The Whale is a wonderful surprise masterpiece! Brendan Fraser has proved he still has it. It's a beautiful performance that's long overdue for him. A film that will make you cry and love Brendan.
Held together by a killer Brendan Fraser, The Whale sings a song of empathy that will leave most viewers blubbering. With a heartbreaking story brought powerfully to life by Brendan Fraser's starring performance, The Whale's as hard to watch as it is to look away from.
The Whale is difficult to watch, not because of Charlie's size but because it feels as if he is treated as a grotesque, something to be disgusted by, a monster with a heart of gold.
The Whale tackles themes of redemption, being oneself, and dealing with grief. Brendan Fraser showcased that and ultimately won an Oscar for his performance as Charlie. The Whale ending brought the powerful and intense drama to a conclusion that requires some more analysis.
Went and saw it last night at my local theater. From the moment that movie starts to the moment it ends Brendan Fraser absolutely nails it. It was so gut wrenching, and it brought me to tears a few times.
The Whale Broke Me (Not In a Good Way) | Movie Review
Why is the movie Whale so good?
Brendan Fraser should win every award possible for his role in THE WHALE. This would have been a very easy role to stereotype, yet Fraser made it complex, compelling, full of vulnerability and heart. This film succeeds because of Fraser's performance. Otherwise the film struggled.
REVIEW: 'The Whale' portrays a distressing but ultimately uplifting story enhanced by fantastic performances. Brendan Fraser as Christopher in “The Whale.” Despite being a fantastic film, “The Whale” leaves the audience with no desire to watch it again anytime soon.
Why is The Whale being accused of fatphobia? Some of the film's critics believe it perpetuates tired tropes of fat people as suffering, chronically depressed and binge eating.
Having grown angry at the world due to him abandoning her and her mother for his late boyfriend Alan, she acts hostile and abusive to anyone she comes close to and wants absolutely nothing to do with Charlie, who makes efforts to try and reconnect with her.
The Whale is not a true story but is based on a 2012 play by Samuel D. Hunter, who also wrote the film. Dale Calandra played the original Charlie in a similar transformation to Fraser's for The Whale movie, during the play's original run at the Victory Gardens Biograph Theater in Chicago.
The Whale addresses the extent to which depression can impact physical health. Darren Aronofsky's The Whale is a sad reminder of the toll depression can take on someone and how damaging that can be for their mental and physical health.
What are critics saying about the movie The Whale?
Herein lies the source of tension in the critical response to The Whale: while Fraser's performance in particular is stunning, the controversial handling of fatness coupled with a style that some critics found overwrought made the movie dismissible.
Charlie eats to sadly harm himself. He is the manifestation of trauma. That what he puts into his body for all that harm that he has endured all his life, he's been derided. It's manifest on who he is as a human being, that's a lot of pain for this man.
The Whale's ending is devastating as it sees the end of Charlie's life. He tried reconnecting with his daughter Ellie, but it was always one-sided. Ellie was cruel to Charlie throughout the movie, but there is hope she could finally see in herself what Charlie did all those years.
TRIGGER WARNING: The script for this film contains extensive fatphobia. Backstories involve homophobic abuse, particularly from religious organizations. The film's cynical take on religion may be upsetting to a churchgoing audience.
Charlie doesn't change his ways or seek proper medical attention, but he does finally reach out to his estranged daughter Ellie (Sadie Sink). At their first meeting in years, the callous teenager challenges her father to walk toward her without the assistance of his walker.
Thomas informs Charlie that Ellie sent his recorded confession to his church and parents, and that both parties forgave him, meaning he can finally go home. In his final webinar class, Charlie reveals he has been fired. He reads some of his students' responses to his prompt to be honest.
Within the film, the television shows the unfolding of the 2016 Republican Party presidential primaries. In the original play, Thomas, an Evangelical Christian missionary, is instead a Mormon missionary. The Liz character, in the original play and in the screenplay, did not have her ethnic background or race specified.
Emphasizing whole, nutrient-rich foods over processed options, Fraser's approach underscores the adage "you are what you eat." His diet focused on lean proteins, vegetables, fruits, and whole grains, facilitating not just weight loss but improved overall health.
The movie centers on Charlie, an English teacher living with severe obesity, as he attempts to reconnect with his estranged teenage daughter. The movie tackles a variety of emotionally laden topics, including depression, grief, and the struggle to reconcile one's homosexuality with their religion.
But Fraser has his reasons; issues with his own health and his mothers who has since passed away, personal issues, and being the target of sexual harassment have been cited as reasons he left and stayed away. A journey from which, according to his last performance, he seems to have recovered successfully.
Nothing in this film is dignified. It all feels like a sick joke, but one that does get a laugh out of me. To be clear, this is not a compliment, the humor is born from failure. This is especially true for Ellie (Sadie Sink), Charlie's teenage daughter, another cartoon character who is literally evil.
