Fatal attraction With all the viciousness shown on the screen, pronounced addictions, the topic of suicide and the like, I still want to call the film quite bright, in some sense even light, not at all heavy and not oppressive. With all its long plans and very sedentary camera work, the film remains fascinating and dynamic, saturated with events, interesting turns and some elegant omission that incites even greater attention to detail, words and actions.
The story of the erotomaniac satyriasis, a man with a deep pronounced sexual addiction, is shown only in a brief moment of his everyday life, about the few days when his sister comes to live with him. This piece of life faintly sheds light on the past, but in one way or another lulls the viewer’s attention with conjectures about trvmas, complexes or the theme of incest, subtly sweeping through the main storyline. All the details will not be announced to us, detailed flashbacks will not be shown, and the strained relationship with her sister will only turn into symptoms of neurosis for the faithful followers of Freud, to whom such a movie will become even more food for discussion than the recent “Dangerous Method”.
But the psychoanalytic picture of Shame can hardly be considered, in which case we would be more clearly chewed motifs, and even fairly delve into the interpretation of dreams, to which attention is not paid at all. Fatal attraction to every female, Don Juanism in all its glory and almost a master class on seducing girls do not cause the main character named Brandon the same, stated in the title, shame, as do not cause other complexes, dissatisfaction with life and depressive reflections. For the whole film, it seems that the lifestyle of the hero Michael Fassbender is absolutely satisfied with him, and the idyll with the outside world collapses only when it is artificially interfered with - then a loving sister will come up, then a bunch of pornographic content with various types of "perversions" will be found on the computer worker.
Shame here is overcome by the waves of the distant past, which Brandon desperately tries to forget and get out of his mind, but he is regularly reminded of it. And seemingly exposing the vices of society, promiscuous relationships, the topic of adultery, confusion in sexual partners and so on, it never comes to any correction or exposure, about repentance and revision of life values. The central character is placed in a situation without crises of middle age, without the traditional change of priorities for career and family, and only the family relationship with his sister echoes in his behavior and relationships. There is no rush to single out a specific morality here, only hints: do not offend your younger sisters, do not store porn on your work computer, do not drown in promiscuous relationships, do not try to seduce everyone around you. It will still be a lifestyle choice for everyone.
Unable to hold a relationship for more than four months, Fassbender’s character doesn’t get upset about it, rejoicing at new achievements in the hunt for affordable beauties, seducing the inaccessible, and trying all sorts of new things. The eroticism of the picture does not go off the scale, as the fuss around the loudest censor rating in NC-17 requires. Perhaps Trier’s “Anstychrist” with its scenes of penetration and visual masturbation in the frame looks much tougher in this regard, and the most juicy series of the series “Spartacus” will also famously surpass all the bed scenes of “Shame” with their orgies and nudity. But Fassbender’s fans will definitely squeal with delight, and the charming Carey Mulligan will finally appear completely naked, which could not wait for many years, except for the deleted scene from the movie “When did you last see your father?”. The rest of the girls and women undressing on the screen with their diversity should definitely please the male half of the audience, adding rave reviews to the picture.
The melodic and pleasant sound accompaniment emphasizes the climax points of the picture with a beautiful composition work, and a very good selection of musical compositions will completely diversify the perception of what is happening with dynamics. Technically, of course, Sean Bobbitt lacks the professionalism of shooting, the ability not to get carried away with a static camera and shoot more refined and large-scale; certain scenes lack a voiceover, familiar with what is happening (for example, in a protracted opening scene) from the face of the main character of the film, and some episodes of the type shot from a single angle of concert performance Mulligan is hardly recognizable in such an arrangement of the hit “New-York, New-York” and the scene in a gay bar was generally cut, so as not to spoil and slow down the overall action.
Embracing minor problems, "Shame" does not dictate the right way of life, does not introduce instructive morality, but only indicates other people's mistakes, miscalculations, features. Cinema is more tolerant than denouncing. After all, what difference does a brother and sister sleep or do not sleep, how much and how long a person wants to keep a relationship and how many sexual partners he sees his limit - this is a personal matter, not dependent on public opinion and morality. And when shame and awkwardness really play out on this ground, then there are various psychological services for this. Well, a bright film can also be called for rays of hope, because perhaps now the relationship with the sister will become much less conflict, and there you see in 10-15 years, such a man will decide to settle down and stop choosing one girl.
The film is good because it puts all the events shown without stains of boredom. Yes, sometimes with too long respite, even with not the most necessary scenes and everyday details, but still always at a great pace, with a certain fascinating drive of the narrative and always with interesting unfolding events, regardless of their predictability. The film ends at the right time in the right place, leaving some questions, but it doesn’t really matter. The most important thing is that you enjoy watching.
“Shame” is beautiful with rich action and bright acting emotions, an abundance of bed and erotic episodes, and at the same time a string of really funny and really dramatic moments. Very clearly playing properly on the balance of feelings and emotional content, the picture achieves almost ideal proportions of the plot idea and its implementation. The minuses and roughness of shooting are smoothed out by juicy shots of action, and long plans are forgotten after successful jokes and scattered comic situations. Hardly, however, "Shame" can be called tragicomedy, but the sadness of the film does not make for sure. And therefore worthy of viewing and able to entertain the interested viewer. And yes, take care and do not hurt the younger sisters.
9 out of 10
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