Sensual 'Shame' Examines Sex Addiction in Artistic Fashion

Brandon (Michael Fassbender) is just an ordinary man, but obsessed with having sex.

If 2011 is remembered for anything, it’d be Michael Fassbender taking Hollywood by storm as not only the year’s biggest breakout star, but also the actor whose performance can enhance the overall aura of any film. Since Jane Eyre, Fassbender has transcended the role of the Byronic hero with magnetic villainy and psychological bluntness, but none of the stellar performances is as intimate as his role as a sex addict in Shame. 

Shame is Steve McQueen’s sophomore film, the first being 2008’s Hunger also starring Fassbender, and ultimately examines how an individual, particularly Fassbender handles being broken down and craving sex no matter what the consequences are or with whom. Fassbender’s character, Brandon, not only has to battle his sexual addiction, but also support his troubled younger sister (Carey Mulligan), who is a dependent burden seeking to become a famous singer.

The hook for Shame is its NC-17 rating and how much sex McQueen will show in this film and in which manner that addictive dirty deed will be used in the context of such a risqué narrative. Shame might have been slammed with the most adult of MPAA ratings, but the film is far from pornographic. Going into Shame, expect full frontal nudity from both Fassbender and his female co-stars. McQueen artfully depicts the sexual activity as it presents itself as a curse to Brandon, constantly struggling with his addiction. To him, sex is everywhere, practically unavoidable – online, clubs, work, at home. 

Brandon’s sex addiction is tragic as it is just a need for fulfillment rather than taking pleasure in it. Fassbender hones in on the emptiness in his multi-faceted performance as we see him going wherever and whenever for sex. His constant desire is like an alcoholic whose needs shots even though they’re intimately tired of it.

McQueen emerges a dynamic director, who really knows how to shoot such tragedy, setting the tone with bleak lighting on a subway or in the bedroom. Visually, Shame is a series of brooding sequences, lined up in a compact row then darkened by its serious themes. For the most part, the film is evenly paced, that is except for an overlong sequence when a close-up of Carey Mulligan stretches out an overlong depressing rendition of “New York, New York” with verse after verse that is the perfect excuse to get out your seat and take care of some business. Minutes later, you still won’t be missing a beat or the song will still be on slow motion. 

There are other scenes in Shame that’ll feel on par and you really wish that they didn’t go on longer than absolutely necessary. Other than a few minor bumps in the story, Shame is engaging, making quality use of its 100 minute run time.  Any time Fassbender seduces the audience, it’s not so much about the lack of dialogue, but how he physically presents himself from the subtlest nuance to more noticeable gestures.

Carey Mulligan is decent as Brandon’s sister, used primarily as a tool of ambiguity, segmenting his struggle with something other than sex to keep his mind occupied on. Though the audience does feel blocks of sympathy for her, she does antagonize her brother with a sexual relationship with his boss, which isn’t fully developed as a subplot. Her function as a character keeps her pretty limited, but the more interesting story isn’t whether or not she is having sex or if she continues to leech off her brother for the time being, but Brandon’s, what seems to be eternal struggle with sex. That struggle evolves as a hauntingly dynamic journey that only Fassbender and McQueen are more than capable of delivering. Relationships or more so one night stands are left ambiguous as one sex partner is exchanged for another in what is a very dangerous cycle. In many instances, the audience has a perpetual appetite for answers even though they’re nothing more than trivial components to the overall story.

Despite its risqué status as a film that could be viewed as one simply about somewhat graphic sex, the NC-17 rating was simply a device to attract viewers to what would be viewed as an adult-only movie. With a few simple edits, Shame could have received a lower rating without compensating the quality of the film’s character and reached a larger community amongst art-house filmgoers. Shame artfully grabs a hold of the concept of sex, resulting in a concurrent juxtaposition of beauty and danger in the mind of a struggling addict. If Fassbender’s other three movies from 2011 aren’t proof that he is the future of Hollywood, Shame is the film that cements that fact.                        

GRADE: B+ (8/10)
This review is also available on Blu-Ray.com