Brandon (Michael Fassbender) is in his thirties, living and working in New York. Born in Ireland but raised in New Jersey from the age of ten, he now has his own flat and a job in a glossy corporate office. He's single, smart, and attractive. He also has a compulsive sexual need that sees him caught up in a repetitive cycle of pick-ups, prostitutes and online encounters. Whether he's managing his sex life or it's managing him is open to question, but his world seems self-contained and ordered, free of any messy emotional ties. However, when his wayward younger sister Sissy (Carey Mulligan) arrives at his apartment begging to stay, Brandon's control starts to slipÖ In Shame, director Steve McQueen (Hunger) has made a confident and complex second feature about the nature of need and desire. Michael Fassbender, working with McQueen for a second time, is perfect as a man whose near-obsessive behaviour hints at some hidden past; and Carey Mulligan is a well-chosen sparring partner, bringing emotional depth to the flaky and clearly damaged Sissy. As would be expected from McQueen, Shame is also a beautiful-looking film, though its visual style never dominates nor distracts. Rather, a keen and precise eye for composition, and a judicious use of New York's streets, subways and other locations, seem woven into this visionary director's work, and the very timely story he tells.

Sandra Hebron

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