Additional InformationAn outwardly ordinary man must come to terms with his inner compulsions in this powerful drama from filmmaker Steve McQueen. Brandon (Michael Fassbender) is a successful businessman in his early 30s who lives in New York. To most around him, Brandon seems cool and introverted, but inside Brandon is wrestling with a powerful sexual appetites; he's obsessed with pornography and prefers short-term relationships with women that allow him to keep the world at arm's length. The grim routine of Brandon's life is upended when his sister Sissy (Carey Mulligan) stops by for an extended visit without prior notice. While Brandon is reserved, Sissy is a musician, outgoing and flashy, who doesn't seem to care about her brother's need for privacy. As Sissy forces Brandon to look closely at his present, he also must confront with his past, and comes to understand the circumstances that made him the man he is today as his veneer of calm begins to crack.
ReviewsVariety - A mesmerizing companion piece to his 2008 debut, "HUNGER," this more approachable but equally uncompromising drama likewise fixes its gaze on the uses and abuses of the human body, as Michael Fassbender again strips himself down, in every way an actor can, for McQueen's rigorous but humane interrogation., Los Angeles Times - It is Mulligan and most especially Fassbender that give the film its power. The desperation, hostility and despair he conveys through the act of sex make SHAME a film that is difficult to watch but even harder to turn away from., Chicago Sun-Times - This is a great act of filmmaking and acting. I don't believe I would be able to see it twice., San Francisco Chronicle - SHAME has a lolling pace and stunning visual clarity. Structurally, it's close to perfect - its precision echoed in the Glenn Gould piano recordings of Bach keyboard works that Brandon listens to obsessively., The Hollywood Reporter - Driven by a brilliant, ferocious performance by Michael Fassbender, SHAME is a real walk on the wild side, a scorching look at a case of sexual addiction that's as all-encompassing as a craving for drugs., St. Louis Post-Dispatch - The film is a raw, unsparing look at the downside of humanity.
ScreenwriterSteve McQueen, Abi Morgan
CinematographerSean Bobbitt