A movie as bold as Shame is bound to be polarizing. Helping to offset some of the critics who are turned off for one reason or another, Shame earned 3 scores of 100 early on, Nov 8th (from Variety, The Hollywood Reporter, and Salon). Last night Roger Ebert added a 4th rave:
There’s a close-up in “Shame” of Michael Fassbender’s face showing pain, grief and anger. His character, Brandon, is having an orgasm. For the movie’s writer-director, Steve McQueen, that could be the film’s master shot. There is no concern about the movement of Brandon’s lower body. No concern about his partner. The close-up limits our view to his suffering. He is enduring a sexual function that has long since stopped giving him any pleasure and is self-abuse in the most profound way.
“Shame” makes into a lie the universal assumption in movies that orgasms provide a pleasure to be pursued. The film’s opening shot shows Brandon awake in the morning, staring immobile into space. He could be a man prepared to commit suicide. He gets out of bed, goes into the shower and masturbates. It will be the first of his many orgasms, solitary and with company, that day. He never reveals emotion. He lives like a man compelled to follow an inevitable course…
Not many actors would have the courage it took Michael Fassbender to play this role. He showed similar courage in McQueen’s “Hunger” (2009), about the IRA hunger striker Bobby Sands. The actor and director seem to have found a common resolve in these films to show the thing itself, unalloyed by audience-pleasing techniques. Brandon can’t even be said to visibly suffer. He is compelled to repeat the same behavior over and over, and all he gets from it is self-loathing. “Shame” is the correct title.
“Shame” contains unblinking truth. I have no doubt it depicts behavior that can be accurately called “sex addiction.” The film suggests no help for Brandon, although toward the end, he moves somewhat in the direction of being able to care for another human being. For him, that involves being able to care for himself, despite the truth that he feels unworthy to be known. This is a great act of filmmaking and acting. I don’t believe I would be able to see it twice.