(This piece contains “spoilers.”)
The critical response to SHAME has been slightly baffling to me. The movie has a brave performance by Michael Fassbender and a couple of scenes that feel remarkably true (Brandon’s attempt at a real date is the movie’s most insightful moment), but the film also displays a clumsy misunderstanding of its subject that can’t be ignored. That particular discussion seems to have been disregarded in exchange for an embarrassingly wide pre-occupation with Fassbender’s sexiness — a weird thing to walk away from SHAME talking about, to be sure. It’s the equivalent of fixating on Jennifer Connelly’s degrading dildo scene in REQUIEM FOR A DREAM over its harrowing themes of addiction. Yeah, it’s sexual, but it’s not supposed to be sexy, guys.
SHAME hit its first truly sour note with me during a lingering shot of Brandon viewing his distorted reflection on the side of a bus. The shot is a cliched visual shorthand that says “On the inside, this person is not who they appear to be.” It’s the kind of weak somebody-already-thought-of-that trick that most filmmakers leave behind at film school. But, it’s in here, and it sucks — not enough to ruin the movie, but enough to act as a warning for what’s to come.
After an extended orgy (shot with the inappropriately titillating gusto of an episode of HBO’s REAL SEX), Brandon ends up trolling for sex at a gay club (shot like a horror film). The implications are ambiguous; we don’t know if this is something Brandon has done before or not. It shouldn’t really matter, since all of Brandon’s sex is an empty experience, sexual orientation is irrelevant, but in director Steve McQueen’s eyes this homosexual act is the end-all-be-all of sexual lows. It’s the scariest thing a (homophobic) straight male can think of — finding themselves so horny that they might let another dude touch them. Just conceptually, it’s an offensive way to portray a sex addict’s low point.
McQueen, who also wrote SHAME, flounders with this. It’s not dramatic enough to get Brandon to rock bottom, and he knows it’s not enough, but McQueen doesn’t understand why. So, he has Brandon come home after some anonymous gay sex to discover that his sister has attempted suicide in his own apartment. Besides the hilariously puritanical message (“While you were out getting your rocks off, your sister almost DIED!”), Brandon’s rock bottom is now his sister’s rock bottom. Brandon hits no rock bottom of his own, but the film would have you believe that this is it.
The attempted suicide has some shock value, but it’s also something that student filmmakers have a preoccupation with, because it’s an easy cinematic go-to to show that a personal situation is in dire shape. McQueen makes the mistake of tying Brandon to this moment as if it somehow would make him less compulsive and horny, and suddenly ready to love and commit. Though his sister is alive, he has a wailing catharsis on a pier, spurred on partly because he’d been incredibly crappy to her and partly because he was having empty sex while she bled out.
I’m still not sure how her personal rock bottom translates into being his rock bottom. Her suicide is something that could’ve happened if Brandon were attending church or out grocery shopping; it has nothing to do with his addiction to sex. Her lowest point can’t be his lowest point, because it’s happening only to her, and it’s happening to her in a way that he doesn’t have any empathy for. Do I believe that Brandon would be sad that his sister almost died? Yes. Do I believe this event is a turning point in his life? Not one bit.
A more satisfying ending would’ve taken more work from McQueen, getting to Brandon’s emotionally darkest place and exposing him in such a wholly naked, vulnerable way that he has no choice but to change. Instead SHAME goes easy, with a finale that makes the whole film inauthentic and immature. It’s a damned SHAME.
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I don’t feel that Cissy’s attempted suicide is Brandon’s rock bottom, and i don’t think the film clearly defines any one moment as his bottom. I think he will forever associate his addiction with her suicide attempt, and it’s that sort of negative association (like people who are afraid of all dogs because one bit them as a child) that may influence his life. Do I think at film’s end that he’s changed or “better”? No. Not at all. I think he gains a certain level of awareness, but awareness and taking action are two separate things.
I do, however, think it’s an interesting parallel — that of Brandon metaphorically bleeding out as he ejaculates during the threesome (see: cry-gasm face) while his sister literally bleeds out. The thing that strikes me most in the film is the mirrored image between the siblings. Cissy is all emotion and need, while Brandon is all physical and want.
As far as the gay club scene, I don’t find it egregious or offensive, nor do I think it smacks of McQueen endorsing some sort of shady homophobic slant. When a sex addiction goes far enough, it doesn’t matter to the addict who they receive the sex from or how. All that matters is the act itself, constantly pushing boundaries, and engaging in risky behaviors. Hell, for that matter, any and all emotionally damaged/addicted personalities engage in risky/self-destructive behaviors. Why is this act risky? It’s not because it’s with a man. It’s because he just waltzes into a grimy club and engages in a sex act with a stranger. To him it’s another boundary he’s crossed because he is a straight-identified man and he’s allowing himself to engage with another man. Again, I don’t think McQueen is endorsing homophobia. Some people identify as straight, some as bi-sexual, some as gay. And those people know who they want to have sex with and how. If Brandon has an aversion to having sexual contact with a man, this doesn’t make him homophobic. He’d be homophobic if he had an aversion to interacting with a gay man or any man on a level that he felt to be too personal.
I was more horrified by the transvestite aversion in Hangover 2, which read to me like blatant homophobia mined for a cheap laugh.
Back to the pushing of boundaries — I personally felt that Brandon had some level of desire to have sex with his sister, but felt that it was too depraved, even for him. I felt that there was definite emotional confusion; he craves more and more risk and depravity, but he confuses that attraction (which comes with all of his emotional baggage that he medicates via the addiction) with the emotional connection to Cissy.
And one last thing: I didn’t feel like the sex scenes were filmed in a titillating manner, nor did I walk away thinking, “Oh gosh, I really want to screw Fassbender now!” I mean, I already found him attractive pre–SHAME, and when I put him on my sexiest bad boys of 2011 list for ReelVixen, the attraction, for me, is that he is a damaged, broken male (and yes, he’s easy on the eyes). I wasn’t turned on by the sex in the film; quite the opposite. I feel as though the sex scenes were handled clinically, and especially after the final three-way scene, I had a conversation with the fella I watched it with and we were sort of repulsed by the idea of sex. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a film that depicted such pornographic sex in such a harsh, sad way. SHAME made sex something harrowing and depressing, which is an accomplishment because I feel it successfully creates empathy for Brandon.
All valid points, Britt. Love talks like this — where there’s no “right” answer, just sharp opinions.
BUT…
I don’t think McQueen’s “endorsing homophobia.” I think it’s casual homophobia that’s a result of a writer not really thinking deeper about what he’s doing. To clarify, I don’t think McQueen hates gays. I do think McQueen inadvertently made something highly suspect, at least from my POV.
Yeah, but now we’re getting into the semantics of harmful thoughts without malicious intent. If there was no malicious intent, how can there be a harmful action? At this point it would seem you are creating an issue that isn’t there by projecting your emotions onto the film, and the scene in particular.
And I do understand how that conclusion could be reached, but I find it hard to believe that a writer so clumsily and inadvertently created a hateful issue, given the time we live in and current awareness.
I briefly considered the homophobic implications as I watched it, but I ultimately decided that this probably WAS something he’s done before; in this movie, it just so happens to play out towards the end, so McQueen seemingly positioned that as his “darkest moment” or whatnot, so I can definitely see how it can be taken that way.
The stuff between Cissy and Brandon is interesting; I never got the sense that their big “secret” was all that hidden, and, to me, her suicide does resonate as his rock bottom because it finally forces him to face his SHAME. I’m no expert on this sort of psychoanalysis stuff, but it seems to me that the worst thing for an addict is trying to look inward and figure out just why they’re addicted, and I think that’s what Cissy represents–she’s an infuriating figure for him because she makes him ponder what he’s done. And yes, I think McQueen paints it in huge, broad strokes that’s right on the nose, but it mostly works pretty well.
I do have to agree that anyone coming away talking about the sexuality of this movie missed the point–what struck me about it was how cold, frigid, and passionless it was, right down to the steel grey visual aesthetic.
I couldn’t agree more. First I got the impression that he had those homosexual encounters before so it didn’t feel like a new low at all (except, as you say, in the way it was shot once he enters the ‘club’).
I was also hoping (like really hoping) that when Brandon arrived home, his sister was going to be completely fine because I was dreading the horribly predictable and cliche suicide attempt (successful of not). And, if she had been fine and then he went and broke down, that would be more of a psychological revelation for him, than merely crying because his sister almost died while he was busy getting a blowie.
The second half really falls apart for me and I was very disappointed. Hunger is one of my favourites of the last decade and I was sad the second I knew this would not even enter the discussion when it came to my top ten of the year.