Haynes does to us what his film does to Carol, cannily exploiting our willingness to find answers where there are none, to read meaning into associations.

| Apr 14, 2020

In many ways, 'Safe' predicts both the insular nature of contemporary society, and the (counter-intuitive) disease of conformity that's synonymous with it.

| Jun 7, 2016

Safe is brilliant for the way Haynes, with cinematographer Alex Nepomniaschy and composer Ed Tomney, blankets the mundane in the eerie tone of science fiction and horror.

| Original Score: 5/5 | Dec 10, 2014

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.

| Jun 24, 2013

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.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Jun 24, 2013

Beautifully constructed, chilling internal nightmare where every scene plays out like a little mini movie in and of itself. Brilliant.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Jul 21, 2010

This creepy art movie will stay with you.

| Jul 21, 2010

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.

| Original Score: B+ | Jul 6, 2010

The audaciousness that marked Todd Haynes' earlier work has been supplanted by self-important preachiness.

Full Review | Mar 26, 2009

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

| Jun 24, 2006

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Mar 25, 2004

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.

| Original Score: 2.5/5 | May 20, 2003

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.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Jun 18, 2002

Todd Haynes' enviro-disease masterpiece Safe might just be the most terrifying film of the last decade.

| Feb 22, 2002

Safe, the elegantly unnerving new film by Todd Haynes, is all about uncertainty.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Feb 13, 2001

Todd Haynes takes what might have been a deadly disease-of-the-week movie and turns it into a chic postmodern chiller.

| Jan 1, 2000

One of the key elements that makes Safe such an enormously challenging film is that writer/director Todd Haynes leaves these critical decisions to the viewer.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Jan 1, 2000

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.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Jan 1, 2000

Haynes takes that Roy Lichtenstein world of postmodern angst and makes it tremendously affecting and eerily compassionate.

| Jan 1, 2000