Safe Place

There is much talk in the modern world of the need to create safe spaces within society for individuals facing oppression or disadvantage. But there are no such spaces in the ironically titled Safe Place, a debut feature by Croatian filmmaker Juraj Lerotić.

Set largely in the administrative offices and high-rise apartments of Zagreb and Split, the film shows the fraught interactions between two adult brothers (Damir and Bruno, the latter played by Lerotić) and their mother, beginning from a moment of crisis: Damir’s suicide attempt. The diagnosis of Damir’s condition is open to ongoing speculation – is it depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia? – but the film’s focus lies squarely on the less-than-compassionate treatment he receives at the hands of medical and police personnel, as he is passed from one bare room to another.

At first glance, Safe Place would appear to be a grimly realistic film, graced by highly naturalistic acting. But its visual treatment, alternating between static long takes and camera movements that record the characters’ passage between spaces, is firmly systematic. And stay attuned to the unusual, surreal or reflexive moments that underline the film’s artifice, and signal Lerotić’s debt to figures such as Abbas Kiarostami.

– Adrian Martin

Trailer

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