The emotionally powerful The Whale depicts a week in the life of Charlie (Brendan Fraser). The first thing we notice about Charlie is his obesity – his 600 pounds makes getting out of a chair a major challenge, and there’s just no way he can bend over to pick anything off the floor. Refusing to seek medical attention despite labored breathing and catastrophic blood pressure, Charlie has exasperated his friend/caregiver Liz (Hong Chau), a nurse. He has congestive heart failure, and both Liz and Charlie know that he may be in his last week of life.
He is a grotesque, but unlike Quasimodo or The Elephant Man, he’s a grotesque of his own making. Charlie is grieving from a loss nine years before and is regretting a failed relationship with his child; he has reacted by emotionally eating himself to near-death. He no longer ever leaves his apartment, where he works remotely by teaching a college writing course on-line.
Charlie is a man of immense sensitivity, unusually moved by the sporadic snippets of crude honesty in his students’ writing. He is so sensitive that he is swallowed by grief, and cannot handle the anger of others. Charlie is constantly saying “I’m sorry”, but there are two things that he is decidedly not sorry for – fathering a daughter and falling in love with a man.
Charlie’s sad routine is interrupted by a visit from the young door-to-door missionary Thomas (Ty Simpkins), and then by an appearance from his estranged daughter Ellie (Sadie Sink), now a seething teen. It’s only a mater of time before Liz brings by his ex-wife Mary (Samantha Morton), too. Will Charlie mend his relationships? Will he find inner peace? Will he even survive?
What makes The Whale an exceptional movie is Brendan Fraser’s unforgettable performance as Charlie. He’s not just impersonating an extremely obese person; he’s portraying a complex character- a man who is weakened by self loathing and physical disability, but whose passions and humanity gleam through. Encased in a latex and CGI fat suit, Fraser makes us understand Charlie with his own beautiful and expressive blue eyes and with Charlie’s lurching and plodding.
Fraser has always been an appealing actor, and one of great humor. 25 years ago, the strikingly handsome Fraser used his physicality in The Mummy franchise and, literally in a loincloth, in George of the Jungle. It’s useful to remember that he did a serious art movie, Gods and Monsters, in that period, too. His build, rangy then, has since morphed into burly, and in last years thriller No Sudden Move, to hulking.
Of course, Fraser will be nominated for an Oscar, because the actors who vote for awards love performances with major physical transformations. But it’s important not to downgrade Fraser’s performance because of that phenomenon – this is a remarkable exploration into a character’s inner life.
Hong Chau has been doing strong and versatile work lately (Driveways, The Menu); her Liz is an uncommonly good and award-worthy performance.
Samantha Morton is piercingly credible as the ex-wife. (Where has SHE been since Minority Report and In America?)
The story is a play by Samuel D. Hunter. Darren Aronofsky, a director known for making splashy, pedal-to-the-metal movies (Requiem for a Dream, The Wrestler, Black Swan) has the artistic judgment to keep the camera in Charlie’s dank, claustrophobic apartment and let Hunter’s dialogue reveal the characters.
While The Whale is one of the best films of 2022, it has its flaws, especially Sadie Sink’s not-very-textured performance as the daughter (and I didn’t find Ty Simpkins very compelling, either). The thread about the young missionary Thomas has at least one contrivance too many. Also, the weepy soap opera music cues underneath The Whale’s most emotionally powerful moments are unnecessary, distracting and unforgivable.
The scenes where Charlie is gorging himself are tough to watch. I saw The Whale at a theater that is essentially next to my favorite French restaurant, and I like to cap a morning movie with a lunch of salade lyonnaise and steak tartare; but emerging from The Whale at lunchtime, I just couldn’t do that. I recommend this film, but not for a movie/dinner or dinner/movie date.
Nevertheless, this is still one of the year’s best films because of Charlie’s compelling story and Brendan Frazier’s magnificent portrayal.