[Safe] = Safe [DVD]

‘Homemaker’ Carol White lives an ensconced life with her husband and step-son in the wealthy outer suburbs of Los Angeles. Yet her domestic bliss is marred by allergic reactions which gradually worsen into severe attacks and exhaustion triggered by sources as disparate as car exhaust, beauty products and bug spray. Failing to find any medical explanation for her maladies, her doctor refers her to a psychiatrist, who suggests that her physical ailments are psychosomatic and that she is in a state of hysteria - a theory echoed by her callous and increasingly frustrated husband. Carol herself becomes convinced that she is suffering from ‘multiple chemical sensitivity’ or ‘20th century disease’- an immune system disorder which make the body vulnerable to the low-level toxins and forms of pollution that are part of modern life. Unable to adequately perform her expected gender role, she withdraws to an expensive New Age retreat where the community’s guru champions a dubious regimen of diet, climate control, introspection, and self-love. Yet this move does little to improve her physical or mental state. Is it possible that the illness that so disrupts the order of her world is far less dangerous than the cure to restore it? Suggesting parallels between Carol’s illness and AIDS, Hayne’s offers a sharp critique of both traditional and alternative approaches that attempt to pigeonhole ‘baffling’ illnesses to further their own agendas. Cast includes Julianne Moore, Peter Friedman, Susan Norman, Xander Berkeley and James LeGros.