Shame (2011) directed by Steve McQueen
I think a common misconception about why people are addicts is that they enjoy the thing they are addicted to too much to stop. Perhaps, but I'd venture to guess that for the majority of addicts it is because they hate their lives so much they need to find an escape from it.
On the surface Brandon looks completely normal. He is handsome, charming and successful but he holds a dark secret; he is addicted to sex. It is important to differentiate the difference between sex and companionship because he seeks the first but shuns the latter. For as much time that he spends thinking of women he cannot have a normal relationship with one. In fact it is not clear that he thinks of women at all actually, they are merely objects to satisfy his needs.
He is alone in the world, living a solitary life of silent suffering. Yes, he is suffering because clearly it is not the sex that excites him. I'd guess if it were up to him he would never have sex at all, but he needs that escape or release from his everyday existence. There are several key sex scenes that tells all you need to know about Brandon. One is with a girl he is genuinely interested in. He wants to passionately make love to her except that his penis fails him, the intimacy of the moment, and his life, gone. In the very next scene he pounds away at a prostitute. He has his climax but you can tell he is not satisfied. These encounters are empty to him. In the film's climatic sex scene, he is having wild uninhibited sex with two women, but it is not the naked bodies that catch the eye of the viewer. As Brandon is climaxing the shot focuses on his face. It is not one of pleasure, but of pain, suffering and shame. If there is one enduring image to take home from Shame it would be this one as it captures the deep despair of Brandon's life.
Okay, I'm getting ahead of myself here, but that is the nature of Brandon's condition. One day his sister Sissy shows up out of the blue needing a place to stay. He reluctantly agrees, not out of love but out of obligation. Sissy soon cramps Brandon's style and he feels his life is about to unravel. The two fight with each other; Sissy needs his love for support, something Brandon cannot give to her. It is something he cannot give to anyone, not even himself. There is an unspoken sadness between the two, something from their past, perhaps a childhood of shared grief and suffering. Their pain is what links them together but is also what separates them.
Shame is a superbly directed film by Steve McQueen, but the real heart of the matter is in Michael Fassbender's performance as Brandon. He shows such vulnerability and pain it is almost aching to watch. It is a truly masterful performance and probably the best one I've seen in the past year. It is a shame (pun intended) that he wasn't nominated for Best Actor.
Grade: A
I think a common misconception about why people are addicts is that they enjoy the thing they are addicted to too much to stop. Perhaps, but I'd venture to guess that for the majority of addicts it is because they hate their lives so much they need to find an escape from it.
On the surface Brandon looks completely normal. He is handsome, charming and successful but he holds a dark secret; he is addicted to sex. It is important to differentiate the difference between sex and companionship because he seeks the first but shuns the latter. For as much time that he spends thinking of women he cannot have a normal relationship with one. In fact it is not clear that he thinks of women at all actually, they are merely objects to satisfy his needs.
He is alone in the world, living a solitary life of silent suffering. Yes, he is suffering because clearly it is not the sex that excites him. I'd guess if it were up to him he would never have sex at all, but he needs that escape or release from his everyday existence. There are several key sex scenes that tells all you need to know about Brandon. One is with a girl he is genuinely interested in. He wants to passionately make love to her except that his penis fails him, the intimacy of the moment, and his life, gone. In the very next scene he pounds away at a prostitute. He has his climax but you can tell he is not satisfied. These encounters are empty to him. In the film's climatic sex scene, he is having wild uninhibited sex with two women, but it is not the naked bodies that catch the eye of the viewer. As Brandon is climaxing the shot focuses on his face. It is not one of pleasure, but of pain, suffering and shame. If there is one enduring image to take home from Shame it would be this one as it captures the deep despair of Brandon's life.
Okay, I'm getting ahead of myself here, but that is the nature of Brandon's condition. One day his sister Sissy shows up out of the blue needing a place to stay. He reluctantly agrees, not out of love but out of obligation. Sissy soon cramps Brandon's style and he feels his life is about to unravel. The two fight with each other; Sissy needs his love for support, something Brandon cannot give to her. It is something he cannot give to anyone, not even himself. There is an unspoken sadness between the two, something from their past, perhaps a childhood of shared grief and suffering. Their pain is what links them together but is also what separates them.
Shame is a superbly directed film by Steve McQueen, but the real heart of the matter is in Michael Fassbender's performance as Brandon. He shows such vulnerability and pain it is almost aching to watch. It is a truly masterful performance and probably the best one I've seen in the past year. It is a shame (pun intended) that he wasn't nominated for Best Actor.
Grade: A
This was quite a disturbing movie. But I agree it was technically brilliant. Fassbender and Mulligan killed their roles (Fassbender's boss, however, deserves to be on the list of annoying film douchebags like the dennis miller lookalike in Die Hard and Biff from Back to the Futures)and pretty much every single scene was awesomely directed/shot. Great post too bud. I hadn't thought about some of the excellent points you address.
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