MovieChat Forums > Safe (1995) Discussion > Perm scene....Do you agree??

Perm scene....Do you agree??

posted 18 years ago by horror-head55
14 replies | jump to latest

I don't know if this caught your interest but I thought that the stark and beautiful photography in most of the first half had its culmination with the scene where Carol has a perm. I've never seen a movie that's so clinical and beautiful visually and still distill the characters' emotions in such harmony!
I loved the effect that scene gave, orchestrating the closed-up, vivid image of the dye dripping with the subtle sound of xylophones. You can clearly feel, see the chemicals churning as the liquid spreads. Very Microcosms-ish. And then as to make it even more documentary-like, this close-up of Carol's hair is waken into reality with a blurring interlapse in which we are transported into the human world, of Carol seating with her hair on the drier and getting the manicure, a last inch of artificial toxins raided into her aura. It's only when the drones stop and Carol's perm is ready, when this pause of distant but beautiful chemical infection is finished....In Haneke's Seventh Continent, the actions are made sadistic and dangerous...here it is made beautfful......
....a majestic culmination of the mesmerizing aesthetic sense of the film....

Who was also impressed by that scene and would like to comment on it???

[–] Dellamorte_Dellamore07 17 years ago

Every time I think of this movie that's the first scene to pop into my mind, i love it too. Something about is hypnotic and very neat.

[–] drkenfletcher 16 years ago

Also notice how she has NO REACTION at the hairdresser despite huge amount of nasty chemicals including the perm itself ... no reaction ... what could it mean!!!

[–] Spiralmug 16 years ago

The perm scene ends with her looking stoned out of her mind and having a nosebleed - I don't think we can really call that "no reaction".

[–] billysoffhismeds 16 years ago

I've had a perm twice in my life, and both times I had to hold a towel over my nose because the smell was attrocious. I expected see Carol do the same thing, though, she may not have been bothered by it previously until she got the nosebleed.

You're never really *beep* if you've got a good story and someone to tell it to. ~ Novecento

[–] bibimimi 15 years ago

I've heard it said that smell is hair being burned chemically. I've been thru a perming phase and a dyeing phase. No MORE! I gave them up when I gave up bad boys. Nair smells like that too, only it's burning ur wee leg hairs off.

[–] Franz_Walsh 16 years ago

What's brilliant about the scene is how it extends beyond the obvious chemical invasion which Carol is smothered with and becomes a scene which, to me at least, represents her self-hatred. You see this all throughout the sequence with her sad eyes and sullen demeanor. Whether it's the chemicals or her need to please the world by being attractive that's harming her, this scene literally draws blood and jilts more terror into Carol's routine existence, and with great precision. The emphasis of the dissolves and mirrors show a fracturing and dehumanizing of Carol, and the very act of getting this perm has connection to her needs to fulfill a role. To bury her true self. The perm scene works on several levels of trying to understand Carol and her illness from the world around her.

[–] Mister_Magoo 16 years ago

Whether it's the chemicals or her need to please the world by being attractive that's harming her, this scene literally draws blood and jilts more terror into Carol's routine existence, and with great precision. The emphasis of the dissolves and mirrors show a fracturing and dehumanizing of Carol, and the very act of getting this perm has connection to her needs to fulfill a role.

Very insightful post Amp 84 :)

it's insights like that that make me want to watch the film again right now (and i've seen it dozens of times :)

[–] Franz_Walsh 15 years ago

Thank you, Mister Magoo.

[–] bunnywithanaxe 15 years ago

Anybody else think of Kubrick when you watch this?

[–] casadejoyce 15 years ago

Yes! Her getting a perm and pedicure is the perfect metaphor for the ambiguity throughout the whole movie - is it her superficial "needs" or truly the assault on her body by harsh chemicals? The smell of a hairdresser's is so artificial and harsh. Seeing that clear goo being poured onto each curl made me want to start hyperventilating, and I'm fine. It wasn't invisible fumes but a man-made syrup designed to change the state of the natural body, squeezed right onto head. Great scene.

I loved that the movie didn't shout out the meaning, but let you wonder about whether it was real or not or some mix of the two.

[–] chaumein 15 years ago

I had a slightly different reaction. LOL maybe I watch too much anime but watching it, I was like oh her sexy perm was too much for her to handle.

[–] edorapietrafesa 15 years ago

no. it's her having become immune to the chemical saturated and yet over sanitized world she is trapped in where nothing is of nature/off the land anymore. and she's become a zombie in it. her life is her beautiful home, installing a new boring blue! can't be black! couch. ordering around her maid(s). deciding what to do with her boring friends like go on the fruit/dairy diet. what fun! constipation city! and working out...blah blah blah..i mean her life is a joke. it's not aids necessarily or anything. it's her existence is a joke. she is just existing. not living. and her sitting their getting her hair/scalp/face soaked in chemicals doesn't even affect her anymore. she checked out a long time ago. the most disturbing scene to me is when xander berkeley is "making love" to her and she has no reaction at all. he's grunting and groaning until he orgasms and she is like a blow up doll or mannequin. she doesn't make one sound. she has no expression at all. it made me shiver. and then when he's done, he rolls over and goes to sleep and she lies there catatonic. yuck!

[–] ohgodpleaseno 15 years ago

Part of what makes that scene so haunting is the sound effects. I think a lot of people don't even notice them on the first watch. They sort of seep into your brain the way the chemicals seep into Carol's hair and tell you how to interpret the scene. Sound is really interesting that way. Invisible, and yet perhaps more important than what you're actually seeing on the screen in terms of creating tone. Even with the crossfades and other visual details, if that scene had been played to some upbeat or triumphant music, you might think it was one of those happy makeover montages.

[–] 15 years ago

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