REVIEWS


Reviews edited by Mark Adams mark.adams@emap.com


» Shame p6 » The Ides Of March p8 » Wuthering Heights p12 » W.E. p14


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» Dark Horse p16 » A Dangerous Method p18


» Terraferma p20 » Killer Joe p22


Shame REVIEWED BY MARKADAMS


Provocative, beautifully directed and perfectly per- formed, UK artist-turned-director Steve McQueen’s second film is a compulsive story of sexual addiction and deserves to break out to mainstream audiences. Michael Fassbender and Carey Mulligan both deliver stunning perform- ances that should attract awards attention, while it is likely to become a heavily talked-up film. Sex sells… but sexual addiction makes make for sub- lime drama. Filming in New York, and making great use of


the Manhattan locations while never resorting to tourist shots, McQueen shows a real skill in his direction, framing shots beautifully, but also mak- ing his story challenging and absorbing, and offer- ing up a story of sexual obsession that is gripping and moving and never offers any easy answers. Fassbender plays Brandon, a seemingly suc-


cessful executive — though it is never clear what exactly he does — who blends his secure existence with sexual encounters, whether they be one-night stands, prostitutes arriving at his apartment, sex outdoors with a woman he meets at a bar, mastur- bation in the shower or in the toilet at his work, or simply watching porn at his laptop. Sleek, well groomed and at ease, Brandon


seems to attract beautiful women at will, though he tends to avoid a series of messages on his phone. This, it turns out, is his free-spirited sister, Sissy, who turns up at his apartment out of the blue, asking to stay for a few days. Their relation- ship is prickly and difficult to say the least, but he lets her sleep in her couch… on the understanding that she does not encroach on his lifestyle.


SPECIAL PRESENTATIONS


UK. 2011. 99mins Director Steve McQueen Production companies See-Saw Films, Film4, UKFC International sales HanWay Films, www. hanway.com Producers Iain Canning, Emile Sherman Executive producer Tessa Ross Co-producer Bergen Swanson Screenplay Steve McQueen, Abi Morgan Cinematography Sean Bobbitt Editor Joe Walker Production designer Judy Becker Music Harry Escott Main cast Michael Fassbender, Carey Mulligan, James Badge Dale, Nicole Beharie


But the next night, after he and his boss David


(Dale) go to see her singing at a bar (a slow, slow rendition of New York, New York), she ends up sleeping with David, and Brandon’s anger and frustration starts to grow. He goes on a date with beautiful work colleague


Marianne (a charming and engaging Nicole Beharie), and over dinner he struggles to hold a normal conversation — his assignations tend to be short on chat and strong on sex — apart from describing his lack of interest in relationships and conviction that the concept of spending one’s life with one person is ridiculous. In a bid to escape his connection with her, he


throws Sissy out of the apartment and he heads off into a night of spiralling sexual debauchery that sees him beaten, bruised and veering into a gay bar before heading off for a little threesome with two compliant women. While hardly a descent into hell, it is certainly a journey of pleasure and punishment (but then as they say, pain is pleasure


and pleasure is pain), and sees him emerge at a certain ease, though never ashamed. A final twist dips into the dark demons that lurk


at the core of his relationship with Sissy (she leaves a message stating, “We are not bad people. Bad things have happened to us”) but details are never revealed and he neither seeks nor achieves any real kind of redemption even as a moment of drama focuses on bringing he and Sissy together. Fassbender is gripping as Brandon. He starts


the film naked, wandering about his apartment, and is called on to offer a raw and exposed per- formance as a vaguely smug, uncommunicative and overly sexually confident man who is forced to confront his demons. Lithe, languid and at ease physically, Fassbender confirms — if confirmation were needed — that he is among the most talented of his generation. If Fassbender, though, is the dark and brooding


core of the film, then Mulligan’s nicely judged per- formance as the troubled and needy Sissy is a per- fect counter-balance. As with Fassbender, her on-screen introduction


is naked, but she is called on to provoke and chal- lenge his character. While he is ordered, tidy and always dressed in grey and black, she is messy, flighty and colourfully dressed… for Mulligan it is one of her finest performances since An Educa- tion, and proves she is at her best when chal- lenged in a role. Shame is a film that will excite attention — good


and probably bad as well — and while oddly famil- iar in structure (the third ‘descent into hell’ act is rather obvious if extremely well shot and edited), it is driven by a strong and confident directorial style and two magnificent central performances.


n 6 Screen International at the Toronto Film Festival September 9, 2011


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