German-Irish Adonis Michael Fassbender is the hottest sex symbol in the world right now but his turn in Shame is not searing but not sexy. The NC-17 film depicts the raw and painful life of a sex addict. The taboo subject of sex is not really what makes this movie controversial. It is how depraved sex can get when the sin of lust possesses you. Fassbender brings to a life a man named Brandon who is as sick as he is handsome.
Sex addiction is not a joke. People like to think of it as simply someone with high libido. Shame shows us that, like any addiction, a sex addict is seeking a fix. Sex is a primal instinct. We don’t die if we don’t have it but our species will become extinct if not enough of us have it. Sex creates a concoction of hormones in the pleasure center of the brain that makes us want more. A sex addict just can’t get enough. Instead of reaching for drugs to dull the pain they reach for sex because it can do the same thing. A man with high libido still can control it enough to not watch X-rated films at work. A sex addict will risk everything and anything to get their fix. Just like Brandon. It is a scorching path of self-destruction. They are possessed by the demon of lust.
Brandon is an attractive advertising executive who lives in Manhattan. He looks put together and appears like a typical New York yuppie. He is not. Instead Brandon is a man who pleasures himself in the bathroom at work, engages in anonymous sex with prostitutes, and has an extensive collection of adult material in his apartment. He has a method to his daily fix which is devoid of emotion.
Something drives an addict. Often it is trauma. When Brandon’s sister Sissy moves in we learn that she is an emotional mess with a history of cutting herself. Sissy is also a psychological case, a possible borderline personality, and the boundaries between the siblings are disturbing and creepy. The movie begins with Brandon ignoring Sissy’s calls only to find her taking a shower in bathroom unexpectedly. For several seconds Sissy appears to not care that her brother sees her naked. She almost doesn’t want to wrap herself in a towel. Later on the reverse happened with Brandon. He doesn’t mind being seen naked by his sister. Whatever the case, it is never revealed, both became unstable in their own way.
Sissy is more openly broken of the two. She is easily thrown into emotional fits. Her sadness is evident when she performs at a night club and begins to cry like Edith Piaf. Sissy is raw. Brandon is numb. Both are deeply aching for relief to their damaged psyches. When Sissy hooks up with Brandon’s boss she later crawls into bed with him afterwards. It’s a suggestive scene because Brandon freaks and kicks her out of his room.
Brandon finds some semblance of a heart connection with his co-worker Marianne. He actually likes this girl. She is not some faceless body to relieve his urges on. The only problem is that he can’t perform with a real woman. Marianne leaves the story line at this moment and the descent continues. Brandon does New York, complete with a ménage-a-tois, an encounter in a bath house, and a raunchy encounter in a bar with a woman who is there with her boyfriend. Watching the series of steamy scenes only makes you want to cry in sadness and not pleasure. While Brandon relieves his pain in sex he is actually not enjoying his carnal adventures. Meanwhile, his sister only becomes more pleading for him to comfort her volatile moods.
The film ends with an ambiguity. It succeeds in giving us a voyeuristic look at the daily tasks of a sex addict in engaging their addiction in the world. It fails to tell a story of much more than that. Michael Fassbender and Carey Mulligan are superb in being believable as the fragile characters they play. The only thing missing is the plot. Had it not been for the acting skills of Michael Fassbender, Carey Mulligan, and Nicole Beharie, this film would have been an X and not because it was another sequel to X-Men: First Class.
After seeing this film it reminded me of Dr. Drew Pinsky’s Sex Rehab reality show. The real sex addicts who shared their personal histories that lead to their addiction was far more poignant than Shame. The movie could have so much better had it taken a cue from Dr. Drew.