Shame

Well, it appears I have gone down the same route as so many other trilogies do, and have rather tactlessly tacked on a fourth installment to the unofficial Carey Mulligan trilogy, oops, however Shame is a film that is too interesting to resist, and that is thought provoking, yet should not be watched with ones parents. The film stars Michael Fassbender as a sex addict living in new york, who falls down into a rabbit hole of lies, sex, darkness and more sex, until it threatens to consume his whole life. Carey Mulligan stars as his sister, who comes into his life, disrupting his carefully planned routine, and breaking the fragile web in which he has cocooned himself, and which allows him to conceal his addiction from the world.

Michael Fassbender is great in the role, even more striking is the fact that this film has little dialogue, and Fassbender manages to show us a man falling apart, and who clings to the last fragment, whilst never being loathsome, and allowing us to see him as an inherently good man. Carey Mulligan stars as his sister, and together these actors show us two people who clearly have darkness in their past, and to whom something happened when they were young, but which both of them cannot speak of. The film shows some tension between these characters, undertones which may be interpreted as incestuous, one scene in particular in which Fassbenders character finds Mulligans in the shower, yet she makes no attempt to cover herself, and seems to relish the affection.

The film was controversial at the time as it was given an NC-17 rating, and the filmmakers made no attempt to cut it down or edit it, and this film was seen as legitimizing the rating, and showing that a film could be powerful and thought provoking, and also contain strong sexual content and adult themes. The film is accurate in the way it shows addiction, and the way it shows a man trying to get his fix, and not even enjoying the experiences he goes through, and even going to hiring prostitutes and gay clubs in order to have sex, with his experiences not having anything to do with sexual preference. The film also shows how his addiction affects his sister, who finally breaks down, and can no longer cope with the disaster that her life has become.

Overall this is a masterful film, with a great plot and message which is thought provoking and powerful, and which is worth a watch simply for the great performances of its leads. Rating: A

  Sissy Sullivan: We're not bad people. We just come from a bad place.