Homebound and in Ill Health, a Man Travels Emotional Waters

Brendan Fraser in "The Whale"
Photo Credit: Imdb.com

Having directed “The Wrestler,” Darren Aronofsky isn’t a stranger to crafting a redemption story that can be both downbeat and impactful.  He presents a character who seems too far gone in whichever path he took in life, but is given one last shot to make things right, even if things don’t quite work out in some respects.

He does this once again with “The Whale,” an adaptation of Samuel D. Hunter’s 2012 award-winning play.  And, just like Aronofsky did with “The Wrestler” and Mickey Rourke’s career, he does the same with Brendan Fraser and gives him a start to a whole new chapter in his work as an actor.

Charlie (Fraser) is an obese, reclusive English professor who teaches online courses, keeping his video camera off so no one can see what he looks like.  When circumstances arise that put him back in contact with his estranged teenage daughter, Ellie (Sadie Sink,) he’ll try his best to fix their relationship before it’s too late for him.

Fraser delivers a performance of unlimited tenderness, showing intense dedication to the part and showcasing a whole new depth to his acting abilities that brings us into the isolated world of his character.  He shows someone who has a lot of love for the people in his life, displaying a great deal of compassion despite the very limited amount of people to whom he can give it.  Just as in “The Wrestler” and “Black Swan,” this is another Aronofsky film where there’s an intense physical demand for the lead character, and Fraser is more than up for the challenge in what amounts to the best role of his career.  Fraser exhibits the physical strains that his character’s situation has on him, as well as the emotional toll that having been cut off from his family and barely having any friends has on him.  Ultimately, it’s Charlie’s faith in people that they can’t lose the capacity to care for one another that’s his driving characterization, and the understated optimism that Fraser gives his character, despite things looking bleak for him, is enough to carry you through his tough journey.

Hong Chau brings a loving performance as Liz, Charlie’s nurse and friend who’s limited as to what she’s able to do for Charlie, always facing the possibility of having to see her patient and friend die.  Every scene that she shares with Fraser has us experience their friendship that has built up over time, with Liz seeing to be the only person who loves Charlie for who he is.  Chau presents her characters’s intense protection for Charlie, whether it’s concerning matters of his health or making sure he’s not hurt by his family, and it’s a soothing feeling whenever she appears because she always has Charlie’s best interests at heart, even when he might view his situation differently.

Sink delivers a wonderful performance as Charlie’s daughter, someone with pent up aggression towards her dad who shows nothing but sarcasm and contempt in her personality.  When we meet her, Sink makes every one of her lines a punch in the face as she talks down to Charlie and unleashes her anger.  However, as the movie goes on, she exhibits brief glimmers of care towards her dad in between her elongated moments of acidity.  While those quick moments of concern are far and few between, we know they’re there.

The screenplay by Hunter crafts a nearly two-hour movie from a play that’s a little short of 100 pages.  This allows for Hunter to not have to omit anything and let the scenes play out as they do in the stage show.  Also, whatever additions he brings to the movie work to deepen the themes of the film, fitting in beautifully with everything else and making this a faithful adaptation.  There are memorable scenes for all of the characters as they come in and out of Charlie’s life, offering the few personal contacts that are left to him. The interactions, whether they be friendly or intense, open up the characters to us as we watch how they impact Charlie and how he impacts them.  One of the most notable through-lines of the film is the one shared by Charlie and Ellie.  Similar to “The Wrestler,” there’s a heartrending father-daughter relationship at the center of the story.  However, it doesn’t feel like this is a retread from that movie.  Instead, we have a father-daughter pairing that’s going through very different circumstances, but is still every bit as emotional, with the back-and-forth between them having Charlie’s calmness to Ellie’s anger eliciting a great deal of power with the words.

The cinematography by Matthew Libatique, who lensed five of Aronofsky’s six previous films, gives us a full sense of the space within Charlie’s apartment, whether it’s us going through the narrow hallways, or the way in which the camera sometimes moves around Charlie as other characters walk around without issue.  While Aronofsky has worked with bigger canvases, be it a ballet theater in “Black Swan,” a wrestling ring in “The Wrestler,” or a biblical story with “Noah,” he acclimates himself just as proficiently to the limited setting.  Although he had similar circumstances working with a confined setting for his most previous film, “Mother!,” Aronofsky had a whole house with which to work, whereas for “The Whale,” it’s just an apartment.  However, Aronofsky and Libatique make the most of the limited setting by letting us get to know the apartment and the sense of confinement and monotony that Charlie goes through every day.  When the tightness of this setting is paired with the closeups of the characters as they speak with each other, this all adds to how it must feel for them to be in close quarters, talking in these small spaces that make you feel like they can only handle so much dramatic power before the walls come crashing down.

This is a film where we see equal amounts of love and pain, and to see what comes out of this is what makes “The Whale” a film with feeling as deep as the ocean.

Grade: A