I rarely write a review immediately after seeing a film, but I was so emotionally taken up with Shame that I couldn't help but put down my thoughts as soon as I arrived home. It's interesting looking at my notes as this was the first time that I have written something before a movie has begun. I knew perfectly well what I was going to be watching as I have briefly scanned a few reviews following the immense praise given to actors Michael Fassbender and Carey Mulligan, and I was both intrigued and a bit apprehensive about seeing it. Right up until the beginning of the film I was alone in the theater (which almost never happens) and for this particular film being a man by myself in a dark, quiet room about to watch this particular film made me feel slightly uncomfortable. Without seeing a character or hearing a line question after question began running through my mind and I was nervous. This was made slightly worse when the next person to enter was a bachelor--who looked very much like he ought to be single--who spent a solid two minutes debating which seat would provide him the absolute best view of Fassbender's penis. I decided then that this was a film that I was not going to enjoy seeing in public. I was right.
Being gay, I often engage in discussions of sexuality, asexuality, perversions and promiscuity. The gays are notorious for their sleazy and common acts of sex and I feel I am generally versed in what it means to be "easy". But what about sexual addiction? Can a person be addicted to the act of having sex? of having orgasms? Is the orgasm the end goal or is simply the act of being close to someone as intoxicating as doing drugs? Surely there are porn addicts, but then porn is easily accessible and cheap if you know where to look. I suppose sex might be the same way, the difference being I haven't bothered to look for it.
Fassbender is stunning as Brandon Sullivan who is as close to a sex addict as I can imagine. His computer hard drives are "filthy" with pornography, his closet is packed with DVDs and magazines, and bringing home women is no sort of accomplishment. We see him masturbate in the shower, but he takes no pleasure in it. It is habitual and almost painful. On trains he stares at women, but I don't think he is flirting with them. Brandon is very handsome, moderately successful, clean and tidy, and completely unassuming. When he looks at women they want him. He has a magnetism and an ease that it is impossible not to resist, but he isn't flirting. He simply knows how to get what he wants--what he needs, rather. If we are discussing addiction then it has become a necessity of his body to be with women. It goes beyond a natural urge to procreate.
This is a very sad man, and his encounters with women which under normal circumstances we might find nice to watch and happy for the hero of the film, instead make us feel pity for the creature. He is ashamed; he hates himself. Brandon is absolutely the most perplexing and engaging character of any film this year. There is a scene in which he goes into a bathroom stall at work to masturbate, but before he does he wipes down the toilet seat with tissues.
The more I watched Fassbender bring to life this puzzle of a human being the more I wanted a complete story of his life. The ease and natural grace in which he moves about and interacts with women got me wondering when it was that this obsession with women started and when he realized he was an addict. Because of his nature there is nothing about him to assume that he is such a person. When his computer at work is found to have tons of porn on it his boss, who is also a good friend, assumes that it was an intern using his computer. There wasn't even a hint that it could have been Brandon's doing. Although this type of person is probably a bit exaggerated (by this I mean in his rare gifts with women) Brandon is not at all someone who could not exist in real life, and that is both frightening and sad.
Apart from Fassbender, who is surely one of the great up-and-coming actors of our generation, this is all around a wonderful piece of film making. Carey Mulligan is notable as Sissy, his troubled, artistic sister who comes to live with him when she has nowhere else to go, much to the disapproval of Brandon. Alone she is as wonderful as she always is, particularly in a musical number which had me enraptured, but playing opposite Fassbender she is stellar. The two of them together are a pitch-perfect match.
Beyond the acting, the direction and script were both very solid, coming from Steve McQueen and co-writer Abi Morgan. Though the end of the film is a bit over-dramatic the climax of the film (pun absolutely intended, though I slightly regret it due to the gravity of the film) is a dizzying spiral, expertly shot and paced, and Fassbender's eyes at the end will sear into your brain. Never was there such a lonely creature. The other people in the audience ruined that moment ever so slightly simply by their presence. In a dark room, by myself, I think I would have been beside myself looking into those eyes. Sex is a punishment; an orgasm is penance. Fassbender was shattering, and the movie eye-opening.
4/4
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