Shame

Writer: Abi Morgan-Steve McQueen

Director: Steve McQueen

Starring: Michael Fassbender and Carey Mulligan.

Area of focus: Writing and Directing. (Honestly, I’m just a huge Abi Morgan fan. Go watch ‘River’ on Netflix. You can thank me later.’ )

Immediately we’re introduced to our main character. Brandon, portrayed by Michael Fassbender. (Note: Fassbender and Mulligan must have been very brave to do this film.)

Brave, too, is an apt description of McQueen’s screenplay, co-written by Abi Morgan — who, with this and The Iron Lady, The Suffragette and of course River, has had what can only be described as a brilliant past few years. But while the subject matter is about as raw as it gets, McQueen and Morgan do leaven it with some lighter moments: a sequence in which Brandon takes a pretty colleague to dinner in an attempt to regain control of his sex life is sweeter than any romantic comedy released last year. (That waiter needs his own film. Right? Oh, just me.)

The fact that the whole scene is nearly entirely in one shot. It’s just perfect.

Oh and who knew a single shot of a guy running down a New York street at night could be so captivating? (Also, New York streets are so not that empty at night. Trust me.)

And another one, around 1.10 into the movie. A seven minute! One take conversation just shows how great Carey Mulligan and Michale Fassbender are.

For the first five minutes of this film. The only person we see is Brandon. In just a short space of time. We really find our who our main character is. Basically. He’s just really horny. ALL THE TIME!

One of the very first scenes in the movie is Michael Fassbender on a train. But it feels more like a horror movie than an erotic drama.

And I’ll tell you for why.

Fassbender’s on a train, he sees an attractive lady, looks at her. She smiles back. But he doesn’t stop looking and this gets uncomfortable real quick. The humour from the scene goes and the body language turns predatory. The woman gets up to leave and Fassbender follows, but he looses her in the crowd. ( you know how easy it is to loose someone in a train station.)

Another thing that McQueen sets up, is the speculation of how close this brother and sister (Mulligan plays his sister, aptly named ‘Sissy’) team ‘actually’ are. The film allows us to speculate for the movies duration. But they always seem to catch each other naked. The first time we see Sissy, she’s naked in the shower, after Brandon walks in on her. And then she catches him having some ‘personal time’ if you catch the drift? So yeah. They seem completely unfazed by this.

While we’re on the subject of Carey Mulligan and Sissy, let’s talk about the New York Scene. As seen below.

The song clearly speaks of her yearning to escape and Brandon is profoundly affected. But after this performance appears miraculously to have healed her self-esteem … poor, lonely Sissy comes eagerly over to where Brandon and his predatory, sleazeball-philanderer boss are sitting.

(Also, singing about New York, whilst being in New York? Cliche Abi Morgan. Cliche.)

Using one of his signature extended shots, a closeup on Sissy’s face, McQueen shows that Sissy is actually a very talented singer. Her version of New York, New York is daringly slow and ruminative, a wan, sometimes slightly dissonant interpretation that is completely non-Glee.

The film ends with a pretty bleak ending (how else should a film about sex and addiction end?) Carey Mulligan decided to slit her writs, (she lives) and Fassbender finds himself on a train, looking at a woman.

So all In all, an actually spellbinding film to watch. It’s a hard film to watch and even harder to revise and analyse. But I feel as though McQueen has made me a fan of his. Abi Morgan. Just brilliant as always.