The temptation of films about alienation is to vindicate the protagonist by giving us good reason to identify with their situation (see The Graduate). Sometimes they rely on a facile condemnation of insidious cultural phenomena and at other times bring us to the hero’s side by way of the excitement of drama, the fear of judgment or the satisfaction of retribution. As habitual and as fun as these devices can be, there are no villains in this movie. Something more subtle, less easily understood is going on here.
This film treats the theme of alienation by simply allowing it to be. It doesn’t depend on instantly convenient and acceptably obvious explanations. To this end the world inhabited by the main character (played by Julianne Moore) is not instantly recognizable as a stereotypical American suburb. Her house doesn’t exist conveniently in a cookie-cutter 50s landscape, The Stepford Wives behind every door. And her husband, for the most part, is a sympathetic character who attempts, in his way, to understand her. And we like and sympathize with her well-meaning friend who somewhat awkwardly tries to be of help by suggesting a special diet.
It’s a portrait of a state of being. And It’s a nice change to see a movie that’s really more interested in sketching the inner life of it’s main character then it is in focusing on external causes. We really don’t know “the whys” of her situation or, even, what she’s thinking and, still, her story remains fascinating. And then there’s the stunning Julianne Moore, who is, also, why we remain so interested.
"Safe" was, I think, rightly described on IMDb as “a horror movie of the soul”. In the end she finds herself in a place of extreme physical safety and yet, at the same time, seemingly unable to escape from the insecurity of her inner world. I guess if you’re running from yourself, you can never be safe enough.
(As an aside, the only copy I found (youtube) was severely cropped from all sides which meant that I sometimes missed characters “living” in the extremities of the frame. As it's a movie about separation I suppose you could say I experienced a film that was even more suggestive of the theme because of the framing. Sometimes the main character wasn't even visible to me. I felt, at times, much like Julianne’s character, unable to connect the dots of her world. However, the altered frame did keep me from really appreciating the directors aesthetics. It would be interesting to see the intended Image.)