Shame Reviews

1-In English - When you watch a film of this quality must take into account the story all the ingredients included the details. For example, the director Steve McQueen was outstanding in his work and a devotee and struck by the work deserves really seen, and also the performance of actor (Michael Fassbender) was amazing and realistic with a gorgeous transfer per emotions required by the role, but the film features that melancholy and gloomy, but there were some scenes improper that I wish did not see them, but who saw the film knows that without the presence of these snapshots of what has been the story in the form required.

2-In Arabic- عند مشاهدة فيلم من هذه النوعية يجب مراعاة القصة بكل ماتحويه من تفاصيلٍ ، فعلى سبيل المثال المخرج ستيف مكوين كان متميزاً في عمله ومتفانياً وأذهلنا بعمل يستحق المشاهدة حقاً ، وأيضاً آداء الممثل (مايكل فاسبندر) كان مذهلاً واقعياً مع نقل رائع لكل الإنفعالات التي تطلبها الدور ولكن الفيلم يمتاز بأنه سوداوي وكئيب ولكن كانت هناك بعض المشاهد الغير لائقة التي لم أتمنى مشاهدتها ولكن من شاهد الفيلم يعلم بأنه لولا وجود هذه اللقطات لما تم عرض القصة بالشكل المطلوب.

Since I really loved ‘Hunger’ and ’12 Years a Slave’, obviously, I had to watch the movie Steve McQueen directed in between and, indeed, I was really eager to check it out. Once again, McQueen really impressed me and it is not very often that you come across a director who managed to deliver so much quality with just 3 movies. I simply can’t wait to see what he will do next. The only thing I’m worried is that the whole dreariness of his tales might become a gimmick at some point if he keeps throwing at us such dark and relentless dramas. Anyway, this time, he gave us a rather painful portrait of a man driven by his obsession and how his life constantly revolves around this obsession and nothing else. Since I’m a rather obsessive person (the most obvious would be my compulsive movie watching with more than 5000 movies watched and around 3800 reviews written on this website), it was rather confronting and I could definitely relate with him in the way that, even though his constant search for sex gives him a purpose, it also makes him emotionless and completely unable to connect or socialize with other human beings. At least, junkies or alcoholists usually have an active (albeit sick) social life but the main character here choses not to have such a social life, probaby because of the shame he constantly feels. Once again, Michael Fassbender who is obviously one of the greatest actors of his generation gave a fearless performance and it is really astonishing that he wasn’t even nominated at the Academy awards. To conclude, as usual with McQueen, it was a rather tough watch but it is still a riveting drama and it is definitely worth a look.

Although Brandon's sex addiction is the catalyst for the narrative, those explicit scenes (of which there are many) are not titillating or erotic, they are absolutely awful to watch because he is not doing it for pleasure, but as an extension of his inability to feel or develop any sort relationship; sex is intimacy to him and it is a daily need. Even though it is slow-paced and melancholic, exploring a taboo subject with frank detail and realism, the film works better as an analysis of emotional detachment, which is challenged by the arrival of Brandon's equally troubled sister Sissy. We are not told of their background, but considering how damaged they both are and their opposing borderline personalities, it is clear that whatever childhood they had, it was not decent or relatively normal. Brandon is repulsed by Sissy's need for affection and intimacy, without which she self-destructs. It is a dark and moving film at times, but fatally cold by its open ending, which proceeds Brandon's breakdown and realisation of his love for Sissy to have meant nothing. It works, definitely, but is far more interesting to look at than it is to explore in a deeper sense with multiple viewings.

This is a tough one – both in subject matter, execution and in trying to discuss it. It does away with many of the usual things that setup a film: specific location, a backstory for the characters, reasoning behind their actions, etc. Instead, what we’re given is a look at a specific moment in the numb, hollow, cold life of one man and his serious addiction. What caused it? We don’t know, but the hints are horrific. What, exactly, is his job? Doesn’t really matter in the end since it’s just the place he goes in-between random sexual encounters and copious amounts of online porn surfing and sex chatting.

Shame left me depressed to my very core. When it ended I wanted to go run and hide in The Artist to cheer myself up before heading back out to the world. Addictions are nasty, destructive things, and here is a film, much like The Lost Weekend, which doesn’t flinch away from the realities and struggles to live on a day-to-day basis with one.

The cold, emotionally distant cinematography and set design, sparse and icy, work wonders to show the hollowed out realities of this man’s life. He isn’t just emotional distant, he’s emotionally incapable of much of anything. When his needy, desperate sister comes buzzing back into his life his veneer begins to crack. While, yes, Steve McQueen’s direction is artful and clean, a master class is economy and holding back when necessary, the performances are what make Shame so emotionally devastating and rich to behold.

Michael Fassbender should have not only been nominated for this year’s Best Actor Oscar, he probably should’ve won the damn thing outright. No one else went into as naked (both literally and emotionally) and dangerous a place as he did. His work, mostly done with his expressive eyes and shark-like mouth, is quiet but haunting. And his teaming with Carey Mulligan, so wonderfully smart and tart in An Education, speaks volumes without using many words. What exactly happened to them as children to leave them so damaged and scarred in such drastically different ways?

The film never outright answers that question, but clues, some subtle, others not so, are offered throughout. Like when Fassbender first realizes that Mulligan has returned for a visit and he finds her in the shower. They have a fairly long conversation while she is standing before him totally nude and dripping wet. That’s not normal brotherly-sisterly behavior. Neither is a scene in which she climbs into bed with him in the middle of the night or the one where he wrestles with her while he’s only wearing a towel. And late in the film she delivers a line that speaks volumes without saying anything specific: “We just come from a bad place.”

After watching this I couldn’t help but wonder why the Academy chose to ignore it in so many categories. This, along with Hugo and Beginners, were a trio of films that I figured would be nominated in practically every major category. Hugo was the lone one to actually prove itself as a major contender. Which is such a pity, because Shame while like a gut-punch is also a beautifully acted, well-written and artistically stylized and directed film that will probably go down as one of the great snubbed films of 2011, maybe even of the decade.

Two broken siblings on a perpetual state of slow self destruction find each other together for a few days. They hurt each other in ways they can't even understand and then their own lives just collapse to be reborn again in the same spiral, one step nearer to hell.

The main character pushes everything and everyone as far as he can and the film does exactly the same. There's always a distance between the spectator and the character. This distance works as a kind of false psychological transference making it more organic and real than other dramas. You feel that the character is pushing you away as he is everyone else. Sometimes the camera isn't even oriented towards their faces but that oblique way to show us their emotions makes this particular script so real and tense as any closeup.



The long shots, the classical music eclipsing reality, the silences, the slow pace, the clear lighting and the occasional shadows they all tell us a history in this movie of few words. It's a great feeling when the cinematography, the script and the directing work in this great but subtle way to frame the movie. If all of this is framing then the acting is the main subject of this sad piece of art, ain't it? Yes it is.

Fassbender is a great, great actor. He shows just what's enough and lets the rest come from those who are watching making it feels true where any other super emotional style would fail. Of course there are some moments when all the truth about the character shows up in the movie, always in silence, no words needed when raw emotion is being exposed. Too raw you say? Not for me, I like it bloody.



There´s a lot of interesting elements at play in this movie. One of my favourites is that there's very little advancement in the characters. Brother and sister end up exactly as they started and none could have expected otherwise except for them to end even worse. Both are broken but there are enough differences to make it interesting. Where she isn't able to construct any kind of healthy life for herself he has got a good job, a good lifestyle and a good structure to brace himself to but all of it is ready to fall over some major cracks in the foundations. That fall is scarier to him that anything else but he is dying for it.

An insightful view of a secret addiction.

Shame had begun and gone through a process with a rather easy and short combination of a low budget at only £4.2 million, a very short duration during the shooting of the film that lasted up to 25 days and receiving a low box office taking - approximately $9 million. The film earned its well-deserved positive critical acclaim despite it’s overly explicit sexual content that sealed it with an NC-17 rating in the US. Furthermore, considering that there are films which either receive an NC-17 rating or anything mostly consisting of sex can be completely misunderstood for something involving pornography, Steve McQueen brings forth a film with a slight Stanley Kubrick and Bernardo Bertolucci-like style to it that makes it a very gripping and magnificently filmed accomplishment with a very that leaves a very interesting but thought-provoking message.


Considering that the plot and the background passions that Brandon has and can occasionally become a bit awkward whilst watching the film, Shame expresses that mesmerising feeling of pure beauty behind it. It provides a whole new meaning to sex that we hadn’t really thought about before: the act as a whole is quite possibly the most passionate and pleasurable feeling one could ever endure but at the same time, this passion and pleasure could turn into something rather dangerous and become the biggest trap of all! Shame is one of those films that you’d watch where the story almost has absolutely nothing to do, therefore you cannot predict what is going to happen. So, what we have with Shame in that sense is that there are a few unexpected twists and turns around the corner.


Michael Fassbender has already broken through the layers of blockbuster triumphs and collaboration with famous directors after appearing in a vital role in Quentin Tarantino’s war film Inglourious Basterds and then progressed to renovate the role of Eric Lehnsherr/Magneto as a young man in X-Men: First Class. So, now with two different cinematic experiences on his shoulders, Fassbender goes on to portray yet another extraordinary role that hasn’t really been bought forth previously as we embark on his unorthodox adventures following his sexual passions and fantasies. Fassbender provides almost everything that you could ask for as we understand Brandon’s struggles that not only become deeply emotional but also rather horrifying at the same time. His performance is without a doubt one of the most powerful roles of 2011 and it will be very difficult for him to be able to pull off a stronger and more thought-provoking performance in the future than what he gave us here.


Alongside Michael Fassbender is the young and incredibly beautiful Carey Mulligan as Brandon’s sister. Mulligan has been recognised just like Ryan Gosling throughout 2011: delivered absolutely outstanding performances where she has been a strong and favoured Oscar contender for more than one film but has been completely shunned by the Academy. Her role as Sissy was occasionally all sweet and innocent but as we understood her a bit more, there turned this psychologically dangerous girl with a few problems. Another pointer about Mulligan in Shame is there is another whole new side to her that we hadn’t seen before: she is an absolutely fabulous singer! James Badge Dale becomes a huge effective character in his role as Brandon’s sleazy and flirty boss David, so he is yet another reason why Shame works in every aspect so exquisitely.


At approximately 40 years old, Steve McQueen makes only his second feature film throughout his entire career after 2008 biographical-drama Hunger, which also ironically starred Michael Fassbender. Together, they collaborate once more in another eccentric film that has identical filming and screenwriting aspects particularly to Kubrick’s Eyes Wide Shut and Bertolucci’s Last Tango In Paris. It is the eerie and rather slow styles of camera angles especially in sexual scenes, unique forms of music and the occasional use of vulgar language. Each of this films as part of different generations provide the fact that film is a form of art in the various key aspects as well as for pure entertainment. McQueen’s next project Twelve Years A Slave in 2013 will become another exciting film to look forward to with Michael Fassbender appearing again.


Overall, Shame is one of those rare films that you’d watch and find both easy and difficult to watch on equal fronts as it expresses the pleasure and dangers of sex with a surreal and eerie approach to it. It is undoubtedly the greatest British film of 2011 and like many other public favourites; it has been snubbed massively by the Academy and Golden Globes! Shame could easily be described as a true dark horse of a film as it’s another great piece of art that becomes something very beautiful but also grippingly intense to watch.

Uncompromising, unflinching, yet beautifully made, plunge into sexual addiction. Featuring a masterful performance by Michael Fassbender (who was robbed) as well as Carey Mulligan. Was it deserving of an NC17, no, I've seen a lot worse, but that isn't to say it holds back. The genius of it is that the sex is neither glamorized or titillating, it actually makes sex depressing. A fitting companion film would be Requiem For Dream, both expertly done films on addiction. This also stands as further proof that Steve McQueen is one of the finest filmmakers working today. (contains strong sexuality including graphic nudity and dialogue, violence,and language.)

Stunningly shot film with phenomenal performances by all involved, Shame is further proof that former artist, Steve McQueen, has complete mastery over the cinematic form.

Michael Fassbender gives the performance of his life (which is really saying something given his career to date) as the sexually addicted and emotionally detached Brandon, living day to day as best he can in New York. The opening scenes give a painful insight into how Brandon has built routine around his addiction, moving from one sexual encounter to the next, his entire life is consumed by it. He cannot sit on the subway, be at work or go out with friends without looking for his next fix. Considering how little dialogue Fassbender has in the film, his face and body portray every subtle nuance you can read to perfectly understand his character and his thoughts. It's such a powerful performance. From the scene where Brandon quietly cries as his sister sings, to his final emotional breakdown, you feel his pain, anguish, and despair throughout.

Carey Mulligan as Sissy, his sister, who barges into his delicately ordered life is also fantastic. She is wild, emotional, a complete mess and causes Brandon's carefully maintained schedule to collapse around him.
Although not as finely tuned as Fassbender's performance, Mulligan is fiercely effective and the scenes between the two siblings are fraught with intensity and feeling.

The sex scenes have caused quite a stir in the media, but I can assure you there is nothing erotic about them. They are clinical, bleak and ultimately quite upsetting. The scenes in which Brandon visits a gay club for instant relief and where he engages in a threesome with 2 prostitutes while Sissy attempts suicide are hard to watch - the stark despair and lack of joy on Brandon's face is brutal and sad. He is so desperate and dejected to have to feed his addiction in these ways that the viewer's heart breaks.

Steve McQueen doesn't attempt to give the film a happy ending; far from it in fact. The final scene fills you with dread as you realise that Brandon may not have beaten his addiction after all.

I certainly cannot wait for McQueen and Fassbender's next project together!