Safe

Name: Safe
Genre: Drama
Released: June 23, 1995
Duration: 119 min
Rating: 76
Cast: Julianne Moore, Xander Berkeley

1995

METASCORE

Generally favorable reviews based on 17 Critic Reviews

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USER SCORE

Universal acclaim based on 88 Ratings

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8.2

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8.2	User Score Universal acclaim based on 88 Ratings

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Safe

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Movie Details & Credits

Sony Pictures Classics | Release Date: June 23, 1995 | R

Starring: Julianne Moore, Xander Berkeley

Summary: Carol White (Julianne Moore) lives with her husband and son in suburban comfort until she collapses one day, for no apparent reason. Her condition worsens in the weeks that follow, as she suffers from coughing fits, exhaustion, and spontaneous nose bleeds, triggered by sources as disparate as car exhaust, cologne, and the sun. Failing toCarol White (Julianne Moore) lives with her husband and son in suburban comfort until she collapses one day, for no apparent reason. Her condition worsens in the weeks that follow, as she suffers from coughing fits, exhaustion, and spontaneous nose bleeds, triggered by sources as disparate as car exhaust, cologne, and the sun. Failing to find any medical explanation for her maladies, her doctor refers her to a psychiatrist, who suggests that her physical ailments are psychosomatic -- a theory echoed by her callous and increasingly frustrated husband. At her wits' end, Carol withdraws to an expensive New Age retreat for sufferers of "20th century disease," where the community's guru (Peter Friedman) champions a dubious regimen of diet, climate control, introspection, and self-love.… Expand

Director: Todd Haynes

Genre(s): Drama

Rating: R

Runtime: 119 min

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Metascore

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Critic Reviews

100

Kenneth Turan

Insidious and provocative, Safe refuses to lend a hand, avoids taking sides or pointing the way. Everything that happens in this beautifully controlled enigma is open to multiple interpretations, and that extends finally to the title's meaning as well. Read full review

100

Geoff Pevere

Todd Haynes' Safe grips you with its air of antiseptic malevolence and leaves you gasping. You feel as disoriented as the protagonist, a young housewife suffering from 20th-century disease. [11 Aug 1995]

100

Rita Kempley

This spooky film's ostensible subject—an environmental illness known as multiple chemical sensitivity—is merely a starting place for this mesmerizing horror movie, feminist tract and medical mystery.

Steven Rea

Safe, disturbing and edgy and grounded by Moore's riveting performance, resonates with uncertainty. Read full review

Michael Wilmington

Though Haynes' methods are austere and his style dry, the terror of his narrative becomes more palpable as the film unwinds. The picture's eerie delicacy, meticulous technique and rapt formality may distance us, but they also steadily strip bare the panic at its core. Read full review

Rene Rodriguez

Like Carol, Safe is a little too internalized for its own good: When it's over, you wish you would run into Haynes in the theater lobby so you could ask him more than a few questions. [22 Sep 1995, p.6G]

Todd McCarthy

The audaciousness that marked Todd Haynes’ earlier work has been supplanted by self-important preachiness in Safe. Read full review

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User Reviews

AtomicBlonde26

Jul 5, 2017

This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Safe is a fascinating drama about a young suburban wife living in the San Fernando valley played by Julianne Moore. She develops Multiple Chemical Sensitivity which causes a person to react to every day chemicals such as bread, chocolate, fumes, hairspray, body spray, inks, makeup, basically anything with chemicals in it. She has the severe form of the disease and decides to retreat to a facility where exposure to harmful chemicals is removed since the centre is on the outskirts of California. One of the most original movies of 1995. She should have won an Oscar and the movie should have won best picture, it is phenomenal and educational.… Expand

15 of 15 users found this helpful150

Atrium89

May 24, 2021

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2 of 2 users found this helpful20

Solarium

Jan 12, 2020

A+ *************************************************************************

3 of 3 users found this helpful30

Aerialist277

Jun 18, 2021

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Palindrome704

Jun 28, 2021

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Acquit77

Jul 20, 2021

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Stagger74

Jul 13, 2021

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24	#24 Best Movie of 1995
43	#43 Most Discussed Movie of 1995
81	#81 Most Shared Movie of 1995