You have to give it to Brendan Fraser. A big name of the late 90s and early 2000s, various fateful occurrences left his career in a less favourable position. With his new film The Whale, the tide has changed, in what might be one of the finest, most touching rejuvenations of an actor’s career we’ve seen.
Darren Aronofsky, who is never far away from controversy, has chosen a play by Samuel D. Hunter (who here also wrote the screenplay) that tackles morbid obesity and the lives affected by it. You can tell the source material was theatre-based, the confines of the house being the sole location for the film. Fraser plays Charlie, an overweight literature teacher: evoking the feeling of lockdown, he takes his online classes with the camera switched off, out of shame.
Yes, Fraser does wear a so-called ‘fat suit’ in The Whale, though I’d like to believe that his own fight with weight gain and his tribulations grant this. Of course, his acting is also a fine thing to behold – Charlie is a character you can both love and be angry with for not going to the hospital or sorting out his life. It’s all very relatable stuff and you can already smell the awards.
All the other characters in the film appear to judge Charlie for his immobility – barely able to get up without his Zimmer frame, or later a wheelchair. Liz, played by a perfect Hong Chau, is the flustered nurse, who assists Charlie when she can while constantly scolding him. Sadie Sink is Charlie’s daughter Ellie: a self-centred, phone-gazing teen who starts to visit him again.
Without too many spoilers, events prior to the film’s timeline result in Charlie leaving his wife to go with a gay man; I was less convinced by Samantha Morton as spurned wife Mary, some lines uncertainly delivered, but she generates some charged moments of bitterness and hate onscreen. Thomas, a religious missionary who visits the house, is tackled here by a fine Ty Simpkins. Perhaps the least consequential character, his time with Charlie attempts to convert him and there was an unfulfilled hint of a potential gay subplot.
Filmed in what appears to be Academy Ratio (4:3), this cleverly adds a cramped feeling, as if Charlie’s folds were going to burst out of the screen, and the camera work is tight; Darren Aronofsky is always filled with joy and tricks. Rob Simonsen’s score fits well with the sense of pity and disgust the characters lay upon Charlie. The story of The Whale seems to tie into visions of the sea, Moby Dick a source of inspiration throughout. The film’s tearjerker ending leaves us with hope, though debates over fat acceptance vs health and wellbeing storm on.
Dir: Darren Aronofsky (15, 117 mins)
The Whale will be out in UK cinemas in 2023
words JAMES ELLIS