The new film by British director Steve McQueen has faced unnecessary pigeonholing from the start by critics accustomed to evaluating it by traditional standards based on classic films. Essentially, I’ve encountered two perspectives on this film.
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The first views the film (Stud on CSFD.cz) as a documentary analyzing severe sex addiction, while the second group of clueless reviewers relied on a classic, generalizing perspective, commenting on today’s alienated and corrupt society. Too lazy to look for a deeper meaning, they brought to the surface only clichés, which allowed them to classify the film as just another run-of-the-mill production. It was as if they completely overlooked the film’s title itself.
The omnipresent shame of the main character, Brandon, who hides not only his emotions but also part of his past behind a perfectly groomed exterior. The reason why he ignores his sister’s phone calls from the start and fears her presence.
Movie trailer:
Sissi brings with her not only the burden of responsibility, but also that part of the past for which the main character is ashamed. He has managed to leave everything behind, except for a crippling sexual addiction. His sister is like a mirror image of Brandon’s hidden personality. Something that cannot be hidden and that destroys his struggle with his immoral, suppressed self. Sissi correctly surmised that her brother’s anger doesn’t stem solely from her irresponsible behavior: “I’m always getting on your nerves, and you have no idea why.” This is followed by the apt reply: “You’re trapping me,” “you’re just dragging me down.”
Brandon is capable of leading a normal, successful professional life, but like his sister, he is unable to form a romantic relationship. The one thing he can be proud of—and which was once untainted—is immediately ruined by Sissi’s reckless affair with Brandon’s boss.
Sex addiction consumes and destroys you
As his emotional tension escalates, he succumbs to addiction. He drops the mask of a well-mannered gentleman and, wearing a sweatshirt, shamelessly seduces the first woman at the bar in a lewd manner. It is no coincidence that the viewer hears Sissi’s words recorded on the answering machine just as one of the most erotic moments in the entire film unfolds. The line “we aren’t bad people, we just come from a bad place” rings out at the very moment Brandon is in the throes of sexual ecstasy with two prostitutes.
This is not a state of ecstasy one would envy the protagonist for, nor would a voyeur enjoy the sight. In this nearly pornographic scene, the focus is on Brandon’s enslaved gaze in a fully consummated and satisfied addiction, one that may have been born long ago in that “bad place,” just like his binding relationship with Sissi.
In Conclusion
McQueen need not be ashamed of this clichéd blue still life set to serious music, because it offers an original take on human misery with Michael Fassbender’s unmistakable performance.
Your opinions 1 opinion
Tento film je opravdu průměrý, ne-li hůř. Říci, že ho někdo nějak hodnotí, kde používá jenom klišé o dnešní odcizené společnosti, není žádný argument. Nemyslím si, že by hlavní hrdina potlačoval své já, ale je opravdu odcizený realitě, protože zdraví člověk touží a je schopen navázat plnohodnotný vztah s jednou osobou.
Když píšete o lidském neštěstí, tak máte pravdu, být odcizený je neštěstí. Neštěstí s kterým se musíme vypořádat. Lze překonat, jen musíme mít někoho, kdo nám s tím pomůže.