MovieChat Forums > Shame (2012) Discussion > Sex with the coworker

Sex with the coworker


That is one scent that has made no sense to me...after a few moments of foreplay, he retreats to the window, while she is puzzled and gets dressed again. If he is a sex addict, and its there for all his pleasure, he stops. Another fact that bothered me, but perhaps it did not matter to explore that scene to the point that he has to face her daily at work...awkward to say the least.

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Brandon doesn't really want sex. As a sex addict, he uses sex to comfort himself when his mind is distressed. What he really wants and needs, is a real human connection with another person. (The lack of that in his environment is what causes his mind to be distressed.) He was hoping to get that connection with the female coworker. She was rather shy and cute in the workplace and in the restaurant, seemingly real "girl-friend material". Instead of casual sex, he was after a meaningful relationship with her, seeking a human interaction where he could show his vulnerable self and get his doubts and problems off his chest.

But in the hotel room, he realizes either
- that she isn't really like that, she just likes him because of his status and regards him as a "score", she (like other women) wants him just for casual sex; or
- that she is different from the other women he's met, but that his behavior and treatment of her is corrupting her into the mindset of conquests and casual, meaningless sex.
Either way, he doesn't like where it's going, so he breaks it off. (Of course this causes distress in his mind, because he doesn't understand what he's been doing wrong and why he again doesn't get what he really wants; so next he needs something to ease his mind and therefore he hires a prostitute.)

At least that's my interpretation of the scene and his character.

______

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He's so far gone into his addiction that sex has to be weird for him in some way. Either paid for or porn or whatever. But his co-worker was a nice, real person, and good relationship material, which only reminded him of the person he used to be. He couldn't keep it up under those circumstances.

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I agree...I think because he actually found her to be a relationship type of woman, he couldnt go through with it... He might have felt a connection with her and freaked out. At first I thought he had ED but then it looked like he just couldnt handle it.

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Yep. And I think ED could have been a component. I kind of wondered about that when she said something like "it's all right".

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I read an article with the director and he was saying this wasnt about incest. Many viewers felt that the brother/sister relationship was an indication of some sort of incident in their childhood. Either between them, or maybe their father..What did you think? I mean it was evident that it wasnt an average relationship. She had a past of cutting herself, and when he told her to get out, and there was no longer a safe haven for her, she attempted suicide.
She tried to spoon him in bed, they both didnt flinch when she was naked in the shower, as if there were no boundaries at all. I am still on the fence, only because of the article I read. Its posted in one of the threads here.

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Wondered a little bit once about incest, but overall decided that was not part of what was going on.

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Brandon only enjoyed rough hard sex with strangers.
But he wanted that to end, so he threw away all his porn stuff and went to the restaurant with his coworker.
I think he wanted to gain normal experiences like real relationships.
But when he tried to have sex with her, he realised that sex based on true feelings did not really turn him on.
So I think he didn't even get an errection, that's why he so dramatically stopped at that point.

And it was her, who made clear, she was attracted to him in the office.
So Brandon tried to take his chance but it did not work out for him.

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