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In 1968, at the height of the Vietnam war, Ingmar Bergman made this angry and bleak film that was against all war, and argued that it didn't matter which side you were on. In 1966, in his " Persona ," he had used the famous televised footage of a Vietnamese monk burning himself alive to shock an actress into ceasing all forms of speech. In the two years between, what had changed, so that he no longer took sides?

It is a question without an answer in "Shame," which does not deliver a message in any formal way, but simply offers people and their lives and leaves us to conclude what we choose. Both films star Liv Ullmann , his actress in nine films starting with "Persona." Her co-star is Max von Sydow, who had worked with Bergman since " The Seventh Seal " (1957). Ullmann and Bergman play a tortured couple, as they also do in " Hour of the Wolf " and "The Passion of Anna." In a strange sense, all three films are about the same couple; only their narrative changes.

They were once symphonic musicians. Now they live in a weathered house on an island, growing fruits and vegetables. Nothing in their house seems to work, including the radio, so they hear only distant rumors of a war that has been waged seemingly forever. Eva Rosenberg (Ullmann) is concerned with the danger to their lives and to her desire to bear children. Her husband Jan (von Sydow) believes the war will pass them by. Their serenity is interrupted by jet planes flying low over their house, the killing of a parachuting airman, the arrival of troops, their inquisition, and eventually their incarceration by the other side (which seems to be the local side, but loyalties are divided).

They are questioned harshly. A falsely doctored video of Eva is used against her. They are sent back to their home, only to witness its wanton destruction. Eva has sex with the colonel in charge ( Gunnar Bjornstrand , who first worked with Bergman in a 1944 film he wrote, "Torment"). Does she do it to save them? Probably, but hard to say. Her own marriage is painfully uncertain. Later, Jan conceals money that could have bought the colonel's freedom from the other side. Does he do it to punish their adultery? Hard to say if he has actually witnessed it.

All of this (I have left out many details) paints a portrait of a couple torn from their secure lives and forced into a horrifying new world of despair, testing them both to discover who they really are what they really feel. The overwhelming concluding passages, interrupted by shots of the sky, are among the most desolate Bergman ever filmed.

"Shame" was named best film of the year by the National Society of Film Critics, but is not much talked about 40 years later--certainly not in comparison with "Persona." It might have made a greater impact if he'd made it specifically about Vietnam, but I believe he was unhappy that "Persona" had been decoded by critics as being against that war, all because of one image; it was about, and against, a great deal more. In this film you can see him shifting away from message and toward the close regard of human behavior and personality (as in his "Silence of God" trilogy). That did not turn him into a realist or a conventional storyteller, but it freed him from ideology.

Ideology is one of the enemies in "Shame." Jan and Eva are punished because they are suspected of being "sympathizers," but the film lacks any information about where it takes place, who the two sides are, and what they stand for. To a civilian caught in the middle, there is no way out. Jan and Eva are not sympathizers for the other side, but neither are they patriots for this side. In a sense, the film could be about the ordinary non-combatant people of Iraq--or, pick your war.

"Shame" is available on DVD, alone or packaged with "Hour of the Wolf" and "The Passion of Anna."

Roger Ebert

Roger Ebert was the film critic of the Chicago Sun-Times from 1967 until his death in 2013. In 1975, he won the Pulitzer Prize for distinguished criticism.

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'Shame' Is Hard To Watch But You Can't Turn Away

Kenneth Turan

A new film called Shame arrives in theaters with several honors, including the best actor award from the Venice Film Festival. It also arrives with a rare NC-17 rating. Michael Fassbender plays Brandon, a New Yorker who's addicted to sex.

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Movie reviews, lives of paralyzing 'shame,' for reasons unexplained.

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A sex addict's carefully cultivated private life falls apart after his sister arrives for an indefinite stay. A sex addict's carefully cultivated private life falls apart after his sister arrives for an indefinite stay. A sex addict's carefully cultivated private life falls apart after his sister arrives for an indefinite stay.

• Steve McQueen
• Michael Fassbender
• Carey Mulligan
• James Badge Dale
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• 50 wins & 94 nominations total

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• Trivia The first time Michael Fassbender saw the film was with his father Josef. Both were relieved that his mother Adele could not make the screening.
• Goofs When Brandon is on the subway looking at the woman we see Fulton behind him on the wall of the subway tunnel. The train moves and a few minutes have passed. Next, when the woman exists the train and he follows her, we see that they are again at Fulton station.

Sissy Sullivan : We're not bad people. We just come from a bad place.

• Crazy credits No opening credits apart from the movie's title.
• Connections Featured in At the Movies: Venice Film Festival 2011 (2011)
• Soundtracks Aria from the Goldberg Variations Written by Johann Sebastian Bach Performed by Glenn Gould Courtesy of Sony Masterworks and the Glenn Gould Estate Licensed by Sony Music Entertainment UK Ltd

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• Apr 27, 2020
• January 13, 2012 (United Kingdom)
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• 28th Street Subway Station, Manhattan, New York City, New York, USA
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• Dec 4, 2011
• $19,123,767

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Shame – review

M ichael Fassbender and Carey Mulligan give dynamite performances in Shame, a terrific second feature from the British artist Steve McQueen. Fassbender is Brandon, a sex-addicted corporate drone, directing a radioactive stare at random women across the aisle on the New York subway. Mulligan plays Sissy, his sister, who sings for her supper, self-harms for kicks and is surely pointed towards disaster. "We're not bad people," Sissy assures her sibling. "We just come from a bad place."

Specifically this place is Manhattan, which McQueen depicts as a hell of sterile offices, anonymous apartments and desperate pick-up joints, though it may conceivably refer to the world at large. Outwardly charming and confident, Brandon is soon exposed as a casualty of a bull-market culture where sex has been traded so heavily, so easily and in so many exotic flavours that the consumer has gorged himself sick. Brandon, for instance, appears to score about once a day but it's not nearly enough because he's immediately off to masturbate in the shower. He has a vast porn stash concealed behind his blank cupboard doors and still more buried on the hard-drive at work. "Anals, double-anals," explains his bemused boss Dave (James Badge Dale), who has been charged with overseeing the investigation. "Cream pies … I don't even know what that is, exactly."

Not that Dave is any kind of angel himself. Brandon's boss cheerfully neglects his own family in order to hit on passing women and then promptly beds down with Sissy, who has recently landed at her brother's apartment. Disgusted – and perhaps even excited – by the noise coming through the wall, Brandon escapes for a jog through the nocturnal streets. McQueen traces his huffing, puffing odyssey with one of the most mesmerising extended tracking shots since Touch of Evil.

Shame feels less formal, less rooted in the language of the art installation than McQueen's previous film, Hunger, and is all the more satisfying for that. This is fluid, rigorous, serious cinema; the best kind of adult movie. There are glimmers of American Gigolo to its pristine sheen and echoes of Midnight Cowboy to the scratchy, mutual dependence of the damaged duo at the core. For her big showstopper at a downtown nightclub, Sissy takes the stage to croon her way through a haunting, little-girl-lost rendition of New York, New York, slowing the pace and milking the pathos. Brandon sits at the back, his jaw locked, his eyes welling. In the song's melting, dying fall, he catches a glimpse of the lie behind the tinsel and smells the inevitable death of all her dreams, and maybe his dreams as well.

• Venice film festival 2011
• First look review
• Steve McQueen
• Carey Mulligan
• London film festival 2011

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Steve McQueen's film Shame leads UK charge to win Golden Lion in Venice

Alps – review

Venice film festival: Contagion is not the final reel for Steven Soderbergh

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‘shame’: what the critics are saying.

Steve McQueen's erotic drama garnered praise for star Michael Fassbender's haunting performance as a sex addict.

By THR Staff

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Shame Laptop Film Still - H 2011

Fox Searchlight’s drama, Shame , was getting plenty of buzz even before it opened in theaters on Friday, December 2, due to its controversial subject matter following a sex addict in New York City and its subsequent NC-17 rating.

The film is directed by Steve McQueen who teamed up with the star of his 2008 film Hunger, Michael Fassbender . Fassbender’s performance as sex addict Brandon was praised by many critics. Carey Mulligan also stars in the film as Brandon’s sister who comes to town and disrupts his lifestyle.

PHOTOS: The Dirty Dozen — Films that Narrowly Avoided an NC-17

McQueen’s (who is featured in THR ‘s director roundtable ) erotic drama premiered at the Venice Film Festival, where Fassbender won the Best Actor award. Because of the highly sexual content of the film, including scenes of full frontal nudity from both Fassbender and Mulligan, the film received an NC-17 rating. Searchlight did not appeal the rating or make any cuts to secure an R-rating. Instead, it’s readying a major awards push for the film.

Overall, the critics heaped on praise for McQueen’s hypnotizing film and Fassbender’s stunning performance.

STORY: Nudity, Three-Ways, Hints of Incest: A Studio’s Plan to Sell ‘Shame’ to Oscar

“ Shame is a real walk on the wild side, a scorching look at a case of sexual addiction that’s as all-encompassing as a craving for drugs,” wrote The Hollywood Reporter ’s Todd McCarthy.

McCarthy also praised Fassbender’s “brilliant, ferocious” performance. “It’s amazing that it has taken him this long to be fully recognized, as he’s got it all: Looks, authority, physicality, command of the screen, great vocal articulation, a certain chameleon quality and the ability to suggest a great deal within while maintaining outward composure, just for starters,” added McCarthy.

THR’s Directors Roundtable: How to Fire People, Who to Steal From, and Amy Pascal’s Secret Advice

“Sexually graphic enough to earn its NC-17 rating yet made with a restraint that’s both unflinching and unnerving, this is a psychologically claustrophobic film that strips its characters bare literally and figuratively, leaving them, and us, nowhere to hide,” wrote Kenneth Turan of The Los Angeles Times.

“It is Mulligan and most especially Fassbender that give the film its power,” adds Turan. “The desperation, hostility and despair he conveys through the act of sex make Shame a film that is difficult to watch but even harder to turn away from.”

VIDEO: ‘Shame’ Red Band Trailer: Michael Fassbender Brings Sex to the Subway

“In a movie era remarkable for its reluctance to dramatize erotic intimacy, Shame merits praise for the dark energy of its sexual encounters,” wrote Time ’s Richard Corliss.

“What’s really off-putting about Brandon’s trysts is their bleakness,” added Corliss. “Filmed in elegant, unrelenting long takes with very few traditional reaction shots, Shame unspools like a documentary on the rutting of feral animals.”

“How can visual pleasure communicate existential misery? It is a real and interesting challenge, and if “Shame” falls short of meeting it, the seriousness of its effort is hard to deny,” wrote A.O. Scott of The New York Times.

STORY: Year of the Hunk: How George Clooney, Michael Fassbender Could Save the Oscars

“The movie, for all its displays of honesty (which is to say nudity), is also curiously coy. It presents Brandon for our titillation, our disapproval and perhaps our envy, but denies him access to our sympathy,” continued Scott.

“Fassbender’s performance here is riveting, haunting. He immerses himself and makes you feel as if you’re truly watching a man hell-bent on exorcising his demons through compulsive self-destruction,” wrote The AP ’s Christy Lemire.

Lemire, however, did have problems with the latter part of the film, writing that Fassbender’s character’s “descent has its shocking moments but it ultimately feels tedious and self-indulgent, which turns “Shame” into a cross between American Psycho and Eyes Wide Shut. The cool precision of the film’s earlier scenes gives way to melodrama and leaves you feeling pummeled. Perhaps that was the point, but it’s off-putting.”

Related Stories

Shame: film review, 'shame' officially rated nc-17, thr's directors roundtable: how to fire people, who to steal from, and amy pascal's secret advice, thr's awards season roundtable series 2011: the directors, 'shame' red band trailer: michael fassbender brings sex to the subway (video), thr newsletters.

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Boasting stellar performances by Michael Fassbender and Carey Mulligan, Shame is a powerful plunge into the mania of addiction affliction.

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SHAME Review

Shame movie review. Matt reviews Steve McQueen's Shame starring Michael Fassbender, Carey Mulligan, and James Badge Dale.

[ This is a reprint of my review from the 2011 Toronto International Film Festival.  Shame opens tomorrow in limited release. ]

Alcoholics are told they'll never find love in a bottle and drug addicts are told they'll never find happiness in a needle. But what about sex addicts whose compulsion precludes them from intimacy and love? Steve McQueen 's Shame delves deep into the life of a sex addict and with laser-like focus examines the pain and torment that can drive such a person away from heartfelt interactions and towards self-destruction. McQueen's inspired and confident direction coupled with a heart-breaking performance from star Michael Fassbender makes Shame far more than a PSA or a righteous condemnation. McQueen and Fassbender make Shame a devastating powerhouse.

Brandon (Fassbender) is a sex addict who has closed off his life from any emotional contact. He wakes up naked and strolls around his apartment because there's no one to cover up for, no one to impress. He feeds his sex addiction with hookers, random pick-ups, masturbating in the restroom at work, a steady stream of porn, and hides it all under a cool, calm veneer. His tranquil downward slide is accelerated by the arrival of his ne'er-do-well sister, Sissy ( Carey Mulligan ). Sissy is Brandon's inverse. She's overly emotional, feels everything deeply, and voices her need for comfort. They're equally messed up, share the same loneliness, but while Sissy has no problem crying for help, Fassbender runs away from any intimacy, especially from his only family and the one woman he'll never want to sleep with. As Shame unfolds, Brandon's failed attempts to connect with other people only send him deeper into his own pain and anguish.

Coupled with his debut film Hunger , McQueen demonstrates that he may be one of the smartest directors working today. He once again takes advantage of long, uninterrupted takes that provide his actors with the room to give full, rich performances, but the direction is never stage-y. McQueen always frames his shot perfectly for maximum effect. I was taken in by the subtle power of how the frame almost always keeping Brandon to the far right of the screen. This oft-repeated shot keeps the character trapped, isolated, and unable to cross over and connect with anyone else. It's a beautiful visual metaphor that never feels heavy-handed.

Just as he can create beautiful tracking shots and exquisite framing, McQueen also knows how to be unrelentingly harsh. There's a horrific claustrophobia to Brandon's world. He's cruelly taunted every time he sees a woman that he can fuck but never love. When McQueen opens the film showing Fassbender's full-frontal nudity or a nude shot of Mulligan or any of the film's countless sex acts, it's not to titillate but to drive us into Brandon's mindset. McQueen forces us to live in a world where sex is completely joyless. Any director who can take copious amounts of sex between attractive people and make it completely unappealing without being overtly disgusting is some kind of mad genius.

The other mad genius of Shame is Fassbender. He has already given three outstanding performances this year with Jane Eyre , X-Men: First Class , and A Dangerous Method , but Shame is his best. Fassbender brings ugliness to charm, anguish to intimacy, and a devastating range of emotions that show a man who clearly can't even remember the last time he was happy and is clinging to what remains of his corroded soul. On the surface, Brandon shouldn't be a pitiable character. He's handsome, wealthy, and gets to have sex with beautiful women. But through Fassbender, we feel every moment of Brandon's torment.

Fassbender and McQueen are the major stars of Shame but I would be remiss if I didn't mention Mulligan. She has to stand as Brandon's mirror, convey just as much suffering, and has less screen-time to do it. Mulligan rises to the occasion and her performance is even better than her acclaimed breakthrough role in An Education . Sissy is a singer and I don't know if its Mulligan's voice in the character's performance of "New York, New York" but it's a scene that will absolutely break your heart.

Shame is not an easy film. It's not a film you "enjoy". It puts you in a choke-hole and then forces you down further and further into the depths of one man's pain. There's no humor, no relief, and it's not a film you want to watch again immediately after seeing it. But you respect every moment.

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Release details.

• Release date: Friday 13 January 2012
• Duration: 99 mins

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• Director: Steve McQueen (ii)
• Nicole Beharie
• Michael Fassbender
• James Cuenet
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Powerful drama about sex addiction is NOT for kids.

A Lot or a Little?

What you will—and won't—find in this movie.

The movie is mainly about sexual addiction and sta

The main character has a sexual addiction. As a re

A character attempts suicide and is seen covered i

Both male and female full-frontal nudity. Several

Frequent use of strong words including "f--k," "sc

Characters are seen drinking Red Bull more than on

Characters seem to drink just about every night in

Parents need to know that the NC-17-rated Shame is all about sex addiction, and the movie is filled with nudity, destructive sexual behavior, strong simulated sex scenes, and innuendo. Some of the sex scenes play out a big roughly; there's also violence in the form of a bar fight (not entirely shown)…

Positive Messages

The movie is mainly about sexual addiction and stays intently focused on that particular world. Although the main character begins to realize that he has a problem and takes baby steps toward solving it, the ending remains ambiguous.

Positive Role Models

The main character has a sexual addiction. As a result, he acts selfishly and treats others without care or respect. He does seem to realize that he has a problem, but he doesn't ask for help.

Violence & Scariness

A character attempts suicide and is seen covered in blood. The main character gets into a fistfight in a bar after trying to pick up someone else's girlfriend. The fight itself isn't really shown, but the character's face is bloodied afterward.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Violence & Scariness in your kid's entertainment guide.

Sex, Romance & Nudity

Both male and female full-frontal nudity. Several graphic sex scenes, with thrusting, sound effects, and nudity, though much of the actual sex occurs off-screen and is mainly suggested. Some of the sex scenes play out roughly and with a kind of simmering anger. The main character has several partners, including prostitutes, women he picks up, and a man in a gay sex club. He watches porn on his computer (pornographic images are briefly shown) and compulsively masturbates. A secondary, married character cheats on his wife. Very strong sexual innuendo.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Sex, Romance & Nudity in your kid's entertainment guide.

Frequent use of strong words including "f--k," "screw," "s--t," "t-ts," "d--k," "p---y," "a--hole," "bitch," "hell," "oh my God" (as an exclamation), and more.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Language in your kid's entertainment guide.

Products & Purchases

Characters are seen drinking Red Bull more than once. A container of Trader Joe's orange juice is visible.

Drinking, Drugs & Smoking

Characters seem to drink just about every night in bars, restaurants, and at home. The main character enjoys martinis, wine, and beer. Only the secondary characters appear to get drunk. The main character snorts cocaine in one scene.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Drinking, Drugs & Smoking in your kid's entertainment guide.

Parents Need to Know

Parents need to know that the NC-17-rated Shame is all about sex addiction, and the movie is filled with nudity, destructive sexual behavior, strong simulated sex scenes, and innuendo. Some of the sex scenes play out a big roughly; there's also violence in the form of a bar fight (not entirely shown) and a bloody suicide attempt. Expect pretty frequent swearing (including "f--k" and "s--t"), plenty of drinking, and one scene in which the main character snorts cocaine. To stay in the loop on more movies like this, you can sign up for weekly Family Movie Night emails .

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• Kids say (5)

Based on 10 parent reviews

Heart wrenching, lonely and painful

Fassbender is mesmerizing, what's the story.

Brandon Sullivan ( Michael Fassbender ) has a problem. He can't seem to control his addiction to sex. Women throw themselves at him, and he sleeps with him. He hires prostitutes, watches porn on his computer (even at work), and masturbates compulsively. He tries to keep this life secret, but things get complicated when Brandon upsets his boss' plans to pick up a girl in a bar. The boss also discovers a cache of porn on Brandon's computer hard drive. At the same time, Brandon's sister ( Carey Mulligan ) arrives and asks to stay with him. This new situation, coupled with Brandon's shame and self-loathing, leads to many sibling arguments. Can she help, or will Brandon need to hit rock bottom first?

Is It Any Good?

Despite SHAME's graphic content, director Steve McQueen (who also directed 2008's Hunger ) presents the material in a respectful, artistic manner, favoring long takes and spare dialogue. This quiet, moody film focuses more on character behavior than plot or a conclusion. Rather than a stern treatise on the dangers of sexual addiction, McQueen's approach allows viewers to enter into the situation at their own pace and find their own emotional connection.

While the movie's erotic content stands out, McQueen creates many other, memorable scenes, such as Brandon weeping at his sister sings a slow, moving rendition of "New York, New York" in a nightclub, or a mesmerizing scene in which Brandon jogs down the streets of New York for long minutes, drowning out the noise with Glenn Gould on his headphones and trying to re-focus himself. In the two lead roles, Fassbender and Mulligan tread dangerous territory, and both succeed admirably.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

Families can talk about the movie's sexual content. What is sex addiction? Can it be treated? What are the real-life consequences of this kind of problem?

Parents, talk to your teens about your own values regarding relationships and sex, particularly when it comes to staying safe.

Where and how does the title Shame come into play?

Movie Details

• In theaters : December 2, 2011
• On DVD or streaming : April 17, 2012
• Cast : Carey Mulligan , James Badge Dale , Michael Fassbender
• Director : Steve McQueen
• Inclusion Information : Black directors, Female actors
• Studio : Fox Searchlight
• Genre : Drama
• Run time : 101 minutes
• MPAA rating : NC-17
• MPAA explanation : some explicit sexual content
• Last updated : April 25, 2024

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Research shows a connection between kids' healthy self-esteem and positive portrayals in media. That's why we've added a new "Diverse Representations" section to our reviews that will be rolling out on an ongoing basis. You can help us help kids by suggesting a diversity update.

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Shame explained: behind the meaning of the movie

This article reveals the explained plot and the detailed events in Steve McQueen’s movie  Shame , revealing its meaning, symbols and storyline. We recommend you to read it only after watching the movie, and not before, in order to preserve the pleasure of the first vision.

In today’s world, the human being is paradoxically more alone with himself. And not because of the prevailing technology, but because of a sort of post-modernism similar to shifting sands, in which everyone is right and nobody is willing to review their beliefs.

It is thanks to these cases that human behavior is undergoing an epochal and frankly negative change: all this can only create more room for behaviors that lead to addictions. How a vintage Mark Renton would say: “what else do you need if you have an addiction?” and in fact it is exactly like that, whatever it may be, it manages to soothe the pain of the poor unfortunate. But at what price?

This is precisely the theme treated by British director Steve McQueen, who after the hard and surprisingly vivid Hunger engages in the affective problems of a voluptuous Brandon Sullivan, aka Michael Fassbender. Detention is certainly the dominant theme in the first three McQueen films. If in the first work he faced the “material imprisonment” of the Irish activist Bobby Sands, played by Fassbender himself, and in 12 years a slave the deprivation of liberty of the unfortunate Solomon Northup, here is something more subtle, but effective in the same way: the mental enslavement to impulses without any control, something really equivalent to imprisonment.

As the protagonist’s anguish goes up, the film acquires an uncommon empathic pathos. Nevertheless Brandon, unable to establish true sentimental ties, deeply desires them ardently, but only manages to build occasional relationships and only by the mechanical act, substitute for love. Set in an unusually gray New York, the context contributes to further anxiety in the narration of reprehensible and excessive actions, which conceal a cry of help and tenderness of a man who shows his body naked as well as his soul in pieces.

The questions, however, arise spontaneously: a wealthy man, who certainly has no difficulty attracting people, how can he have these problems? Probably in a disposable society, increasingly apathetic and amoral, where the key points that distinguished humanity until the end of the twentieth century are absent, we lack all the expectations of well-being that we forecasted: on the contrary, we can see contaminations of intents that previously we could experience only by reading literary works of the caliber of Frankenstein , written by McQueen’s “fellow citizen”, Mary Shelley.

The pure shame, whose title already represents the prologue, fosters animal instincts, hidden by an apparent bourgeois respectability, and only hints at the good feelings, inspired in the protagonist by an equally messed up sister, also looking for human warmth and interpreted by the magnificent Carey Mulligan. The talent of the London director emerges bursting with the excess of zeal reserved for the movements of bodies, reminiscent of the Hellenistic sculptures, and which reserves moments of pure reflection such as Brandon’s night city runs, with Bach’s notes in the background, or for the worthy interpretation of New York, New York by Mulligan.

The primeval ardor of the film brings to mind the two cinematographic works of Tom Ford, A Single Man and Nocturnal Animals , in a wealthy world that allows certain freedoms to the protagonists, forcing the viewer to particularly complex thoughts and emotions, reaching levels close to another film that certainly didn’t spare sensations, like Bertolucci’s Last Tango in Paris . The photography and editing are sophisticated, directed by the same who contributed to the success of the previous movie Hunger , Sean Bobbitt and Joe Walker, supported by a soundtrack full of atmospheres of the late seventies and early eighties, also involving the blues of Howlin’ Wolf and John Coltrane and Chet Baker’s Jazz.

McQueen’s second film has multiple spirits, from the repulsive to the compassionate one, with important questions not only on the aberrations of the character, but on what the society around us provides and imposes without letting us choose. It is difficult not to perceive the same emotions that go through Fassbender, which was also awarded with the Volpi Cup in Venice for the best male performance: a film able to deceive us that bringing an apparently satisfying life on the right track is possible, a movie that never seeks rhetoric or simple solutions, that thinks fast, just like the protagonist, between the skyscrapers and the streets that metaphorically represent the daily paths of our living and behaving.

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‘Cabaret’ Review: What Good Is Screaming Alone in Your Room?

Eddie Redmayne and Gayle Rankin star in a buzzy Broadway revival that rips the skin off the 1966 musical.

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By Jesse Green

Just east of its marquee, the August Wilson Theater abuts an alley you probably didn’t notice when last you were there, perhaps to see “Funny Girl,” its previous tenant. Why would you? Where the trash goes is not usually part of the Broadway experience.

But it is for the latest revival of “Cabaret,” which opened at the Wilson on Sunday. Audience members are herded into that alley, past the garbage, down some halls, up some stairs and through a fringed curtain to a dimly lit lounge. (There’s a separate entrance for those with mobility issues.) Along the way, greeters offer free shots of cherry schnapps that taste, I’m reliably told, like cough syrup cut with paint thinner.

Too often I thought the same of the show itself.

But the show comes later. First, starting 75 minutes beforehand, you can experience the ambience of the various bars that constitute the so-called Kit Kat Club, branded in honor of the fictional Berlin cabaret where much of the musical takes place. Also meant to get you in the mood for a story set mostly in 1930, on the edge of economic and spiritual disaster, are some moody George Grosz-like paintings commissioned from Jonathan Lyndon Chase . (One is called “Dancing, Holiday Before Doom.”) The $9 thimbleful of potato chips is presumably a nod to the period’s hyperinflation.

This all seemed like throat clearing to me, as did the complete reconfiguration of the auditorium itself, which is now arranged like a large supper club or a small stadium. (The scenic, costume and theater design are the jaw-dropping work of Tom Scutt.) The only relevant purpose I can see for this conceptual doodling, however well carried out, is to give the fifth Broadway incarnation of the 1966 show a distinctive profile. It certainly does that.

The problem for me is that “Cabaret” has a distinctive profile already. The extreme one offered here frequently defaces it.

Let me quickly add that Rebecca Frecknall’s production , first seen in London , has many fine and entertaining moments. Some feature its West End star Eddie Redmayne, as the macabre emcee of the Kit Kat Club (and quite likely your nightmares). Some come from its new New York cast, including Gayle Rankin (as the decadent would-be chanteuse Sally Bowles) and Bebe Neuwirth and Steven Skybell (dignified and wrenching as an older couple). Others arise from Frecknall’s staging itself, which is spectacular when in additive mode, illuminating the classic score by John Kander and Fred Ebb, and the amazingly sturdy book by Joe Masteroff.

But too often a misguided attempt to resuscitate the show breaks its ribs.

The conception of Sally is especially alarming. As written — and as introduced in the play and stories the musical is based on — she is a creature of blithe insouciance if not talent, an English good-time gal flitting from brute to brute in Berlin while hoping to become a star. Her first number, “Don’t Tell Mama,” is a lively Charleston with winking lyrics (“You can tell my brother, that ain’t grim/Cause if he squeals on me I’ll squeal on him”) that make the Kit Kat Club audience, and the Broadway one too, complicit in her naughtiness.

Instead, Frecknall gives us a Sally made up to look like she’s recently been assaulted or released from an asylum, who dances like a wounded bird, stretches each syllable to the breaking point and shrieks the song instead of singing it. (Goodbye, Charleston; hello, dirge.) If Rankin doesn’t sound good in the number, nor later in “Mein Herr,” interpolated from the 1972 film, she’s not trying to. Like the cough syrup-paint thinner concoction, she’s meant to be taken medicinally and poisonously in this production, projecting instead of concealing Sally’s turmoil.

That’s inside-out. The point of Sally, and of “Cabaret” more generally, is to dramatize the danger of disengagement from reality, not to fetishize it.

The guts-first problem also distorts Redmayne’s Emcee, but at least that character was always intended as allegorical. He is the host to anything, the amoral shape-shifter, becoming whatever he must to get by. Here, he begins as a kind of marionette in a leather skirt and tiny party hat, hiccupping his way through “Willkommen.” Later he effectively incarnates himself as a creepy clown, an undead skeleton, Sally’s twin and a glossy Nazi.

Having seen Frecknall’s riveting production of “Sanctuary City,” a play about undocumented immigrants by Martyna Majok , I’m not surprised that her “Cabaret” finds a surer footing in the “book” scenes. These are the ones that take place in the real Berlin, not the metaphorical one of the Kit Kat Club. She is extraordinarily good when she starts with the naturalistic surface of behavior, letting the mise en scène and the lighting (excellent, by Isabella Byrd) suggest the rest.

And naturalism is what you find at the boardinghouse run by Fräulein Schneider (Neuwirth), a woman who has learned to keep her nose down to keep safe. Her tenants include a Jewish fruiterer, Herr Schultz (Skybell); a prostitute, Fräulein Kost (Natascia Diaz); and Clifford Bradshaw (Ato Blankson-Wood), an American writer come to Berlin in search of inspiration. Soon Sally shows up to provide it, having talked her way into Cliff’s life and bed despite being little more than a stranger. Also, despite Cliff’s romantic ambivalence; over the years, the character has had his sexuality revamped more times than a clownfish.

The Schneider-Shultz romance is sweet and sad; neither character is called upon to shriek. And Rankin excels in Sally’s scenes with Cliff, her wry, frank and hopeful personality back in place. The songs that emerge from the boardinghouse dramas are not ransacked as psychiatric case studies but are rather given room to let comment proceed naturally from real entertainment. Rankin’s “Maybe This Time,” with no slathered-on histrionics, is riveting. It turns out she can properly sing.

The interface between the naturalism and the expressionism does make for some weird moments: Herr Schultz, courtly in a topcoat, must hug Sally goodbye in her bra. But letting the styles mix also brings out the production’s most haunting imagery. The intrusion of the Nazi threat into the story is especially well handled: first a gorgeously sung and thus chilling version of “Tomorrow Belongs to Me,” then the swastika and then — well, I don’t want to give away how Frecknall stages the scene in which Schultz’s fruit shop is vandalized.

That so many of these moments arise from faithful attention to the original material should be no surprise. “Cabaret” hasn’t lasted this long for nothing. Created at the tail end of Broadway’s Golden Age, it benefited from the tradition of meticulous craftsmanship that preceded it while anticipating the era of conceptual stagings that followed.

All this is baked into the book, and especially the score, which I trust I admire not merely because I worked on a Kander and Ebb show 40 years ago. That the lyrics rhyme perfectly is a given with Ebb; more important, they are always the right words to rhyme. (Listen, in the title song, for the widely spaced triplet of “room,” “broom” and, uh-oh, “tomb.”) And Kander’s music, remixing period jazz, Kurt Weill and Broadway exuberance, never oversteps the milieu or outpaces the characters even as it pushes them toward their full and sometimes manic expression.

When this new “Cabaret” follows that template, it achieves more than the buzz of chic architecture and louche dancing. (The choreography is by Julia Cheng.) Seducing us and then repelling us — in that order — it dramatizes why we flock to such things in the first place, whether at the Kit Kat Club or the August Wilson Theater. We hope, at our risk, to forget that, outside, “life is disappointing,” as the Emcee tells us. We want to unsee the trash.

Cabaret At the August Wilson Theater, Manhattan; kitkat.club . Running time: 2 hours 45 minutes, with an optional preshow.

Jesse Green is the chief theater critic for The Times. He writes reviews of Broadway, Off Broadway, Off Off Broadway, regional and sometimes international productions. More about Jesse Green