The Fass'

One of the properties of film I most admire is the existence of a character that I can care about for a couple of hours and share an emotional resonance with. This isn’t something that happens very often, but when it does, the film can live with you for years. Ralph Fienne’s peerless performance in The Constant Gardener springs to mind. The scene where he is told bad news about his wife while watering his plants is beautiful because of Fienne’s manner, and the knowledge that we know something he doesn’t makes this scene intimately touching. Fienne’s response to the news is simply heartbreaking. Similarly, Tilda Swinton’s performance in We Need to Talk about Kevin is remarkable for the way she carries herself. If she spots a glimmer of hope in her endlessly awful life, she breaks out into a smile and the screen comes alive with her charisma.

So many films aim to shock us, or astonish us with special effects, that it can often be dispiriting to be left feeling cold and distant from the film. Shame, starring the ubiquitous Michael Fassbender as Brandon and near-ubiquitous Carey Mulligan as Sissy and directed by Steve McQueen is an oddly antiseptic film. Of course, a film about sex addiction and an utterly dysfunctional relationship is never going to be a laugh-out-loud comedy, but Brandon is so enigmatic that by the film’s end I felt I had learned nothing about him. I felt that he had learned too little about himself.

Fassbender effortlessly bases his performance as a man who is dead inside, and goes through the motions of his life which McQueen shoots with great effect as Brandon wakes, plays his voicemails while in the shower, goes to work, self-pleasures in the toilet cubicle finds a woman or views porn for the evening. Again and again, the same pattern repeats itself. Rarely has addiction seemed so vapid and sad, so in this aspect the film succeeds in painting a bleak picture.

The film is bathed in the greys of the unforgiving New York Subway and the energy-sapping low-lighting in the office where Brandon works, producing a muted palette that sometimes looks beautiful but mostly looks quite uninspiring. Despite this, the scenes where Brandon is having fun and enjoying himself show a different side to the film which McQueen might have been wise to have used more of. When Brandon has a date with co-worker Marianne, a genuinely engaging dinner date follows with a hopeless waiter and something of an exploration into Brandon’s feelings of intimacy. He realises how lewd and lonely his life has become and after the date indulges in some spontaneous “spring cleaning” of his porn apparel. Ultimately, the intimacy never works and he spins out of control, mirroring the descent of his sister, Sissy.

Carey Mulligan is such a 'Sissy'

Carey Mulligan plays the part brilliantly and sequences where you don’t know what the odd brother and sister duo will end up doing next impress. The relationship is confusing, sexuality is blurred and history clearly plays on their minds. Sadly, this relationship is still unsatisfying and my impression is that McQueen invested in the characters but decided to omit some details. Perhaps some find this fascinating, perhaps this is a genuinely intellectual approach to film-making, but for me, it seemed vague and half-formed too often.