Shame's review

Today, I have decided to make my first movie review!


Two weeks ago, I had the opportunity to go to the movie premiere of Shame directed by Steve McQueen. I wanted to see this movie only because I liked the actress Carey Mulligan whom I loved in An Education. The movie's male lead is Michael Fassbender who was last seen in X-Men : First Class.

The story is pretty simple but daring: Brandon Sullivan (Fassbender) is a 30-year old single man who has a problem of sex addiction. When his sister Sissie (Mulligan), a budding singer, comes live in his appartment for a while: his world is turned upside down.
We follow Brandon's through his everyday life that is to say going to work like everybody else but very quickly, we see his sex addiction is in fact guiding his life since at night he calls a prostitute otherwise, he spends his nights watching porn. Even when he goes out with his colleagues, he doesn't flirt with women unlike his colleagues but he ends up with the girl.

Then, Brandon's sister comes to New York for a performance so she comes live in his apartment unexpectedly. However, she did call him everyday but he ignored her. During the first night, he overheards his sister crying speaking on the phone because he wants to break up and you can understand from the look on his face that he finds that silly.
Sissie sings "New York, New York" at the show and for the first time, we see Brandon's humanity come through as he shed a tear watching his sister perform. However, the night is ruined because Sissie ends up sleeping with her brother's boss who also came to the show. Angry, he decides to go for a run. We here see a beautiful long shot of New York's streets which is just amazing to my mind.

At the same time, he attemps to have a normal date with a girl in his office but he becomes very quickly bored with a normal relationship and I believe he finds it too complicated. His humanity shines through again here. however, since it is a failed attempt at trying to be normal he quickly sinks heavily back into his addiction until he is faced with a shocking event. In a heartbreaking scene, we see Fassbender's character sobs as if he could get rid of all his problems so easily: it is the first time, I believe we can see Brandon realizing he has many issues that are negative in his life. Yet, at the end of the movie, we are left wondering whether he will change or not.

I remember after watching the movie: I felt baffled, didn't know what to think of it but now I think this movie is beautiful because it is so honest. Yes, it deals with a touchy subject but I believe it is great to be daring from time to time. Shame shows you how low human beings can sink too when they are addicts. In the end, the important thing to remember is whether you will come out of an addiction and if so, will the people who are closest to you still be there for you?