Who's in it?
Michael Fassbender, Carey Mulligan, James Badge Dale

What's the plot?

Nominated for 2 BAFTA awards including Oustanding British Film

‘Shame’ follows Brandon (Michael Fassbender), a New York loner with a secret; though he avoids becoming intimately involved with women, he cannot control his desires and is compulsively addicted to sex.

His insular existence is invaded when his younger sister Cissy (Carey Mulligan) moves into his apartment. Her unwelcome arrival stirs up negative emotions from the past, and his already chaotic life begins to spin out of control.

Written and directed by multi award-winning British artist Steve McQueen, ‘Shame’ also stars James Badge Dale (The Departed).

BBFC Consumer Advice
Contains strong sex and sex references.
For more information on film classification, please click here

I see alot of people rating this film with one star. They have obviously missed the entire point of the film They're all complaining about lack of plot, well that is the POINT! This is a harrowing story of a mans life-ruining addiction to sex, that IS the plot, there is no action filled car chases or sudden surprise changes to the plot, this is a continuously dark and disturbing real-life look into the life of a man trying to beat what is destroying him. It is superbly acted, and you will come out of the cinema feeling strange in a way no other film will ever make you feel. It is an amazing experience, a fantastic film, and I cannot recommend it enough!

I went to the cinema with my girlfriend. I had a list of films that I wanted to see, but my girlfriend wanted to see Shame.
This film lacks a plot. It just plods along from one disaster to another. Some people say that this is the plot and that it is a real life look at one mans sex addiction and how he tries to overcome it. Well that may be true but who goes to the cinema to look at real life? If you want to do that just go to a local park or shopping mall and watch real life for free. I want to go to the cinema to be entertained.
It is more entertaining watching paint dry. It is an attempt at a modern classic but it fails miserably on every count.Charles Dickens tales are often a bleak look at life, however these are REAL CLASSICS. They have a plot, a story line, they have characters that you really care about and you get drawn into these stories and leave you rooting for the hero or heroine and hoping that things turn out well for them.
There is no humour, no action, no drama, I couldn't have cared less about the characters in the film and the storyline leads nowhere whatsoever.
This is a made for TV film that slipped into the cinema. If you want to be thoroughly depressed, by all means go and watch this film.

'Shame' is not a 'popcorn film', and coming out of the cinema, I considered something. One of the main gripes about this film is that it has no plot. My belief that as movie-goers we expect to be spoon fed has now been confirmed.

I was vaguely reminded of coming to the end of 'American Psycho' (the book, not the movie - and yes, its lack of plot has been brought up time and time again as well), and those pivotal last words: 'this is not an exit.' Indeed, this is just as true for Brandon, and the final shot displays this.

Visually, this film is just about stunning. The cinematography kept me engaged with what was happening on screen, and displayed stark contrasts - New York city was made beautiful by it, but at the same time, almost every shot had a certain desperation to it, or else a kind of gloom. In turn, this causes us to feel the hopelessness of Brandon's situation, too.

The acting was electrifying. The silence in and of itself, in parts, was haunting. when a film is as powerful as this and deals so boldly with its subject matter, plot is trivial and needless, as is the conventional 'Hollywood formula' of beginning, middle and end - to say it is not worth watching because it lacks plot is redundant. In my eyes, this was compelling. ‘Shame’ is at times harrowing to watch, but that makes it all the more engaging.