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Rating: 3 out of 5
I’m a Brendan Fraser supporter. Back in the day, aka the 90s and early 2000s. He was at the top of the acting world with films such as the Mummy franchise, Geroge of the Jungle, Bedazzled, and many others. Then BOOM! Everything went to shit with injuries and a nasty divorce. Fraser was floating in the wind with few roles coming his way. In the early 2020s, Fraser started making a big comeback. Fraser first got a role in Doom Patrol and started showing up and stealing scenes in several TV series. Then he got the starring role in Darren Aronofsky’s The Whale. The film looked interesting, but Fraser went on to complete his epic comeback with the Best Actor award from the Oscars.
I was highly skeptical of watching The Whale. One reason is because of director Darren Aronofsky. If you have seen any of Aronofsky’s films, you will get mind-fucked for sure. The film that still haunts me today is Requiem for a Dream. Holy shit has that film messed me up and the freakin music. I’m getting goosebumps just thinking about it. Aronofsky brings the unwanted feelings. For example! The Fountain was a love story starring Hugh Jackman and Rachel Weisz through time and space. How about The Wrestler, starring Mickey Rourke as an aging wrestler who is trying to do one last match? Then we have Black Swan, Noah, Mother, and Pi. I knew my mind was about to be messed up again.
The Whale is a film that will give you a disgusted look at the main character. I don’t want anyone to play that they don’t look disgusted when a big person walks by or in a scooter. Aronofsky starts this film off in 2016, where Charlie (Fraser) is in his house, masturbating and watching porn. It was not the scene that you wanted to see, but okay. Charlie is morbidly obese, an English teacher who teaches online English writing courses but keeps his webcam off as he is ashamed of his physical appearance. I have no issue with the camera off. I went through the pandemic with my camera off when I was taking classes. Sorry, that was a side point. Charlie never leaves his house and completely isolates himself from the world. He even has the pizza man drop the food off by the door and leave money in some mail slot. Charlie is also divorced as he came out as gay and was having an affair with a male student.
Charlie seems to have only one friend, his nurse, Liz (Chau), who enables him by bringing him awful food but also is a hypocrite who tells him that he should go to the hospital for heart failure treatment. Charlie’s excuse is that he is too broke to go. This is understandable, as hospital bills will destroy you in the United States. Charlie is helped one day by Thomas (Simpkins), a missionary from the Church who saves him during a panic attack and has him read a story to calm him down.
Charlie’s destructive life worsens when his estranged teenage daughter, Ellie (Sink), comes into the picture. Charlie is actually not broke, as he has been telling Liz. He has over $120 grand in his bank account and plans to give entirely to Ellie. All Ellie has to do is spend time with him without his mother’s knowledge. Ellie agrees if he completes all her homework. I don’t know what type of deal that is, but okay. The film shows Charlie pursuing his daughter’s happiness as he has none.
I want to say that the film doesn’t miss its mark, but it wasn’t anything like the Aronofsky film that I am used to. I wasn’t impacted at all by this film. On the one hand, you feel bad for Charlie as you know the dude will die. Yet, he did abandon his wife and kid for a male lover. You should’ve at least told them. Charlie berates and bad-talks Charlie every single chance she can get. She is actually a troubled youth, as she manipulates everyone around her. She manipulates Thomas, who says he stole money from the Church, and secretly records the conversation. She is a little shit and only wants the money and to not make amends. During Thomas and Ellie’s conversation, we find out the truth behind most of the family stuff. She is the adopted daughter of New Life’s head pastor, and Alan is her brother, Charlie’s lover. Alan, being a religious fanatic, has so much guilt that he commits suicide, which leads Charlie into a downward spiral of grief and emotional eating that leads him to become obese.
The film is strong by trying to make you have an emotional feeling for Charlie, but it doesn’t work. I feel bad for Charlie; deep inside, I can see he is a good person. He wants his students, Ellie and Thomas, to hold on to their truths and be honest. Yet, Charlie is not honest with himself. He is disgusted with his own appearance and doesn’t want anyone to see him. He doesn’t want to face getting better but has the money to do it. From this, you don’t feel bad for Charlie because he made all these decisions on his own. That’s where I don’t feel bad, as he is a product of his own decision. Charlie made every decision and doesn’t want to look in the mirror anymore and confront the issues.
The ending was an Aronofsky ending. If you’ve seen many of his movies, you are left on a cliffhanger wondering what happened. Throughout the movie, Charlie has trouble standing up on his own. When Ellie and him argue over an essay he rewrote for her but replaced it with an essay she wrote in eighth grade, Ellie tries to reconcile for the last time and asks him to stand up and walk to him. As she reads her essay, he stands, and as he approaches, he begins to levitate and is engulfed by a bright light. We know what that means, but Aronofsky likes to leave endings to the audience.
The Whale is propelled by the amazing performance of Brendan Fraser. Even though he wore a fat suit, his expressions and pursuit to make Ellie happy captured us. Fraser showed the vulnerabilities of a person who lost all hope in himself and life. The performance actually reminded me of Nick Cage in Leaving Las Vegas. Both are products of their decisions. Charlie was more likable as he gave those sad and frightful looks in his eyes. When Fraser went off as Charlie, it was a wow factor as he kept everything inside.
The Whale is one of those films where you will look at people around you who are bigger than you and seem to like food (i.e., 600-pound life). The story is one of trying to do right one last time before you pass on. I can’t praise Fraser enough. I am happy that he made an epic comeback and won the Academy Award. He definitely deserved it. Watch this film, but start with the other Aronofsky films.
