Brandon is a successful New Yorker whose sex addiction runs his life in secret. His life falls apart when his troubled sister Sissy moves into his apartment. It is a cold, quiet portrait of a man who cannot connect, and McQueen keeps the camera calm and close.
Shame is a 2011 drama film directed by Steve McQueen. This breakdown covers 5 techniques (2 narrative, 1 psychology, 1 sound and 1 cinematography), each with the scene where you can see it. If you like how it is made, Moonlight uses several of the same techniques.
Watching events from a measured distance with no swelling music, tear-jerking close-ups or showy camera moves. The film trusts what happens to carry the weight on its own.
How this film uses it
McQueen watches Brandon from a measured distance, without commentary or pushy music. His sex life and work life are shown as routine. You are left to feel the emptiness yourself.
Where to see it
The commute: Brandon goes through his day in the city, and nothing in the style tells you what to feel.
Showing a character's fixation or addiction through repeated habits, objects and colors. The compulsion drives the behavior and defines who they are more than any speech could.
How this film uses it
Brandon watches pornography and masturbates several times a day, including at work, and seeks out prostitutes. When a computer virus exposes his hard drive, you see how much his habit rules him.
Where to see it
The office: A virus exposes the pornography on Brandon's work computer, and he has to hide the truth.
Letting characters perform the songs on screen, so the music comes from their own hands and voices. You hear the song and the performer's nerves at the same time.
How this film uses it
Sissy sings New York, New York in a slow, quiet version at a lounge. The song comes from her own voice, so you hear her pain in the performance. It affects Brandon visibly.
Where to see it
New York, New York: Sissy sings the song for a room at a club while Brandon watches and is visibly emotional.
Holding a close-up on an actor's face long enough to catch tiny changes in expression. You read what the character is thinking from details a wider shot would miss.
How this film uses it
The camera stays on Brandon's face long enough to read small shifts in feeling. When Sissy sings, you watch what the song does to him.
Where to see it
New York, New York: Brandon's face fills the frame as he listens to his sister sing.
Ending the film where it started, or with a scene that echoes the opening. The repeat shows what has changed, or suggests the cycle will keep going.
How this film uses it
The film opens and closes on Brandon's subway ride, where he locks eyes with a woman in an engagement ring. At the start she looks away. At the end she does not. The repeat shows how little has changed or how much.
Where to see it
The subway: Brandon exchanges looks with the same woman at the beginning and again at the end.
Questions
Shame: quick answers
What filmmaking techniques does Shame use?
CineCode breaks down 5 techniques in Shame (2011): Observational Restraint, Obsession and Compulsion Portrait, Diegetic Musical Performance, Deliberate Close-Up Performance and Circular Structure.
Who directed Shame?
Steve McQueen directed Shame, released in 2011. CineCode also covers 12 Years a Slave (2013).
What films are similar to Shame?
Films that share techniques with Shame include Moonlight (2016), Before Sunrise (1995), Past Lives (2023), The Worst Person in the World (2021).
