Shame is a movie about Brandon (Michael Fassbender), a lonely man in his thirties
who tries his best to appear when he is in public as your average New York office worker. However he has a tragic flaw. Whenever he finds a minute of privacy, he hastily delves into his own fabricated reality: a world of excessive sex, pornography, and masturbation. Things go downhill for him when his distressed, disruptive sister Sissy (Carey Mulligan) barges into his condo looking for a place to stay until things wind down and her sorrows disappear. At this time Brandon's life begins to spiral out of control. He grows increasingly frustrated with her as he feels her invasive presence will bring about the exposure of his deepest and darkest secrets. However, we see that this is just a manifestation of his feelings of intense shame and regret for leading the sad, artificial life he believes is the only one fit for him.
Michael Fassbender delivers the performance of a lifetime, worthy of an Academy Award. For nothing else I would recommend this movie, but there is so much more. It should be noted that I am surprised that such a highly sexual movie would not be the focus of our Puritanical Right.