“Oh my God.” – The first words to come out of my mouth after the credits started rolling. Not because I was shocked or offended, but purely because of the odd emotional rollercoaster you experience while watching the film.

Sofidonuts was kindly invited a special screening of Steve McQueen’s second directorial venture, Shame, a highly controversial film starring beauties Michael Fassbender and Carey Mulligan as siblings. Sex addict, Brandon (Fassbender) is forced to confront his lifestyle as his condition worsens once his troubled sister (Mulligan) pays him an unwanted visit. Writers, McQueen and Morgan put emphasis on the performance of rituals throughout the film, which are fuelled by the modern-day advances in technology such as Skype, webcams and the Internet.



You only had to glimpse at the person next to you (which I found wasn’t really appreciated when watching films of this subject matter) to realise the various interpretations and emotions the audience experience: some people expressed looks of disgust, others sadness, and there were a few excited or humoured expressions in the mix too. Scenes were awkward (which explains why I was looking at other people’s expressions), but that was key to McQueen’s approach. McQueen went on to say that he hopes the film will “start a conversation” – that Shame will act as a starting point for open discussions on sex addiction.

I should probably be reluctant to say so (or ashamed…sorry!), but Shame is visually captivating – those shots of late night New York, the glitz and glam of The Boom Boom Room, the stellar apartments of the middle-class Manhattan office worker. Shame features scenes which are expected, plenty that is unexpected, but also those that make you frighteningly aware of parallels between your life and Brandon’s…just on an amplified scale. But to sum up the film: Can I see people hanging out on a movie night, ten years from now, with Shame at the top of their ‘to watch’ pile? Not quite. But a part of me does wonder whether Tiger Woods, Eric Benet, David Duchovny and other self-confessed sex addicts will be suggesting that their partners go see it… If you still have no idea what I’m talking about, check out the trailer.



Shame reaches cinemas across the UK tomorrow.