Over the course of The Whale, we learn that Charlie ended his marriage to his wife Mary as he was hiding his homosexuality until he fell in love with a man named Alan. This resulted in Charlie losing contact with his daughter Ellie, which he has always felt guilty about.
He tried reconnecting with his daughter Ellie (Sadie Sink), and he did everything he could to make progress throughout the film. However, this was always one-sided, and in the end, he refused to give up on his daughter and tried to give her the one thing she asked for the first time she appeared in the movie.
Charlie is also visited by his teenage daughter, Ellie (Sadie Sink), whom he hasn't seen since she was 8 years old. Charlie, a gay man, left Ellie and her mom when Ellie was 8 because he fell in love with one of his (adult) students.
Later that week, during one of her visits, Ellie spikes Charlie's food with some Ambien, a sleep medication, to knock him out. She does this so she can smoke weed without getting in trouble. Coincidentally, Thomas decides to visit during this.
Why did the daughter break the plate in The Whale?
Ellie broke the plate. In the end, as Charlie is near death, he looks at the window and starts ranting that "she broke it to send it home" or something like that. Charlie believes that Ellie thought that the food dish was drawing the bird away from its family, so she broke the dish to send the bird back home.
Why Charlie Sheen Really Left "Two and a Half Men"
Why can't Charlie see his daughter in The Whale?
Over the course of The Whale, we learn that Charlie ended his marriage to his wife Mary as he was hiding his homosexuality until he fell in love with a man named Alan. This resulted in Charlie losing contact with his daughter Ellie, which he has always felt guilty about.
Religious trauma leading to suicide, love, loss, secrets, regret, redemption, and binge eating disorder are themes in Darren Aronofsky's The Whale. Throughout the movie, Charlie inflicted more pain and trauma on his body with every episode of binge eating. He eats to numb his pain but also sadly to harm himself.
In the years since, Charlie is completely estranged from Ellie (Sadie Sink), and Alan died by suicide after a period of sleep deprivation and anorexia.
The religious themes of the movie suggest that Charlie did in fact die and go to heaven in the end, but they may have just alluded to a kind of spiritual peace or death of ego that does not necessarily imply a physical death.
The plot of The Whale focuses on Charlie's final attempt to reconcile with his daughter, Ellie (Sadie Sink), before he dies. Ellie is an angry teenager, filled with hate for Charlie after his adulterous affair and his lack of contact with her for a significant portion of her young life.
Charlie's declining health is no secret, as he refuses to go to the hospital (he doesn't have health insurance) and is told by his friend and nurse, Liz (Hong Chau, “Downsizing”), that he is likely to die by the week's end.
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.
What was the last line of the essay "In the Whale"?
In an interview with Digital Spy, the writer talked about the original ending and how the different ending was perfect for the film. "The way the play ends is, Ellie has the last line of the essay: 'It made me feel glad for my…' And she's cut off by the stage direction – 'a sharp intake of breath'.
What did the paper say at the end of "Before We Go"?
In the end, as she is looking at the guest survey, and sees the arrow and instruction to "turn over," she flips the card, and it looks like the word "remember" is there... I think he's reminding her that he has a message for her behind the artwork at the hotel (which she would also have to "turn over" to read).
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.
For Charlie, food is a form of escapism from his life: binge eating is how he copes with grief and depression. While it's Charlie who is the centre of the story, all the characters have their own struggles.
Darren Aronofsky's The Whale boasts, arguably, one of the greatest performances in the history of cinema by Brendan Fraser as a severely morbidly obese (a medical term used by the United States National Library of Medicine) man named Charlie, who suffers from major depression and binge eating; the performance recently ...
After its premiere at the 2022 Venice Film Festival — where Fraser was moved to tears during the six-minute ovation that followed the screening — the film was criticized for its portrayal of people affected by obesity and was accused of perpetuating anti-fat stereotypes.
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 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.
Liz – She is a nurse. Hodgins called her Charlie's "enabler" because she feeds him junk food despite his enormous weight and her own pleading with him to get better medical care. Ellie – Charlie and Mary's daughter.
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.
