By Seth Lukas Hynes
The Whale
Starring Brendan Fraser, Sadie Sink and Hong Chau
Rated M
3.75/5
Stark without being cruel, The Whale is an affecting, well-paced drama about Charlie (Brendan Fraser), a reclusive, morbidly obese literature teacher who attempts to reconnect with his estranged daughter Ellie (Sadie Sink).
Fraser delivers a compelling performance of pained optimism, and director Darren Aronofsky treats Charlie with a sympathetic eye. While there is an intrinsic artifice or dishonesty in the fat-suit Fraser wears, the film presents Charlie’s ailing body and laboured movements matter-of-factly without judgement (for the most part). Charlie is a sweet man trying to fix his past mistakes in the little time he has left, and is a source of pity more for his failure as a father and husband than for his obesity.
The Whale owes an open thematic debt to Herman Melville’s Moby Dick. The film’s title appears fatphobic at first, but the plot effectively frames Charlie as Captain Ahab, with “the whale” being elusive reconciliation with his daughter.
Charlie reads an essay on Moby Dick for comfort, and this essay is a microcosm of the film itself: just as the chapters about whales distract the novel’s narrator Ishmael from his own sad story, The Whale’s poignant subplots – a persistent missionary, Charlie bonding with a begrudging Ellie, his friendship with his nurse Liz (Hong Chau) – provide a reprieve from Charlie’s slow death. The film even feels like an essay, structured more with paragraphs than acts.
The Whale highlights the human complexity and flaws of every character, and admirably avoids clean happy endings. This film is very much not for everyone: the verbose dialogue, loud themes and undertone of mortality are big hurdles, and Ellie is so intensely unlikeable that the uplifting conclusion may not land for you.
A moving, literary but potentially exhausting character study, The Whale is playing in select Victorian cinemas.
– Seth Lukas Hynes
