Shame Review- by Michael Carlisle

Though this site is still under construction, here is my fifth review: 2011's Shame

Title: Shame
Year: 2011
Director: Steve McQueen
Country: UK
Language: English
Running Time: 101 Minutes
Rating: NC-17

 Pain, grief, anger, self abuse, shame. Michael Fassbender is a man suffering, from the very thing that gives many people pleasure, Sex. Although his “sex” is much different from what can normally understood. Sex for Fassbender’s character Brandon is an odd form of self abuse and self loathing. What he does, who he does it with and where he does it does not matter to Brandon. In one scene he goes to a gay bar, why?  Not because he’s gay, but this bar is where he knows he can be used. He has no attraction for anyone, no love or want for any human being, He is driven to sex.

Sex addiction has been long joked about, like depression it has only been taken seriously in the last little while, many people foolishly think that sex addiction would be a blessing to have. They think it would be a life of pleasure, but Brandon obviously does not receive pleasure from sex. The World Health Organization describes “sexual addiction” as "Excessive sexual drive", but is this description enough? Would any description be enough? Though this makes me think; does Brandon just have sexual addiction or something much deeper?

Brandon is a fairly good looking man, in his late twenties-early thirties who lives alone in a small isolative condo in New York, Manhattan. His job? It doesn’t matter.  Occasionally he goes out to bars with his boss David. David is rather nervous and quick when attempting to pick up women, usually striking out. Brandon is emotionless and passive, not because he wishes to appear suave or mysterious, but because he really doesn’t care about the women he sleeps with. Because of this he gets “lucky”, though in Brandon’s eyes this isn’t “luck” it is merely another woman, one of many to come. One of many who can use him.

Brandon’s life is shrouded in privacy, he is cold to everyone he meets regardless of their social status. Perhaps he thinks he is incapable of human contact, perhaps he is too ashamed of his life to feel worthy of human contact. One day his sister Sissy (Casey Mulligan) comes home, asking to stay with him as she has nowhere to go. Brandon, always needing privacy, becomes enraged at the fact that he soon may have no privacy at all and tells her to leave.  Their lives started out similar with unfortunate childhood experiences that damaged them, but Sissy and Brandon have very different personalities. Sissy is free and passionate whereas Brandon is emotionless and driven by self abuse. Both still have a lot of pain and grief, both desperately need each other.

Steve McQueen shows this pain and grief very well, with intense close ups. In one scene, where Brandon is having a threesome, we see only his upper body. His bodily movements and his face show great frustration, anger and displeasure. Sissy works as a cabaret singer and in one scene she performs a song in close-up, this close-up shows all her pain and discomfort, but unlike her brother she has no anger.

Fassbender was robbed at the Oscars. While Jean Dujardin definitely deserved to win, I think Fassbender should’ve at least received an Oscar nomination. To show your large penis onscreen for millions to see takes a whole hell of a lot of courage, then to pull off a great melancholy performance as a sex addict is extraordinary. Few actors can make having sex seem like a very bad thing. Michael Fassbender is truly one of the greatest living actors.

In conclusion, Shame is a very ambitious second project by the great Steve McQueen, likely soon to be known as one of the greatest living directors. It’s an emotionally draining film about a man who feels unworthy to be loved, a man who feels great “shame” in regards to his lifestyle. Can Brandon be helped? Yes. Will he choose to get helped? Likely not. Shame is one of those few films that will bring you to tears, it is astonishing. I applaud McQueen for going where few filmmakers dare to, and for pissing off a ton of people. Oscars? Where McQueen is going he doesn’t need Oscars! Praise it!  5/5