Shame (2011) It is a commonplace that one of the dangers of the Internet, for those who spend too much time on it, is that it alienates its users. The idea is that the virtual world of the Internet causes its users to increasingly lose their grip on social reality. A case in point is the proliferation of porn on the Internet. Frequent visits to porn sites may lead to a view of sexuality which may be socially harmful, the most harmful being that they lead to a view of women which is characterized by the idea that they serve to gratify male sexual desires. Director Steve McQueen set himself the difficult task of portraying a sex addict in Shame (2012). The main character is a relatively prosperous, well educated single man in his thirties, Brandon. McQueen concentrates on Brandon’s sex addiction. When he’s not hiring the services of call girls, he’s visiting porn sites, or communicating with women via webcams. He doesn’t only visit porn sites in the privacy of his own home, but he also uses the computer at his workplace and his boss’s time for this purpose. Still, to the outside world i.e. his colleagues at the office, he functions normally. He’s good at his work and is able to keep his addiction a secret so that he is not suspected when the hard disk of his office computer has become polluted by visits to porn sites. A trainee is blamed. To the superficial observer he is a successful professional. However, the way of life Brandon has built up is threatened when his sister, Sissy, comes to visit him uninvited. She is a singer who has a gig in New York and nowhere to stay. She has tried to call Brandon several times, but her brother has refused to answer her calls. This is worrying. It shows the first crack in his armour. And an armour it is. It becomes increasingly clear that Brandon has become so deformed by his addiction that he ignores real emotional needs of both himself and the one person who is close to him. It is impossible for him to sustain a normal brother-sister relationship. He doesn't know how to respond to Sissy’s needs for kindness and brotherly love. Brandon is emotionally impotent. He can’t commit himself. His addiction also causes him to lose sight of accepted social behaviour. When he eyes up a woman in the subway who smiles at him, he does it so unashamedly that the woman is clearly embarrassed. Later in a bar he talks dirty to a completely unknown woman and even touches her up. Clearly he’s losing his grip on social reality. That his emotions are a mess becomes clear when he has a dinner date with a woman from the office whom he is attracted to. The date is disastrous. He is unable to keep the conversation going in a normal way. Clearly he doesn’t know how to court. When they part, the woman clearly expects a kiss, but he can only manage a handshake. The next morning he reacts in the only way he knows by grabbing her and taking her to a hotel where he undresses her and tries to have sex. Then it appears that he is sexually impotent when he is with a woman whom he feels an emotional tie with. On one occasion he feels remorse for his addiction. This is when Sissy switches on his computer which is connected to the webcam of a woman who seems to know Brandon very well and acts out his sexual fantasies. Brandon is furious. However, he throws away all his porn magazines, dvd’s and even his computer. The situation comes to a head when Sissy tries to commit suicide. Brandon finds her with slashed wrists in his bathroom. This triggers something in him and the spectator has the feeling that this might be a turning point in his life. Whether it is, is left for the spectator to judge. The film ends with a scene similar to the one at the beginning. Brandon is in the subway watching the same woman as in the first subway scene. As before he makes for the exit when the woman prepares to leave the train at the next subway station. There the film ends. In the first scene Brandon follows the woman until he loses her in the crowds. Will he this time? It is worrying that there isn’t a character in the film who has a satisfactory emotional relationship with a person of the opposite sex. Sissy is desperate because the man she loves isn’t interested in her. Brandon’s boss has a wife and family, but is openly on the lookout for other sexual experiences. He has sex with Sissy. The girl from work recently left her partner. This makes for a bleak picture of inter human relations in the big city. Shame is a courageous film about an uneasy subject. Much more could be said about it. For instance about the scene in the restaurant with the blundering waiter, or about Sissy's rendering of ‘New York, New York’. Or about the behaviour of the women in the film: what social code do they respond to? Steve McQueen’s choice of Michael Fassbender is perfect. It’s a difficult role to play, but Fassbender pulls it off magnificently. Carey Mulligan also deserves praise for her role as the unstable Sissy.