The Safety of Objects
Release Date:
March 7, 2003
Limited release
A film that premiered in September 2001 at the Toronto International Film Festival, The Safety of Objects is based on a collection of short stories by A. M. Homes. The title reflects on the underlying theme that people's infatuation and dependence on material items prevents them from developing real personal intimacy and communication.
Rose Troche both directed and adapted the screenplay, which intertwines through the lives of four suburban families as the different individual characters struggle to create genuine human relationships. The story centers around Paul Gold (Joshua Jackson), who is being nursed by his mother, Esther (Glenn Close), as he lies in a coma. As she cares for him, she unintentionally distances herself from her husband and her daughter. Meanwhile, a neighbor named Jim Train (Dermot Mulroney) is overly focused on his job as an attorney, all at the expense of his wife and children, one of whom has a rather unnatural relationship with his sister's dolls.
Other characters in the film include Paul's former lover, now going through a messy divorce, and Helen (Mary Kay Place), a suburbanite who is bored with her husband and her life in general and is looking for something to catch her interest. All of the stories wind up interconnecting by the end of the film.
IFC Films will distribute The Safety of Objects in theaters in New York City and Los Angeles with a possible expansion to other cities to follow at a later date, depending on critical response and demand. It probably won't ever see wide release, though it will probably get some decent play at art-house theaters and on the festival circuit. (Kim Hollis/BOP)
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