Safe 1995

Michael Wilmington, Chicago Tribune: You'd have to be cranky or blind to deny Haynes' artistry and vision. There's a dark power, a tremor that runs through the movie like the rumble of a secret dread. Read more

Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times: Safe, the elegantly unnerving new film by Todd Haynes, is all about uncertainty. Read more

Janet Maslin, New York Times: Brilliantly as it begins, Safe eventually succumbs to its own modern malady, as the film maker insists on a chilly ambiguity that breeds more detachment than interest. Read more

Jonathan Rosenbaum, Chicago Reader: This creepy art movie will stay with you. Read more

Lisa Schwarzbaum, Entertainment Weekly: In a summer of heavyweight action movies and flyweight romantic comedies, I don't think you'll find a more provocative little number than Safe, which creeps under your skin like a rash. Read more

Terrence Rafferty, New Yorker: Moore, in a nearly unplayable role, is amazingly vivid and touching; this is a heartbreaking portrait of a woman in full, panicked retreat from life. Read more

James Berardinelli, ReelViews: An insightful and darkly comical social commentary. Read more

Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times: Maybe the environment is poisoned, and the group is phony, and Carol is gnawing away at her own psychic health. Now there's a fine mess. Read more

Edward Guthmann, San Francisco Chronicle: For all its flaws and vagueness, Safe is smart, challenging and provocative -- a film that gives you plenty to chew on, long after Carol's sad tale has wound down. Read more

Time Out: The ironic handling of decor and characterisation builds an eerie portrait of the blissed-out West Coast bourgeoisie at their most brainwashed. Read more

Todd McCarthy, Variety: The audaciousness that marked Todd Haynes' earlier work has been supplanted by self-important preachiness. Read more

Desson Thomson, Washington Post: Haynes takes that Roy Lichtenstein world of postmodern angst and makes it tremendously affecting and eerily compassionate. Read more

Rita Kempley, Washington Post: Todd Haynes takes what might have been a deadly disease-of-the-week movie and turns it into a chic postmodern chiller. Read more