Plot Details: This opinion reveals major details about the movie's plot.

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Carol White (Julianne Moore) lives in a house that seems to swallow her up every time she passes through a doorway. The rooms are enormous, the colors perfectly chosen. There's no way that such a small, mousey woman, can compete.

Carol's life is empty. She does not enjoy sex with her husband; she does not read; indeed, save the fancy coffee tables and couches she spends so much time arranging, her house seems to be deserted. She works out in a gym and has giggely, meaningless lunches with friends.

None of which is to say that the film views her with contempt. She's too pitiful, and there's a muted sympathy somewhere in director Todd Haynes' portrayal of her deadening daily routine. The sympathy, though, seems only to exist in the negative -- there's no way one could not feel some compassion for anyone so lost in such dreary landscapes.

[SAFE] begins with a bang of an opening act. We are introduced to Carol, and while the material perhaps might not be compelling, Haynes' cold, virtuosic touch keeps us absorbed. We follow her about, not knowing where the film plans to take us; and then it begins to show its hand.

While driving, Carol gets caught behind a truck releasing fumes and begins coughing hysterically. It's the first hint that maybe the environment surrounding Carol -- cold, impenetrable, and ugly -- is making her sick. It certainly seems that way. The symptoms worsen, until she ends up in the hospital. It's there that she first hears about a retreat center for the environmentally ill. Named for its founder, one Wrenwood, it is a get-away for those similarly affected by the landscapes of Southern California.

Is Carol actually sick? In the long run, it does not matter. The movie's subject is not environmental illness, but the human beings who are empty enough to find some meaning in cult life. For a cult is precisely what the Wrenwood Center is -- a liberal, new-age, frighteningly manipulative cult. A cult that wears away at the skepticism we initially see in Carol (who is not stupid, simply stranded), convinces her she is sick (perhaps she is), and, at movie's close, leaves her brainwashed.

Haynes's touch is distant and chilly, and very Kubrickian. Like that director, Haynes employs long shots, eerie soundtracks, and understated performances to create a sense of heightened reality, an awareness of every little creak the characters hear. And the conclusion to his film is frank in accomplishing its goals, admitting its message, in a way that would have done the late master proud. (Indeed, I wish I knew if Kubrick ever saw [SAFE]).

We've all known someone like Carol, someone who seems to retreat into the furniture of their home and become a simple part of the decorum. Somebody looking for something to bring life meaning. The movie, indeed, is a pretty good essay on fascism, on the circumstances that can drive people to give up their self-dependence and allow themselves to be led by others.

But, in the long run, such analysis is moot. I believe in the value of knee-jerk reactions to art, particularly to film; and finally, [SAFE] is a great movie not because of its ideas (though they are rich and plenty), but because it is scary as hell.

Recommended: Yes