Janice McNab: Laurent Delaye Gallery. (London).(Brief Article)

Todd Haynes's curious film Safe (1995) tells the tale of a woman who becomes "allergic the twentieth century": Developing a morbid sensitivity to everyday chemical substances, she quits her post as a dutiful American mother, house wife, and consumer, and seeks a cure in a nightmarish, isolated "healing community." Is he the victim of material pollutants, society's crushing psychological demands--or both? The film leaves the question unanswered, suggestively blurring the line between modern living's physical and mental incursions.

In this way it anticipates the ...

Read the rest of this article with a Free Trial at HighBeam Research.