t know how to react around her, especially as her appearance affects their social lives. The burden of her mystery illness is put squarely on her shoulders and without a proper support system it slowly begins to wear her down.
That doesn’t mean she doesn’t do her best to figure out what is wrong with her. Perhaps the biggest target its environmental illness. Her world is filled with pollution, chemicals, and other invasive stimuli. Her allergy tests frequently make her ill, as if the world around her is constantly attacking her which of course drives her to isolate further and further away from everyone.
As the film continues on, Haynes uses Carol’s condition to shine a spotlight on the medical industry, especially the more “new age” treatments that would certainly have their own YouTube channels today. The Wrentwood Center, a rather dirty looking rehabilitation facility looks more like a summer camp I attended when I was a Cub Scout rather than a medical oasis, only my camp didn’t come with a safe isolation unit which could likely substitute for a fallout shelter if necessary.
It’s enough to make anyone watching feel uneasy, not only about their own health but also any treatment they might be able to receive. As our current world barely fights off a pandemic and our medical treatments become more unaffordable, Safe hits very hard. It’s easy to see why people might be distrustful of proven medical treatments when their fears are ignored and how this could open the doors for those who are willing to gain trust through persuasive language and the promise of a cure, regardless of how ridiculous it might sound.
“The only person who can make you sick is you,” is obviously bullshit, but when all the other answers have failed you, self love is likely hard to come by. As an audience, we can only hope that something will work for Carol as she disintegrates, afraid and alone, before our eyes.
Rated 4 out of 5 stars
