Movie Review: The Whale (2022)
It's tough to think of any Hollywood actor who's had more of a raw deal than Brendan Fraser over the years. This guy was one of the biggest up-and-coming stars of the 90s and early 2000s with a string of hit movies under his belt and a natural Flair for comedy and action that served him well in movies like The Mummy and George of the Jungle, but unfortunately for him and unsavory encounter with a sleazy Hollywood executive son getting blacklisted from top level Productions, resulting in a string of flops that killed his box office momentum.
Unexpensive divorce settlement added to his financial problems forcing him to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars a year that he couldn't affords and if that wasn't bad enough, years of doing his own stunt work finally caught up with them resulting in crippling back problems that required extensive surgery to correct. Basically Brendan kinda f**ked over by both, life and Hollywood and it seemed like he was destined to become just another cautionary tale about the pursuit of Fame, antother hopeful young actor who got chewed up and spat out by the Hollywood machine, but if there's one thing that people love it's a good comeback story and truly Brendan Fraser's comeback has been nothing short of inspirational!
A string of successful TV appearances in the late 2010s began to re-establish him as a viable actor, public interest began to increase and people began talking about the brenisons. This all culminated in his Oskar when enroll in "The Whale". Darren Aronofsky's psychological drama, a bit morbidly obese English tutor trying to reconnect with his estranged daughter in the final days of his life, it doesn't exactly sound like an inspiring setup for a movie, but damn, it's proof that the right actor can absolutely make or break a film, elevating what could be a fairly pedestrian bit of pity porn into something genuinely special and moving, although the other actors should not be forgotten at this point, who also delivered very convincing performances in this movie.
It's a movie that I have to admit I only got around to watching a few days ago, but I'm very glad that I finally did and I knew that I just had to talk about it, so here goes. The Whale Stars Fraser as Charlie, a massively overweight and reclusive English tutor, who teaches online courses from his ramshackle apartment, always making sure to keep his webcam off. He's divorced and basically housebrowned now, and his only real interactions are with his carer Liz and a pizza delivery guy that he never actually meets face to face.
Straight away, The Whale makes no attempt to glamorize Charlie's life in the slightest, the very first time we see him he's in his chair having a good old chug to some porn on his laptop. Unfortunately his years of compulsive eating are catching up with them, he's suffering from heart failure and he knows he doesn't have long left to Live. Liz wants him to go to the hospital, but he keeps refusing with the excuse that he can't for the medical bills, instead he manages to Cooks as a strange daughter to spend time with them, bribing her with the promise of his life savings after he's gone. It's needless to say, their interactions go well at first, she's angry and embittered with him for abandoning her, disgusted by his physical appearance and basically suffers through their meetings, so that she can get his money at the ends.
The more time they spend together, the more she slowly begins to open and up about the grief and hurt that she feels towards him and the more we learn about Charlie's own past. Charlie left his marriage to start a relationship with one of his students and when the guy eventually took his own life it started him on a self-destructive spiral of obsessive overeating that slowly killing him now. When the truth of his hidden money that he's been using to bribe his daughter comes to light it threatens to tear what little life he has left and the few contacts he still has have to make sure more than ever that the increasingly depressed Charlie doesn't harm himself.
As a Storyteller Darren Aronofsky's got a bit of a thing for flawed and self-destructive characters locked into an addictive relationship with the very thing that's ruining their lives. Whether it's Requiem for a Dream dealing with drugs and vanity or the wrestler pushing himself to Breaking Point rather than let go of the past and move on to a new stage in life or Black Swan driving its main character into a spiral of Madness and Obsession. All these stories tackle the self-destructive nature what it means to be human, but I don't think it's ever been hammered home quite as forcefully as The Whale.
Charlie is an absolutely pitiful character, a broken man caught in an escalating spiral of shame and self-loathing, unable or unwilling to change his ways and refusing help from everyone who tries to save him from himself. Whether it's Liz who tries to help him out as a friend and a nurse or an idealistic missionary out to save his soul or even his ex-wife who still has some shred of love and compassion towards him. The more this movie progresses, the more his condition slowly deteriorates as he loses the ability to walk, stand up or even breathe unaided and the more desperate he becomes to redeem himself in his daughter's eyes.
These interactions of Charlie and his daughter form the dramatic heart of the story, he's a dying man trying to reconnect, but the daughter he hasn't seen in years starts to refuse the father trying to atone for past mistakes. The viewer sees a flawed human being at the end of a life not particulary well lived, trying to get just one thing right before he goes. A different movie would have developed a more conventional saccharine kind of relationship between them, the initial weariness and distrust given way to companionship love and mutual understanding, but what's interresting about The Whale is that it never really happens that way.
Ellie's angry, cruel and spiteful throughout the movie, making no secret of the fight that she hates him and just wants him to die, so that she can inherit his money. She's not some compassionate Angel who just wants to help him, she's a hard and abrasive character and she ended up that way because of Charlie's actions! Probably the closest they come to reconnecting is a big emotional blowout where she finally drops the facade and let's say over repent up anger and hurt towards him, so what we get present in this movie is an awesome performance from actress Sadie Sink who really puts everything she has into this role!
Yeah, you could probably argue that she's pretty similiar to Max from Stranger Things, but damn, if it ain't broke don't fix it I guess. By far the best aspect is Brendan Fraser himself, who delivers the best work of his entire career with this one! It's good he's the one who took on this challenging and risky part like this, the whole thing could have gone horribly wrong in the hands of a different actor, but Fraser sells every single moment as Charlie convincing, from his submissive apologies to Liz as she fights a losing battle to help him, to his painful admissions of his own shortcomings as a husband and father to his defiant defense of the affair that he once had, it's all great stuff that absolutely captivates your attention.
Don't get me wrong, this isn't a glamorous role for any actor, watching his physical deterioration throughout the movie is almost painful at times, his disgusting binge eating will be enough to put you off the very concept of food and the moments where he comes face to face with the reality of what he's become both, sobering and tragic. Big props go to the makeup Department here, because if you didn't know what the actor looked like beforehand, you'd swear he really was this big!
The Whale copped a lot of flag over its depiction of obesity and binge eating and there's even some a****les on social media who got mad that they didn't cast an actual 600 pound actor for the main role in a movie where the protagonist is literaly dying because of how big he is. This is why we can't have nice things Ladies and Gentleman, but the thing is though people like that are really missing the point of the movie, because it's not a story about obesity, specific Charlie could just as easily be addicted to drugs or alcohol or anything else that can slowly destroy you, it's a movie about self-destruction, mistakes, regrets, grief and a search for Redemption!
This movie is not exactly a fun for uplifting experience, and by the end you'll be feeling almost as claustrophobic as the protagonist, but it's definitely a compelling and thought-provoking movie, that landed its main character a well-deserved Oskar win, and if you haven't got a chance to see it yet, then I highly recommend you give The Whale a couple of hours of your time.