Film Diary 2012: Shame (From The Argus)

Film Diary 2012: Shame

10:31pm Sunday 5th February 2012 in Blogs By Owain Paciuszko - Seat 13

Michael Fassbender plays Brandon, a successful man living in New York with an insatiable hunger for sexual gratification, it is a desire that has burrowed its way into every part of his life, it is an addiction pursued with utter detachment, just an itch that needs to be scratched, and Brandon does not see how destructive this has become, and could potentially be. Brandon's routine is rocked by the arrival of his sister Sissy (Carey Mulligan) and a number of other relationships that might perhaps force Brandon to allow emotion into his life.

There is a scene right near the start of Shame in which Brandon is on a subway carriage, a woman across from him catches his eye, for a while they flirt, but Brandon's gaze becomes fixed, less playful and more predatory. The woman is perturbed, she stands, Brandon stands next to her, his hand lightly touching hers. Once the train pulls into the station she leaves ahead of him, tries to lose Brandon, and when he eventually cannot find her he is dumbstruck and skulks off back to the station platform to continue his journey. Films often contain scenes that act as a microcosm for the entire story, in many ways this scene is that, it tells the tale of everything that is wrong with Brandon so succinctly that it becomes an endurance test when every ensuing scene seems to be telling that same story over and over again.

Perhaps this repetition is something the film feels is part of its bleakness, its steely grim detachment, but instead it becomes a succession of photocopies each one the same but faded by familiarity, and none bringing anything new to the table. Sure, there are fine supporting turns most notably by James Badge Dale as Brandon's rather lecherous boss and Nicole Beharie as the secretary Brandon dates in one of the films more winning sub-plots. Meanwhile Sean Bobbitt's cinematography is slick and polished, occasionally capturing a memorable and thematically crucial image such as Brandon's view from the sidewalk of various goings-on in New York apartments, whilst Harry Escott's music does a fine job of making you think something is going to happen.

Ultimately, despite a lack of inhibition from the entire cast, the places Shame takes you are tired and predictable, sign-posted so plainly that it's a sorry realisation when the inevitable isn't a red herring, and whilst this was never going to be a film of twists and turns the ultimate feeling is one of artifice over intelligence. Yes, the film is generous enough not to ladel out information and force it down your throat, with certain aspects of the character's history and development buried within a sentence here or a gesture there, with some scenes' meaning changing in the light of information learned later, but never to the extent where you feel like the nature of all you are witnessing it being effected, the 'revelations' buried within the film feel more like little tick boxes that once you put two and two together you nod and go "Yes, and...?"

Elsewhere some scenes, particularly an argument between Fassbender and Mulligan in front of a Felix the Cat cartoon, are acted so terribly and amateurishly that one wishes the focus would switch from the cast to the cartoon. Which is baffling, because all involved have proved themselves more than capable in all manner of fare before, and under the steady hand of director Steve McQueen one perhaps would have expected better, but, maybe that's the danger of confidence and assurance at times?

Having said all that, Shame is not an utterly irredeemable film, it has some wonderful moments here and there, the restaurant date between Brandon, Marianne and a waiter (Robert Montano) is very awkwardly realistic and humourous. Overall however the film treads familiar ground to all manner of dramas about destructive personalities and desires (such as Leaving Las Vegas, Taxi Driver, Eyes Wide Shut to name a few) but fails to resonate either as a piece of art or as a character study.

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