We all grieve in different ways, but it is almost universally agreed that the most difficult time in the mourning period is the immediate aftermath, usually the 24 hours following a loved one’s demise. In the case of an accident or suicide, where their fate hangs in limbo and they linger between life and death, the fear that they are going to cross over to the other side can only exacerbate the anxiety and make the grief even worse should they succumb to their injuries. This is something that Juraj Lerotić explores in Safe Place (Croatian: Sigurno mjesto), a beautiful and heartbreaking drama in which he tells a somewhat personal story, albeit one that doesn’t seem to be biographical in any real sense, in which he portrays a young man whose brother attempts suicide, and accompanied by his mother spends the next day oscillating between several different locations – hospital corridors, squalid apartments, doctor’s offices and other ambiguous spaces in between – as they try and make sense of what would cause this seemingly cheerful young man to attempt to end his life, all the while searching for the proverbial “safe place”, which initially refers to their hometown of Split, where he yearns to return, but which they soon come to realize has much deeper and more complex implications. However, as the day progresses, we begin to realise that perhaps what our protagonists are seeing when conversing with the loved one they nearly lost is not an entirely accurate representation of reality, but rather a series of delusions driven by fantasies of what they would prefer the outcome to have been. The film is a harsh, deeply unnerving drama in which the director tells a harrowing story about mental health, familial strife and grief, themes that are never easy to discuss, and which he carefully pieces together and he forms this heartbreakingly honest, deeply complex character study that is as detailed as it is profoundly unsettling, which leads to a very effective work that establishes him as an exciting new voice in European cinema.

The themes we encounter throughout Safe Place are not easy to discuss. We should not be lulled into a false sense of security by the comforting title – this is a film that keeps us on edge throughout. It is a very gentle film, and the director is by no means manipulative or intent on causing us to feel any sense of despair or anguish, but he is also very clearly someone with a firm set of principles that he is intent on exploring, which he does through this harrowing and sometimes quite brutal depiction of mental health and the challenges associated with living with something that is very rarely discussed in the same way as other, more visible or socially-acceptable diseases. The film focuses on the struggles of someone who has attempted suicide, but not from the perspective of the victim himself (who is a major character, but who occupies a supporting role), but rather his brother and mother – the former being the person who found him moments after his suicide attempt, the latter hearing the news shortly afterwards and rushing to the bedside of her son, hoping to heal him with the mother’s touch that she fears has sadly lost its impact, as evident by the fact that he would rather end his life than reach out for help. These narrative strands all work together to form this harrowing but oddly beautiful depiction of a family coming together in a time of crisis, and how they attempt to help each other through these challenges, bringing comfort and assurance, while battling their own individual quandaries and questioning the elements that keep them from taking the same leap into eternity, which the film views as neither cowardly nor valiant, but rather a choice that some feel that they need to make in order to overcome their personal issues. Lerotić is very careful to not offer any opinion on the subject matter itself, allowing the viewer to decide for themselves, but also shifting the importance away from whether or not the right decision was ultimately made, and more towards the intricate, family-based narrative and how this film is essentially about a trio of characters searching for a shared safe space, both physical and psychological, and the many challenges that stand in their way through the process.

In order to realize these often overly ambitious ideas, Lerotić has to find the right approach – a traditional melodrama seems singularly inappropriate for this kind of material, since the concept of suicide does not need to be subjected to hysterical emotions, considering it is already challenging enough without layers of tonal intensity. Instead, the director crafts a film that is very much driven by atmosphere more than anything else – Safe Place is actually not always consistent in terms of its narrative, which is a purposeful decision made by the director to make it ambiguous as to whether the main character’s brother succeeded in his suicide attempt or not. We don’t get the answers until the final few moments, and throughout the preceding 90 minutes, we follow his brother and mother as they drift through this ambiguous space in between reality and fantasy, navigating this region of limbo in which they attempt to make sense of what is potentially going to be a defining moment in their lives, doing their best to help each other through it while still dealing with their own personal issues. The mood of the film is extremely sombre, which is only logical considering the subject matter – but the director makes sure that it is never overtly depressing, and he does infuse it with a few brief bursts of subtle, heartfelt humour that is not there to do anything other than soften the emotional blow of the surrounding storyline, making the film much gentler and more placid, rather than allowing it to fester into this overly hysterical bundle of emotions that would not be well-served by the narrative in any conceivable way. Lerotić uses Safe Place as a way to reflect on some very meaningful ideas, exploring the world through the perspective of someone who begins to see his well-maintained existence rapidly falling apart. Every emotion is calculated to the most intricate detail, and the film ultimately becomes as much about the mood as it is the story, which creates quite a bold experience for the audience.

In addition to writing and directing the film, Lerotić also plays the lead role of Bruno in Safe Place, which is the reason why so many have perhaps falsely assumed this is an autobiographical film, or one that is at least directly inspired by the director’s own life. Arguably, this isn’t a particularly daring role – the character is a subtle, quiet young man who is experiencing a potential loss, and who realises that he is the person essentially holding his entire family together, being the source of support for both his mentally unstable younger brother and a mother who begins to call into question her own parenting skills as a result of this crisis. Lerotić delivers a very nuanced, simple performance that is all about the art of reacting to the broader and more bold performances given by his scene partners, with Goran Marković as his brother and Snježana Sinovčić Šiškov as his mother being the more distinct and overtly notable performances, both of whom are exceptional, also avoiding sinking into archetypes through choosing to carefully measure their performances into something far more simple and elegant, but not neglecting the heart and soul that reside right at their core. It’s a memorable, complex trio of performances that bring the film to life, allowing it to be such a compelling portrait of family, each one of the actors authentically playing their roles in such a way that their honesty and generosity on screen shine through in absolutely every frame. The key to the success of Safe Place is how they each temper their performances to match the requirements of the person with whom they are sharing a scene – it is never a case of trying to be the most notable person on screen, but rather creating a dialogue between two characters, and the results are absolute magnificent, every detail being beautifully earnest and heartfelt, while also not avoiding the intense emotions situated right at the centre of the film.

Safe Place is a film told in muted tones and intense emotions, covering a wide breadth of subjects that are all compressed masterfully into a very small and intimate narrative that covers topics such as family, grief and suicide, all of which are woven together into a harrowing but beautiful depiction of the human condition. This is not an easy film by any means, and those who have ever lost a loved one, especially one prematurely or by their own hand, would probably be wise to steer clear of this film (unless they feel that seeing such a raw depiction of grief would assist in the healing process – once again, mourning is different for everyone, so seeing something like this reflected on screen can be cathartic, especially when done with such compassion), since there are brutal emotions that persist throughout this film, and the director does not shy away from the difficult conversations. Raw, unfiltered and difficult to embrace, but also poetic in its honesty and genuinely moving, Safe Place is a profoundly important film with a sense of genuine importance and a heartfelt intensity that makes it clear that it comes from a place of pure empathy. Lerotić is a truly gifted filmmaker, someone who has been allowed to express himself through such a beautifully poetic, poignant examination of the human condition, and which he chooses to use as the foundation for a genuinely moving examination of mourning and how it can sometimes reveal much more about us than many would anticipate, leading to an uncomfortable but essential exercise in humanistic filmmaking that is both daring and deeply moving.