Pornographic jokes aside "Shame" is actually a film about pain, more than I would say about shame. The pain of the addiction, the need to fulfill a desire constantly and insanely until the void is over, yet it's never over, it's like a hunger that never ends. Brandon (Michael Fassbender) acts more by instinct than by reason, and he only gets perception of it when her sister Sissy (Carey Mulligan) invades his space. He is forced to realize what his life really is. He even tries a meaningful relationship but no real emotions are present in his sex addiction besides the animal desire to have pleasure and sustain a void, clearly a product of something psychological inflicted in his young age. The subject theme can be shocking but we all are product of something in our past, we have obsessions and desires, none of them could be called healthy. In our essence we all seek something in response to our addictions to maintain the thrill of being alive. The real turner is when those addictions become all of ourselves and not a tiny aspect, losing control, losing the joy of life to be trapped into body automaton mechanisms.
All in all the film is raw, both in the sex scenes and in demonstrating the emotional despair. It has one beautiful scene when Sissy is singing "New York New York" while Brandon lets a tear go. Nonetheless it feels very real, we feel the character anguish and need... so Bravo Fassbender!
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