Review of Shame (2011) by Colginator — 26 Aug 2016

Near the beginning of Shame we're given a glimpse in to Brandon's (Michael Fassenbender) life as he sits alone on a train. He catches the eye of a pretty young woman who gives him a smile. As he begins to look her up and down he notices that she's wearing a wedding ring. But this doesn't matter to him. Brandon is unable to resist and tries follows her off the train, before losing her in the crowd. He is completely controlled by his addiction and is trapped in his own self-loathing life style. Throughout this entire sequence, Fassenbender has a look of complete anguish on his face. He gains no pleasure from pursuing his sexual needs. He feels only shame.

Steve McQueen represents sex addiction as a form of self-abuse, with the agonising pain Brandon's sex addiction causes himself being bought to the forefront of practically every scene. McQueen avoids the clichés of a typical Hollywood sex scene, with shots uncomfortably lingering for too long and maintaining a focus of Brandon's emotional fallout throughout the scene. In one of the most powerful and tragic moments of the film McQueen ends a sex scene with a close up of Fassenbender's face as he orgasms. His expression is a mixture of pain and misery, with the entire scene having such an overwhelming feeling of anguish that feels similar to a death scene a death scene.

In spite of Brandons addiction controlling his entire life, nobody around him seems to notice. Every girl he meets seems to be perfectly fine catering to his every sexual need (although to be fair many of these girls are hookers just doing their jobs). His co- workers seem completely oblivious to the fact that Brandon spends most of his time at work jacking off in the bathroom. Even when Brandon's boss discovers that his entire hard drive is filled with porn, his boss quickly assumes that it belongs to his assistant and remains completely unaware of his addiction.

The only person who seems to be aware of his addiction is his sister Sissy (Carey Mulligan), who moves in to his apartment whilst she has some gigs in the city. But she doesn't seem to be able to help much since Brandon appears to want to create as much distance between the two of them as possible, constantly avoiding her calls and remaining extremely aggressive towards her at any opportunity he gets.

It also doesn't help that Sissy is just as self-destructive as Brandon is. But whereas he is cold and detached, Sissy is in dire need of emotional support with a history of self-harm who has cut herself several times in the past. We never know exactly what caused them to become this way, but it's clear they've both been damaged in the past. This history is instead told through both Fassenbender and Mulligans powerhouse performances that can tell a history of suffering and anguish without needing to say a single word.

Sissy keeps reaching out to Brandon and Brandon keeps pushing her away, leaving them both completely isolated. And this is probably the greatest tragedy of Shame, as it is the lack of any real support that leaves addicts like Brandon unable to escape their lifestyle. They'll either keep their addiction hidden in embarrassment or actively push away anybody who could actually help them, leaving them trapped in their own self-harming life-style and unable to stop their path of self-destruction.

The entire tone of Shame strongly resembles Requiem for a Dream. It creates a similar tone of complete despair and serves as a harrowingly realistic representation of the pitfalls of addiction. It's a true masterpiece, though also one that can be hard to sit through.