Brendan Fraser gives a career best performance in material that seems fundamentally confused about its core subject matter.
Set over the course of a week, Charlie (Brendan Fraser) is a reclusive English professor who following the suicide of his boyfriend is morbidly obese and eating himself to death. Charlie refuses to seek medical treatment or go to the hospital with his only regular contact being with his friend/nurse Liz (Hong Chau) who does what she can but cannot convince Charlie to take any other action. With Charlie ready to embrace the end of his life, he seeks to reconnect with his abrasive and estranged daughter Ellie (Sadie Sink) whom he had from his marriage prior to coming out, as well as visits from Christian missionary Thomas (Ty Simpkins) who seeks to convert Charlie.
The Whale is an adaptation of the 2012 play of the same name by Samuel D. Hunter (who writes the screenplay) and directed by Darren Aronofsky. Aronofsky had sought to make a film adaptation of The Whale for 10 years, but had trouble finding a suitable lead actor for the role of Charlie until a viewing of 2006's Journey to the End of the Night convinced Aronofsky that Brendan Fraser would be perfect for the role. Upon release the film deservedly drew strong attention for Fraser's heartbreaking performance in the central role in what as a major comeback for the actor (though this arguably started with the strong attention from his work on Doom Patrol as Robotman) with Fraser's performance getting more attention than the movie itself. Fraser's performance is undeniably great and he deservedly won a Academy Award for Best Actor for his work, but the real question isn't if Fraser is worthy of the award, but rather is this movie worthy of his performance.
Starting off, Fraser's performance is every bit as great as you've heard. Fraser's take on Charlie shows a man who's broken but overflowing with appreciation and love for others while seldom sharing any of that love with himself. Charlie purposely avoids forming new connections be it with his Pizza delivery man whom he communicates through the door or his students whom he teaches with his camera turned off and you get this very raw but also very human portrayal of man who's consumed by loneliness and whose pain he carries literally and figuratively emotionally eating to dull that ache. Hong Chau is really good as Charlie's friend and nurse Liz who tries to do what she can to help Charlie but Charlie makes it clear that he doesn't want to be saved either by Liz or Thomas the young missionary. Sadie Sink also gives a strong performance as Charlie's daughter Ellie even if I think the film has a lot of problems centered around that character. While you seemingly have all the right ingredients for something that should work really well, the movie seems like it has a very wrongheaded approach involving its handling of Severe Obesity especially with its inclusion of several scenes that seem like they're put in for shock value more than anything else such as our first scene of Charlie engaging in onanistic activity or several lengthy scenes where Charlie is described by himself or others as "disgusting". The play being made when it was feels like it's stuck in a certain mindset about this topic, and given Arronofsky's penchant for lingering on shocking elements of Thematic material it gives the film an air of callousness towards Charlie which I'm not sure is intentional or not, but the character of Ellie does some pretty unforgivable things that feel like they're framed in a more forgiving light than they should be.
The Whale is a frustrating film because it features a really strong performance surrounded by material that's simply not up to the level of its central lead. While The Whale provides a solid opportunity for a showcase of Fraser's acting prowess, the material is simply Arronofsky putting the audience through a tedious unpleasant slog without much of an emotional payoff.
The Whale is an adaptation of the 2012 play of the same name by Samuel D. Hunter (who writes the screenplay) and directed by Darren Aronofsky. Aronofsky had sought to make a film adaptation of The Whale for 10 years, but had trouble finding a suitable lead actor for the role of Charlie until a viewing of 2006's Journey to the End of the Night convinced Aronofsky that Brendan Fraser would be perfect for the role. Upon release the film deservedly drew strong attention for Fraser's heartbreaking performance in the central role in what as a major comeback for the actor (though this arguably started with the strong attention from his work on Doom Patrol as Robotman) with Fraser's performance getting more attention than the movie itself. Fraser's performance is undeniably great and he deservedly won a Academy Award for Best Actor for his work, but the real question isn't if Fraser is worthy of the award, but rather is this movie worthy of his performance.
Starting off, Fraser's performance is every bit as great as you've heard. Fraser's take on Charlie shows a man who's broken but overflowing with appreciation and love for others while seldom sharing any of that love with himself. Charlie purposely avoids forming new connections be it with his Pizza delivery man whom he communicates through the door or his students whom he teaches with his camera turned off and you get this very raw but also very human portrayal of man who's consumed by loneliness and whose pain he carries literally and figuratively emotionally eating to dull that ache. Hong Chau is really good as Charlie's friend and nurse Liz who tries to do what she can to help Charlie but Charlie makes it clear that he doesn't want to be saved either by Liz or Thomas the young missionary. Sadie Sink also gives a strong performance as Charlie's daughter Ellie even if I think the film has a lot of problems centered around that character. While you seemingly have all the right ingredients for something that should work really well, the movie seems like it has a very wrongheaded approach involving its handling of Severe Obesity especially with its inclusion of several scenes that seem like they're put in for shock value more than anything else such as our first scene of Charlie engaging in onanistic activity or several lengthy scenes where Charlie is described by himself or others as "disgusting". The play being made when it was feels like it's stuck in a certain mindset about this topic, and given Arronofsky's penchant for lingering on shocking elements of Thematic material it gives the film an air of callousness towards Charlie which I'm not sure is intentional or not, but the character of Ellie does some pretty unforgivable things that feel like they're framed in a more forgiving light than they should be.
The Whale is a frustrating film because it features a really strong performance surrounded by material that's simply not up to the level of its central lead. While The Whale provides a solid opportunity for a showcase of Fraser's acting prowess, the material is simply Arronofsky putting the audience through a tedious unpleasant slog without much of an emotional payoff.
- IonicBreezeMachine
- Aug 27, 2023