Brendan Fraser as an optimist, a sufferer and an egoist. “The Whale” must be seen if only for its performance [RECENZJA]

“The Whale” is one of the most anticipated movies of this season. Many movie buffs have been looking forward to seeing it since it received a six-minute standing ovation at the Venice Film Festival. Aronofsky’s latest work is already available in Polish cinemas and it is an opportunity to see Brendan Fraser on the big screen after many years. Many say that this is his life role. I admit it’s hard to disagree with that.

It is a strong cinema in which the director interweaves several important problems faced by many people of the modern world. The main character Charlie (Brendan Fraser) is an obese loner who works as a literature teacher. He conducts his classes exclusively online and does not show up to his students, telling them that the webcam is broken. He used to live with his wife and daughter, but at some point in his life he realized that he prefers men. He then left his family and started a new life.

When Charlie’s new partner suddenly dies, Charlie becomes depressed and cuts off all social contacts. He begins to eat his misery, which soon causes him to gain a huge body weight. The man’s health deteriorates over time and he becomes dependent. The only person who helps him is his friend and nurse Liz (Hong Chau). When the hero realizes that he is closer than further to death, he decides to settle an important matter at all costs. He wants to make amends with his daughter Ellie (Sadie Sink), who hates him. This leads to the final collision with yourself.

“The Whale” is an adaptation of Samuel D. Hunter’s theater play of the same name. Apparently, Aronofsky wanted to bring it to the screen as early as 2012, when he first saw the work on Broadway, but he managed to do it only ten years later, when he found the right actor. He wanted him to know how to express all the difficult emotions, because he experienced them himself.

As Aronofsky recalled in one of the interviews, it was only after watching the niche film “Journey to the End of the Night” starring Fraser that he realized that he had found the person he could cast for his latest work. “I haven’t heard of him in a long time, and suddenly I look at him and think, this is an idea. Movie stars are not movie stars without a reason. It’s not about happiness or a pretty face. It’s about the fire burning in them. Brendan was the first actor that woke it up in me, that was my eureka!”

The director was aware that the actor had withdrawn from public life for several years, but he was not afraid to cast him in his next film:

He hasn’t had great offers in a long time. But in that time he’s grown as a human being, which has made him a much better actor. But he needed an opportunity to show it

Recall that Fraser’s career began to slow down in the 2000s. He went through a painful separation from his wife and struggled with the trauma of being molested by Philip Berk, president of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, in 2003. Fraser spoke about it ten years later and was one of the male faces of the #MeToo movement. He spoke about it directly and bluntly, for which he was ostracized by the industry, and his career collapsed.

In a film in which theatrical pedigree can be felt from the first minutes, Fraser had the perfect opportunity to show off his great talent. The director places the action in the main character’s cramped apartment so that all emotions are conveyed through acting and dialogues. Charlie is a person who struggles with depression, but we also see him with more positive emotions. We see that deep down he is an incorrigible optimist who loves literature and loves to teach students. This optimism is also evident when he struggles to renew his relationship with his daughter. However, under the guise of caring for her, we also see the egoism of the main character, which can hurt the eyes.

The actor shines in this role and shows how many skills he has, but there are also opponents of casting him as an obese gay man. Why? Because an actor himself is not one, and you should hire people who in reality also lead such a life. This is how the director’s choice was commented, for example, by Daniel Franzese, who is known for the movie “Mean Girls”. Arononofsky replied that the characterization of actors has been around since the acting profession arose. And Fraser himself replied to the skeptics in an interview with “”: “Charlie, no matter what he looks like, is above all a human being, and that’s what we try to show in Wieloryb (…)”.

And the message of “The Whale” combines very well with the criticism of Fraser’s choice as the main character. Because, in fact, this film performance is about extremes that are not worth falling into. Aronofsky serves them in such a way that during the screening we will experience all possible emotions. Mainly because of the character of Charlie, whom we would like to wish the best, but he is heading towards his fate anyway because of the decisions he makes. Adrenaline is also provided by other exaggerated characters that contrast greatly with each other.

Ellie’s daughter is the embodiment of true evil here. Sadie Sink in this role was so good and annoying at the same time that after leaving the cinema I was appalled by her attitude. There is also a friend of the main character Liz, who seems to be the only rational heroine, but after time we see that this is not the case at all. She lost herself in caring for her friend so much that she stopped noticing the many disturbing signals that had appeared before.

Aronofsky would not be himself if the religious theme did not appear in the film. In “The Whale” he is represented by the young preacher Thomas, who by all means wants to be no less enlightened and helpful than the famous Tammy Faye, who was one of the most famous televangelists in the United States at the end of the 20th century. And it is worth mentioning that the action of the film begins a moment later, when he covers the main character masturbating. It is he who symbolically triggers the story’s sequence of events. The religious theme also ends the film in a very symbolic and slightly kitschy way.

Aronofsky’s film will compete for three statuettes at this year’s Oscars gala. One of them is vying for Brendon Fraser himself in the category “Best Actor in a Leading Role”. Many critics predict him to win, and I’ll be surprised if he doesn’t. While the film aroused a lot of emotions in me and presents an important topic, I was more moved by its form than its content. The hyperbolization of the characters and their behavior had the intended effect, but in the end I felt tired of it. I left the cinema very confused but still very excited. That’s why “The Whale” gets 6 stars out of 10 from me, but I encourage you to watch it to see for yourself how Brendan returns to the top.