Shame

3.80
    Shame
    2011

    Synopsis

    Brandon, a thirty-something man living in New York, eludes intimacy with women but feeds his deepest desires with a compulsive addiction to sex. When his younger sister temporarily moves into his apartment, stirring up bitter memories of their shared painful past, Brandon's life, like his fragile mind, gets out of control.

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    Cast

    • Michael FassbenderBrandon
    • Carey MulliganSissy
    • James Badge DaleDavid
    • Nicole BeharieMarianne
    • Lucy WaltersWoman on Subway Train
    • Mari-Ange RamirezAlexa
    • Alex ManetteSteven
    • Hannah WareSamantha
    • Elizabeth MasucciElizabeth
    • Rachel FarrarRachel

    Recommendations

    • 100

      Salon

      It's first and foremost a visual and sonic symphony, and a Dante-esque journey through a New York nightworld where words are mostly useless or worse.
    • 100

      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.
    • 100

      Variety

      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.
    • 88

      ReelViews

      It's neither glamorous nor erotic and director Steve McQueen has taken an unflinching and non-judgmental view of sexual addiction in Shame.
    • 80

      Time Out

      Fassbender and his multifaceted allure helps counteract any thematic or conceptual shakiness, as was the case in McQueen's highly uneven debut, "Hunger." One thing's for sure: McQueen has found his De Niro, and he better keep him close.
    • 75

      Orlando Sentinel

      Rarely has a movie been so sexual without being remotely sexy. Rarely has a guy who might be admired in a sex comedy as a "playa" seemed more pathetic with each fresh conquest.
    • 50

      The New Yorker

      Fassbender, who was, frankly, much sexier and more devilish in "X-Men: First Class," is required to spend much of his time staring with blank intensity into the middle distance.
    • 50

      Village Voice

      Another creature of need, if the temperamental opposite of self-contained Brandon, Sissy is equally prepared to push her way into his life or push herself in front of a subway. She's also a performer - and Mulligan's blowsy desperation makes for the movie's best turn.

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