ArkaEvren
Safe

FILM · 1995 · UK

Safe

Directed by
Todd Haynes
Runtime
119 min
Studio
American Playhouse, Chemical Films, Good Machine

31 archived facts 7 topics 1 source Last reviewed Nov 2026

Carol White, a Los Angeles housewife in the late 1980s, comes down with a debilitating illness with no clear diagnosis.

  • Safe — production image

31 Interesting Facts About Safe

Interesting Facts (12)

  1. #001

    A sample of the film is used in How To Dress Well's 2010 song "You Hold The Water."

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  2. #002

    Multiple chemical sensitivity is an unrecognized and controversial diagnosis characterized by chronic symptoms attributed to exposure to low levels of commonly used chemicals. Symptoms are typically vague and non-specific. They may include fatigue, headaches, nausea, and dizziness. Although these symptoms can be debilitating, MCS is not recognized as an organic, chemical-caused illness by the World Health Organization, American Medical Association, nor any of several other professional medical organizations. Blinded clinical trials show that people with MCS react as often and as strongly to placebos as they do to chemical stimuli; the existence and severity of symptoms is seemingly related to perception that a chemical stimulus is present. Commonly attributed substances include scented products (e.g. perfumes), pesticides, plastics, synthetic fabrics, smoke, petroleum products, and paint fumes.

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  3. #003

    Picked by Entertainment Weekly magazine as one of the "50 Greatest Independent Films" in a special supplement devoted to independent films that was only distributed to subscribers in November 1997.

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  4. #004

    Safe received seven votes in the British Film Institute's 2012 Sight & Sound poll of the greatest films - with five votes from critics and two from directors - ranking it 323rd and 322nd, respectively.

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  5. #005

    Italian censorship visa # 90550 delivered on 16 December 1995.

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  6. #006

    Carol's illness, although unidentified, has been seen as an analogy for the 1980s AIDS crisis, a similarly uncomfortable and largely unspoken "threat" during the Reagan presidency.

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  7. #007

    The Wrenwood Center was founded in 1978, the same year as the mass suicide at another spiritual cult society: Jonestown.

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  8. #008

    The film topped the "best film of the 1990s" poll by The Village Voice.

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  9. #009

    Included among the "1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die", edited by Steven Schneider.

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  10. #010

    In a scene at Wrenwood, the bulletin board next to the volunteer sign-in form on which Carol and Chris write their names holds a collection of photographs of community members. These photographs belong to members of the film crew, including director Todd Haynes, whose name appears as Todd in his photo.

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  11. #011

    Editor James Lyons has a role as a taxi driver.

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  12. #012

    The Wrenwood Center was founded in 1978, the same year as the mass suicide at Jonestown, another spiritual cult community.

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Production Story (4)

  1. #013

    Raising the money for the film's budget took 2 years.

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  2. #014

    Wes Craven called this film "the scariest film of the year".

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  3. #015

    A sound sample from the film was used in How To Dress Well's 2010 song 'You Hold The Water'.

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  4. #016

    Multiple chemical sensitivity is a controversial condition not recognized by medical authorities, defined by chronic symptoms caused by exposure to low-level chemicals. It manifests through vague complaints such as fatigue, headache and dizziness; clinical studies have shown that individuals react to placebos as much as they do to chemicals.

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Behind the Scenes (7)

  1. #017

    The last scene filmed was the aerobics class.

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  2. #018

    Filming occurred right after the 1994 Northridge Earthquake which heavily damaged large parts of Los Angeles. The threat of aftershocks and damage to filming locations (such as the community center used for the Wrenwood scenes) kept the production team jittery.

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  3. #019

    Many interiors such as Carol's house were filmed in Todd Haynes' family and relatives' houses. The exterior of the St. Tropez restaurant (the next scene after the dinner where Carol doesn't laugh at the vibrator joke) was shot, remarkably, using the exterior of Haynes' parents' house. The street that opens the film is also the street where their house is located, and his mother's car can be seen in the shot.

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  4. #020

    In the shot of the White family photos, real pictures of Julianne Moore from childhood and high school were used.

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  5. #021

    The set's final scene was the aerobics class. This shoot, at which the crew said their goodbyes, brought the film to an energetic close.

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  6. #022

    Wes Craven called this film "the scariest film of the year."

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  7. #023

    It earned a place on the "1001 Films You Must See Before You Die" list, edited by Steven Schneider.

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Characters & Cast (1)

  1. #024

    Julianne Moore dropped 10 pounds for her role.

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Easter Eggs & References (4)

  1. #025

    Editor James Lyons has a cameo as a cab driver.

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  2. #026

    In a scene at Wrenwood, a collection of community member photos are on the board adjacent to the volunteer sign-up sheet where Carol and Chris write their names. These photos are members of the film crew, including director Todd Haynes, who is named Todd on his photo.

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  3. #027

    In an outdoor restaurant scene, one of the people sitting in the background is the father of director Todd Haynes. His sister Wendy is also in that scene.

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  4. #028

    In the scene where Carol recalls her childhood bedroom, the mention of "yellow wallpaper" is likely a reference to Charlotte Perkins Gilman's short story, "The Yellow Wallpaper," about a woman diagnosed with "temporary nervous depression -- a slight hysterical tendency" and is sequestered in a room where something happens to her sanity, but we don't have to get into that here.

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Deeper Meaning (1)

  1. #029

    20 years after the film's release, Todd Haynes said its themes - disease and immunity in a post-industrial landscape and how recovery is a burden often put on victims of illness - were even more relevant than they were when the film was released.

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Career & Awards (2)

  1. #030

    This film is part of the Criterion Collection, spine #739.

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  2. #031

    When it came time for Julianne Moore to record the director's commentary for the 2003 DVD release, this was the first time the lead actress had seen the movie in its entirety.

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Sources & editorial notes

Reference databases

  • Wikipedia English Wikipedia article
  • IMDb IMDb title page (trivia)

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