Maybe it was a particular incident that caused emotional destruction, incest, rape, a child predator, whatever. In the end, the brother and sister played by Michael Fassbender and Carey Mulligan in the searing but warmly realistic ‘Shame’, are so clearly ruined that it is hard to imagine a pain they have not endured. But what? I don’t care what it was, to be honest. Perhaps this incident was so horrendous that nothing they ever do, good or bad, will match that moment. Brandon is played by the icy cool Fassbender, almost silently, until suddenly he is not. Like when he’s pushed to engage with his sister Sissy who is played to perfect sadness by Mulligan, or his boss, the wildly underwritten character played by James Badge Dale, but he is just a moment of reality, underwritten for a reason.
Director Steve McQueen hammers this story down to the very essence of vacant emotion (with the help of Abi Morgan). Whether it is Brandon finding sexual satisfaction from a stranger, or a woman in his office, it is purely primal. Sometimes he runs, or walks, stalking the city looking for a place to put his desire. Or is he looking for a feeling to fill this black hole that has surrounded him. Sissy shows up like a smear of lint, literally, and Brandon is instantly enraged by her presence. She is a singer of the lounge type, and suddenly finds her terminally lonely self in arms of Brandon’s boss. From here the story goes deeper than I thought it could. Brandon chooses women randomly, only when they react to him, the girl on the subway, or his office, even a little hello to a stranger on the street. He is looking for something he will never find, and looking enthusiastically. Brandon fucks, then does it again, then again, and is finally repulsed by what he sees. Just not enough to stop. He goes out to find attention, and accepts a beating just so he can feel something. Like the basket case Sissy, they both want to engage, with anything. Preferably bad things, so they can test the depths of their emotions, however sanitized they are.
There are a few scenes where the standard technique of close up is thrown out the window. Especially effective are the very long and painful takes where Brandon and Sissy are talking, and he rages on her. It goes on longer than you think possible. Then goes further. The sections of this film where the characters talk for close to ten minutes, no cuts or close ups, just a master shot, are magic. This movie is wonderfully potent. I wish it was longer, as I wanted to see what would happen next.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KlGbkLAae0o]
