The film is co-written and directed by Steve McQueen (no, not that one). It is McQueen’s second feature film, his first being the magnificent Bobbie Sands biopic “Hunger” from 2008. That film starred Michael Fassbender, an Irish-German actor who has since become something of a household name. It is in “Shame” that the actor and filmmaker reunite, and the result is just as raw, visceral and captivating as it was back in ’08.
In “Shame,” Fassbender plays Brandon, a handsome thirty-something New Yorker with a good-paying office job, decent fashion sense and a fancy high-rise apartment in Manhattan. He is also a sex addict, although it seems he is the only person in his life who is even slightly aware of this. Brandon’s daily life revolves almost entirely around sex; when he’s at work, he’s downloading porn on his office computer and masturbating in the men’s room; when he’s on the street or in a bar, he’s eying women up, asking them out and slipping his hand down their pants; when he’s at home, he’s either having sex, downloading porn or masturbating in the shower.
Like most sex addicts, or addicts in general, Brandon is deeply unhappy with his life; he does not enjoy giving into his addictions, but he must, lest he lose his mind. In one early scene, Brandon gazes longingly and lustily at a woman sitting opposite him on the subway train; the woman gazes back, apparently flattered, but the situation soon becomes uncomfortable for her, and she exits the train, promptly followed by Brandon, who loses her in the crowd. This is the searching. In another scene, we are shown a close-up of Brandon’s face as he is having an orgasm; his facial expression is at first one of physical pleasure, but quickly transforms into an expression of disgust and self-loathing. This is the result.
One night, Brandon comes home to discover a woman in his shower. This woman is Sissy (Carey Mulligan, “Drive”), whom we soon discover is Brandon’s sister, an aspiring singer. Sissy wishes to stay for a few nights, much to Brandon’s annoyance; however, he reluctantly agrees to let her stay out of some surviving remnant of brotherly love. Naturally, Sissy’s presence disrupts Brandon’s private life and daily routine, to which he wants no witnesses. Sissy is fragile, dependant, intrusive and very needy; upon first glance, she is the complete opposite of the emotionally detached Brandon. It soon transpires, though, that Sissy is just as screwed up as her big brother, if not more so.
“Shame” is a film that tells us everything while telling us nothing. Very little about the film is spelled out to its audience; for example, it is never explicitly stated at any point in the film that Brandon is a sex addict, nor is it even commented on – we just watch him have sex, masturbate, stare at girls, flirt with girls, watch porn, have cybersex and hand wads of cash to prostitutes. We are little more than witnesses (or voyeurs, I suppose) to these abnormally frequent acts and are allowed to come to our own conclusions on the man who commits them; it is also of note that the film is rather non-judgemental of Brandon and the things he does, allowing our opinion to sway whichever way we wish it to.
The same goes for Brandon’s past, and indeed Sissy’s past. Again, there is nothing explicitly stated about what precisely shaped them into the people they are today, be it a childhood trauma or whatever else, but there are curious hints of it. “We’re not bad people,” says Sissy in a teary message left on Brandon’s voicemail. “We just come from a bad place.” It’s clear something unpleasant happened between these two siblings at a young age, but specific details go unmentioned, and the film is all the more powerful for it – some things in cinema are better left unsaid and unexplored, lest the film spoil the intriguing ambiguity.
Fassbender, a supremely talented actor, gives what is probably the best performance of his career as Brandon. His performance here is intimate, endearing, bold and brave; I struggle to imagine any other actor handling the role as well as Fassbender has done here. His character is a man who is unapologetic for what he is but at the same time feels intense shame when he does what he does, hence the title. He is a man whose life is eternally stuck in a loop, Brandon forever soullessly yearning to quench his unwanted desires. We are allowed to feel sympathy for Brandon’s condition and the misery of a life he leads, but at no point does the film beg for our sorrow, nor does Fassbender. As a man suffering from a scandalous addiction, Brandon is an undoubtedly complex character, and Fassbender handles these complexities with apparent ease; it’s of little wonder that the actor has received such widespread acclaim and attention for his performance.
Mulligan too gives a powerhouse performance as Sissy, a character just as fascinating as Brandon. Sissy is a woman forever trapped in her childhood years; she is incapable of settling down somewhere, instead moving from city to city, perhaps out of boredom, perhaps out of something else. She’s more outspoken and playful than Brandon, but is hiding a damaged soul, the damage of which can be unmasked by the simple rolling up of her sleeves, revealing several cut marks lining the insides of her arms. Mulligan proved herself to be a very fine actress in 2009’s “An Education” and last year’s “Drive;” here, she further cements this status, giving a supporting performance that is as effective and compelling as any other I’ve seen in some time.
McQueen is tremendously talented in the art of translating thought onto the screen; of course, the acting talents of Fassbender and Mulligan are a good deal of help in accomplishing this. In one scene, for example, a frustrated Brandon angrily paces back and forth in his apartment as he is forced to listen to the sounds of Sissy having sex with his douchebag of a boss in the next room. In reaction, Brandon marches to his wardrobe, grabs a tracksuit, goes to the street below and, in a sequence captured in a single, unbroken take, jogs his way down at least three whole blocks. There is no dialogue, no explanation why and no warning that it is going to happen, and yet we fully understand why Brandon is doing this and what is going through his mind as he pants away and pumps his arms and legs up and down the streets of Manhattan. It’s a breathtaking sequence orchestrated with startling beauty and commanding power by McQueen, much like the rest of this daring film.
To sum up “Shame” in one word, I’d say it’s extraordinary; I doubt many will walk out of the film feeling that it is not extraordinary in some way or another. “Shame” is an extraordinary piece of acting. It is an extraordinary piece of directing. It is an extraordinary piece of writing. It is an extraordinary piece of editing. It is an extraordinary exploration of sexuality. It is an extraordinary exploration of addiction. It is an extraordinary study of a complex man. It is an extraordinary portrayal of a life less ordinary. It is an extraordinary portrayal of a man who wants to stop himself. And it is an extraordinary portrayal of a man who can’t stop himself. It is extraordinary in so many ways, and in ways that will surely prove difficult to ever forget.
10/10
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