To See or Not to See: The Whale

Everything that you’ve heard about Brendan Fraser’s performance in The Whale is true. The actor is at a career-best, worthy of all the praise he’s received at festivals around the world as well as the six-minute standing ovation earlier this year in Venice. His gut-wrenching and vulnerable portrayal of a broken man seeking redemption is already garnering Oscar buzz and rightfully so.

Directed by Darren Aronofsky and adapted from the off-Broadway play of the same name by Samuel D. Hunter, who also wrote the screenplay, The Whale follows Charlie (Fraser), a 600-lb English professor who left his wife Mary (Samantha Morton) and daughter Ellie (Sadie Sink) after falling in love with a man. When his partner commits suicide, Charlie is stricken with grief, which results in him developing a compulsive eating disorder and turning himself into a recluse. He spends his days teaching an online writing class where he challenges his students to express themselves authentically and is frequently visited by his confidante Liz (Hong Chau), who also happens to be a nurse. Following a near-death experience, it’s revealed that Charlie is suffering from congestive heart failure, and despite Liz begging for him to seek medical attention, Charlie has his mind set on one thing: reconnecting with his estranged daughter. Rounding out the cast of characters is a missionary named Thomas (Ty Simpkins) who is committed to helping Charlie “see the light” and embrace Jesus Christ as his Lord and Savior. But as the story unfolds, we learn that the church and their feelings towards homosexuality have ties to his partner’s death.

Set primarily in the confines of Charlie’s murky apartment, the chamber piece feels more like the medium from which the source material has been adapted. That’s not to say that single-setting films can’t be cinematic, but they require the development of fully fleshed-out characters, which is where The Whale is lost at sea. The dialogue is so singularly focused on the wants and needs of each character that it feels inorganic.

It is, however, the powerful performances among the ensemble that makes The Whale feel anything but small. Hong Chau in particular is captivating as Liz. She paints a portrait of a conflicted woman who is struggling with her own grief and trying to figure out how to help someone who doesn’t want to be saved. In one moment, she’s pleading with Charlie to go to the hospital. In the next, she’s enabling him by bringing him meatball subs. It’s when their past ties are revealed that Hong delivers a gut-wrenching blow to audiences that will surely leave them with tears in their eyes.

She’s matched by the sensational Sadie Sink of Stranger Things fame who brings a maturity well beyond her years. Her subtle delivery reveals a young girl who has never fully recovered from her father’s abandonment and has instead built a tough exterior, refuting the very things that her dying father desires most: forgiveness and connection. But it soon becomes apparent that Ellie isn’t the monster (her own mother’s words, not mine) that everyone believes she is. It’s in those final moments when they’re both able to find the closure they need.

The Whale is in theaters now.

★ ★ ★ out of 4

Photo Credit: A24