MovieChat Forums > Safe (1995) Discussion > Wow, some just really don't get it...

Wow, some just really don't get it...

posted 12 years ago by somesunnyday
11 replies | jump to latest

Ok, so you've got Team A - adamant that she's suffering from nothing but chemical sensitivity (20th Century disease). Then you've got Team B - adamant that it's all just a symptom of her banal existence and that she's imagining it to fill the void in her vacuous life.

Then there's the rare few who see what Haynes was really trying to convey. It's a very grey area. Her symptoms prove to be very real in a lot of scenes which supports the theory she is genuinely chemically sensitive, but this doesn't detract from the fact she is searching for meaning in her painfully superficial existence. She experiences a brief glimmer of hope when she discovers Wrenwood only to find the same superficiality in a different form. The scene where the "cult" leader gives the first speech Carol witnesses is one of the most bone chilling moments I've seen in film. The look on her face doesn't hide the fact that she's thinking, Oh my Lord, what have I let myself get sucked into here? She sticks it out and gets sucked further in, culminating in her big move into the ceramic bubble looking at her own reflection, completely devoid of any self identity and more alone than she ever was before. Poetry in film...

[–] bertdockx 12 years ago

Very true!! Glad to come across somebody who got the same things out of this film.

I found it strange that some people seem to miss the negative, utterly condemning way the Wrenwood center and its leader are being portrayed. The session outside ("I'm so lucky" he says, while he has just dropped off each patient at the loneliest place in their minds), the birthday speech, the 'igloo', the house of the leader, his very manipulative speeches (each of them), ...

Honestly, the movie could have been 30 minutes shorter for me, for the point was being made so obviously towards the end, again and again, that I found it a bit repetitive. I still liked the movie a lot, though.

Coming on this board right after my first viewing, I'm pretty baffled by some of the other reactions. Some people need to see more films that don't ram their meaning down your throat every 2 minutes.

[–] GuyOnTheLeft 11 years ago

I too was shocked anyone didn't see what a sleazy scammer that Svengali Wrenwood leader was.

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[–] Kompressor_Fan 10 years ago

I think the movie is intentionally ambiguous, therefore there are several interpretations that can be taken from it.

Personally, I think the woman was a hypochondriac suffering from untreated major depression (that psychiatrist she went to was as useless as tits on a bull). Then she got sucked into this cult, which further pushed her away from her family and friends and society in general, after which things only went down from there.

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[–] GuyOnTheLeft 10 years ago

I think, as the OP said, there is some of both. She does seem to react strongly to fumes and so on.

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[–] Kompressor_Fan 10 years ago

I agree. Whereas, say you and I, would be irritated by fumes, the hypochondriac will take it the next level and act like it is killing them. The thing is…the hypochondriac is also irritated by the fumes (just like you and I)…they just way overdramatize it.

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[–] GuyOnTheLeft 10 years ago

I don't think we completely agree. I think she may actually have a greater degree of sensitivity than the average person (and for that matter, so do I: I can't wear a shirt that is even partly polyester without my skin breaking out in a rash, for instance), but also struggles with depression, a search for meaning in a vapid existence, etc.

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[–] Kompressor_Fan 10 years ago

I believe she had some allergies, but not to the extent these people at the commune tried to convince her she had. I agree her existence was vapid (“Fluvia? Fluvia!”)
An interesting moment that comes to mind has to do with the sofa set. She said she did not order black, but she had written that on the order sheet (which she claimed was ‘impossible.’) Maybe just creating a problem to entertain herself? Understandable to an extent. Her husband, other than in bed, acts as if she barely exists. She has no job…..just a lot of time on her hands.

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[–] Kompressor_Fan 10 years ago

I only saw it for the first time this weekend. Watched the Criterion Collection edition (beautiful, flawless picture!)

I remember people talking about this movie in the day, but I just never got around to it. Wow, I gotta say....it was very moving, to say the least. Although I won't watch it again right away, I know I will watch this one again, and maybe again after that. I get the feeling this is one of those movies where you notice something new every time you watch it, and one where I may change my assumptions about the characters and situations based on subsequent viewings.

It's a movie that, although slowly paced and lacking in action of any kind, it grabs you and takes you on a wild ride. Its the most excellent type of film making to be able to take something that lacks a structured narrative and, portraying passive characters just living their everyday lives and actually telling this amazing story. If the director succeeds (as Haynes did in Safe), then you have created a work of brilliance. If the director doesn't quite pull it off, then he looks pretentious and self indulgent.

Few directors can pull this very delicate trick. Kubrick could....and a couple of other directors come to mind, but not many. Great film making, and a fantastically subtle and gently nuanced pre-fame performance by Julianne Moore.

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[–] Doc110894 11 years ago

This is one of the strangest, most haunting movies I've ever seen.

[–] 11 years ago

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[–] henrimaine 8 years ago

The scene where the "cult" leader gives the first speech Carol witnesses is one of the most bone chilling moments I've seen in film. The look on her face doesn't hide the fact that she's thinking, Oh my Lord, what have I let myself get sucked into here?

I didn't get that vibe at all from the scene you are describing. I thought Carol was positively impressed by the community, its leader and the way they were saying their "prayer" together. Of course, we can only guess what she was thinking as she was sitting in her first group meeting. But Carol was just not the kind of person to think in a bad way of somebody she's just met.