Certificate: 15 (strong language, sex, drug misuse). Running Time: 117 mins. UK Distributor: A24
WHO’S IN IT?
Brendan Fraser, Sadie Sink, Hong Chau, Ty Simpkins, Samantha Morton, Sathya Sridharan
WHO’S BEHIND THE CAMERA?
Darren Aronofsky (director, producer), Samuel D. Hunter (writer), Jeremy Dawson and Ari Handel (producers), Rob Simonsen (composer), Matthew Libatique (cinematographer), Andrew Weisblum (editor)
WHAT’S IT ABOUT?
A dying man (Fraser) attempts to reconnect with his troubled teen daughter (Sink)…
WHAT ARE MY THOUGHTS ON THE WHALE?
Brendan Fraser has truly become the undisputed darling of this year’s award season. The beloved 90s star, who all but vanished off the face of the earth after some devastating personal issues (including an alleged sexual assault by the former president of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association), arrived back onto the scene in thunderous style via Darren Aronofsky’s The Whale, where he emotionally received lengthy standing ovations at film festivals all over the world. Even critics who outright dislike the film have nothing but great things to say about Fraser’s lead performance, and now that he’s officially up for the Oscar, BAFTA, SAG and just about every other available acting award, he’s virtually unstoppable as he heads towards a triumphant career comeback that Hollywood fairy tales are made of.
Fraser is undoubtedly magnificent in The Whale – as I also noted during my first review for this film, written during my coverage of last year’s BFI London Film Festival, where Fraser received one of many aforementioned standing ovations – but the film itself is a trickier beast. There are things about it that really work, and others that really don’t, but it is nonetheless an interesting film to talk about, because there are enough talking points about it to at least warrant two separate reviews on this website.
But first, a reminder of the plot: Fraser is Charlie, a reclusive online professor who lives alone in an Idaho apartment, where he is eating himself to death as a result of losing his male lover some years earlier. His only real friend is his nurse Liz (Hong Chau, also excellent), who is alarmed when Charlie is on the verge of congestive heart failure and will likely be dead by the weekend if he does not go to the hospital, which Charlie outright refuses to do. Instead, Charlie seeks to spend his final few days attempting to reconnect with his teenage daughter Ellie (an impressively venomous Sadie Sink), who despises him for abandoning both her and her mother (Samantha Morton, who shines in her one scene in the movie) and has taken her anger out on the world around her. Charlie is nonetheless determined to bring out the good in her, and as his health rapidly declines he attempts to right the wrongs in his life before it’s too late. Oh, and there’s also a young Christian missionary named Thomas (Ty Simpkins), who frequently pops in and out to try and help Charlie see the light before he passes, which is easier said than done given Charlie’s own relationship with religion.
I remember noting in my previous review how The Whale, being based on a stage play by Samuel D. Hunter, has certain limitations when it comes to translating itself to film, because it is one of those plays that predominantly takes place in one location – that being Charlie’s apartment – which, on the big screen, can be hard to make feel cinematic. While it is true that the limited location, not to mention the monologue-heavy speeches that characters give, does often give the vibe that you’re watching a filmed version of a stage production instead of an actual movie, Aronofsky and cinematographer Matthew Libatique do find some interesting ways to shoot scenes in this apartment that are atmospheric in their own way. Framed in a 1.33:1 “Academy” aspect ratio to drive home the claustrophobic elements of being in this singular place for most of the movie, Libatique’s cinematography incorporates mundane lighting to also highlight the growing sense of doom and gloom surrounding Charlie’s inevitable fate. It’s something you don’t really notice until you pay attention to it upon a second viewing, and I did find myself being a lot more invested this time round in how the film looked and felt as something that was working as well as it could within its own limitations.
While I’m not too familiar with Hunter’s original play, there were other translations from the stage to the screen that I really didn’t find myself buying into when I first saw the film. For instance, Ty Simpkins’ missionary character was one that I at first felt to be an unnecessary addition to the ensemble, especially as he would randomly wander into this apartment like Kramer in Seinfeld, and attempt to convert Fraser’s Charlie to his faith. However, seeing it again knowing the backstory given to this person, and how it vaguely connects with Charlie’s own traumatic past (as well as that of Hong Chau’s Liz), I did notice a lot more weight behind this character and, beyond Simpkins’ well-meaning performance, an actual reason for him to be there. Granted, there are just as many things that don’t translate quite as well, particularly Sink’s rather monstrous Ellie who commits such hateful and sadistic acts throughout the film (she drugs her father at one point, posts pictures of him on Facebook, and even secretly records another character making a heavy confession) that it’s hard to feel any sympathy for her, especially in a film that is supposed to be about seeing the unwavering goodness in people.
The film does use a number of tactics to emotionally manipulate the viewer toward a desired reaction, particularly Rob Simonsen’s melancholic musical score which leans especially hard into the string instruments during the film’s climax, but it is ultimately justified by the sheer power of the performances alone, especially Fraser who really does deliver the role of his lifetime. He is the film’s biggest marketing angle for a reason: The Whale rides entirely on his performance, enough to carry it over all the things that don’t work nearly as well, because he does such a brilliant job of making you feel for his character and his tragic backstory while also respecting his intelligence and optimism, and crucially never defining him by his excess weight. I’ve seen the film twice now, and both times I have heard fellow audience members sniffling and crying in stereo when the credits began rolling – it’s that good of a performance, no matter how much emotional manipulation has been used along the way, and should be the main reason you should seek out this flawed, but deeply effective, comeback vehicle.
SO, TO SUM UP…
The Whale is a flawed but deeply effective drama that rides entirely on Brendan Fraser’s magnificent lead performance, which is powerful enough to overcome some of its rougher stage-to-screen translations, as well as certain emotionally manipulative tactics that are justified because Fraser and his supporting cast are uniformly excellent.
