"Shame" is 2011 drama directed by Steve McQueen starring Michael Fassbender and Carey Mulligan.
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All in all, Steve McQueen's agonising drama reveals the rawest and most vulnerable sides of a depressive sex addict in a crushingly gritty manner, and performs a balancing act between realistically excruciating beauty and disgusting perversity, and due to a powerful lead performance by Michael Fassbender, a shatteringly natural screenplay and McQueen's empathetic direction, it becomes an indescribably melancholic and utterly depressing striptease of the ambiguous kind.
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Will there ever be a time when the name Steve McQueen isn't automatically associated with great films? Well, while the name used to referred to one of the most charismatic action stars of the sixties and seventies, to the King of Cool who produced some revolutionary features, it nowadays refers to a man who made himself a name in another genre. Steve Rodney McQueen, a man born during his namesake's golden era, is responsible for some highly acclaimed dramas of the last few years, most prominently for the historical feature "12 Years A Slave". However, before he received his well-deserved Oscar for this film, he directed "X-Men" star Michael Fassbender in two other features, the Bobby Sands biopic "Hunger" and this title here. While I cannot say much about the first, I can guarantee you that this one here definitely packs a punch and knows to shake you in the very foundations. I don't know if there is such a sub-genre called "feel bad movies", but if there is, this title definitely would fall in the category, because it is just painful. The thing is, it is not the kind of pain you experience when watching one of the worse Adam Sandler titles, it is the one you can relate to since it is so utterly realistic. Michael Fassbender breathtakingly portrays Brendon Sullivan, a successful businessman with a decent job, a great apartment and seemingly with no worries at all. Well, that is what it is on the outside, because under the surface of this outwardly handsome and perfect man a tremendous turmoil lies dormant. Brendon is a sex addict who spends most of his time with drive satisfaction. From pornographic material on his laptop, over musturbation to random sexual encounters with prostitutes, he experiences all of it. One might think that he is happy leading his life in a way Hugh Hefner would be proud of, but it is quite the contrary. Despite of all the sexual activities his life is defined by, he is anything but blissful, because even though it is never formally mentioned, he suffers from depression. You don't have to be an expert to take notice of this, because it is evident, nevertheless. In this film, Fassbender bares it all, and I am not only talking about the fact that we get to see Magneto's rod on multiple occasions. Regardless of the graphic nudity and sex scenes, the film's main focus doesn't lie on it at all and only serves as an admittedly drastic but tremendously effective narrative device. Just like hand on hand combat is only a means to an end in "Fight Club", sexual activities are only there to veil the true meaning behind what is depicted. In general, it is a character study about a seemingly carefree man living as a bachelor in New York City, but on the inside it is a crushing examination of an addict who tries to cope with his past and other problems that burden him. As already mentioned above, it is never explicitly expressed that he is suffering from depression, but over the course of the film and almost casually, we learn about minimal details about the past of Brendon and his sister Sissy (equally outstandingly played by Carey Mulligan) that explain his behaviour. As the title perfectly suggests, it is about shame in its rawest form. All the sexual activities he engages in are only a way to temporarily drown out the void that haunts him inside, and even if it is far from perfect, it works out in a basic way for him. Until his sister arrives. The imperfect but functioning life he has established comes apart at the seams when she enters this troubled construct, simply because she reminds him of the haunted past too much. Involuntarily, he is supposed to cope with his and with his sister's problems, but you can tell by the look on his face that he is simply unable to master this task. In order to regain the control over his life, he then tries to escape from the cesspool of meaningless sex by dating his co-worker, but eventually learns that healthy relationships and true affection are two things he is incapable. He cannot reciprocate those two human emotions, since his past has scarred him irreparably, and Fassbender conveys this creeping realization and frustration gut-wrenchingly. Only after the attempted suicide of his sister (the most devastating sequence of this drama), he apparently begins to revaluate what is really important in his life, the relationship to his sister included. After having a mental breakdown (the peak of his powerhouse performance!), he encounters the woman on the subway again, the one that he chased after in the beginning despite knowing that she is married. The last shot, him speculating whether he should do it or not, this ambiguity, perfectly rounds up the drama. Will he go back to what he has been, or will he be better than before? The audience is left out in the cold, as then the credits begin to roll, and you don't know if history repeats itself or not. In the end, this film hit me more than I expected it to do. Of course, I was anticipating sadness, but this was just pure depression in blue colours. Raw, unadulterated and absolutely stopping at nothing. It's a soul striptease that also literally strips naked and knows no taboos. Cinema is rarely this devastatingly depressing, and I take my hat off to this brutally realistic gem. Treat it with extreme caution.
