Taking the 'Sex' Out of 'Sexy' -- Reflections on "Shame" (2011)

"My name is Brandon, and I'm a sex addict."

In Bertolucci's Last Tango in Paris, Marlon Brando played a tormented man who falls into deep lust with a woman who is looking at renting the same apartment as he is. They engage in a passionate affair that slowly disintegrates into erotic acts of humiliation and sadomasochism. The sexual scenes in the film are beautifully staged and filmed, showing the decline in the relationship while simultaneously celebrating the eroticism of the moment. Sex, the movie tells us, is a beautiful thing -- it's the people doing it that fuck it up.

Shame is a movie about a tormented man with a sexual addiction. Michael Fassbender plays Brandon, a gainfully employed New Yorker, who seems to live his life from one orgasm to the next. His life is one of despair. He lives in a sterile apartment, does unspecified work for a nameless company, and ignores the phone calls of his desperate sister so he can watch pornography on his laptop. His daily ritual seems to be one of working, masturbating in the bathroom at work, seeking sexual partners, or settling on an evening with prostitutes or porn. And Brandon hates himself because of his compulsion. He hates himself so much that when he orgasms it looks more like he's taking an asshole ripping dump than ejaculating.

Brandon's world is unsettled when his obnoxious, vulnerable sister (Carey Mulligan) shows up unannounced at his apartment and begs to live with him for awhile. Suddenly, Brandon is forced to connect with another person, change his routine, and put someone else before himself. It's a hard proposition, but he tries, and begins to discover that it sucks. His addiction is too strong.

Meanwhile, at work, Brandon begins having feelings for a co-worker named Marianne (Nicole Beharie). They date, and he finds that becoming intimate with another person is frightening in comparison to the emotional distance the act of fucking provides.

Like Last Tango in Paris, Shame is about how emotional intimacy and physical intimacy are two different animals. Unlike Last Tango, though, Shame doesn't show us the allure of sex. This may be the only film about sex I've ever seen that didn't turn me on. Honestly, sex is exciting and fun -- it can be every bit a sweet escape as much as it can be spiritually fulfilling. Steve McQueen's film offers no hint of the beauty of sex. In this film, sex is ugly and disgusting, an act of desperation to satisfy a joyless animal urge. From Brandon's point-of-view this is certainly true; he seems to force himself into increasingly dangerous sexual escapades as a form of self-flagellation. Had the film provided a strong counterpoint, though, perhaps the drama would have unfolded in a way that was much more remarkable and revelatory.

For example, the relationship between Brandon and Marianne would have been the perfect chance to do this. The movie's best scenes involve the two of them trying to figure out what a relationship between them would look like. They have an awkward first date, but it goes well enough that Brandon feels compelled to get physical with her shortly thereafter. As they try to have sex, though, Brandon discovers he can't perform. After all his hookers, masturbation, and porn, Brandon can't get it up -- the emotional connection to this woman is too much for him and he wilts under the pressure. The movie handles his shame perfectly, and Marianne leaves him to wallow in despair, but we never get another scene between them. We never get another opportunity for Brandon to do more than have his views on sex challenged.

And that's the problem with this movie -- it's a movie about sex that doesn't make us believe that sex is something worth being addicted to. In movies about drug addiction, there are always scenes that show the temptation of drugs, revealing them to be sexy avenues of escape and pleasure. We always get parties and reckless exploits that could possibly be remembered fondly one day. Shame offers no such pleasantries. From the get-go, sex is a bad thing, a means to an end for Brandon. He walks through his life, a hollow man, from one sexual exploit to the next, making no connections with anyone, least of all himself. I never felt like I understood the appeal of it to him -- why does he like sex so much? What does an orgasm mean to him? What underlying pain is he trying to escape?

While Fassbender's performance is masterful, bold, and riveting, it is ultimately shallow. He never reveals what's under the surface of Brandon's cool, collected facade. There are moments, like when his boss asks him about the amount of filthy porn on his work computer, or when Brandon can't perform with Marianne, that offer the potential to enlighten us on Brandon's perspective, but McQueen holds back and has Brandon turn away and hide behind his titular shame. The shame is understandable, but unless we can get a better understanding for why Brandon is so self-destructive, it's tough to sympathize and understand him.

The arrival of Brandon's sister, Sissy (Carey Mulligan), should provide the opportunities we need to learn more about Brandon, but she only clouds things. The only information she offers about their life as children is that they lived in New Jersey. Otherwise, the only thing she does in the story is provide a problem for Brandon, keeping him from bringing his addiction home as opposed to forcing him to face the sort of man he's become. She' a terrific foil for him, but underused, as are most of the supporting cast, especially Marianne, the co-worker Brandon seems primed to explore having a relationship with.

I'm mixed on Shame. The performances are exceptional, and several scenes stand out and resonate on a deep level, but the plot is formless, and seems too ambiguous for its own good at times. I get that McQueen wanted to make a realistic film about a man, for whom sexual addiction separates him from society, but he makes one that is so cold and distant at times that the movie separates itself from the audience.