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The Whale (2022)
In the most spectacular comeback to films since Mickey Roarke in The Wrestler, Brendon Fraser will win his first Oscar for Outstanding Lead Actor for The Whale, a claustrophobic, unforgiving, frightening and terribly sad look at a man who has given up on most of his life, coincidentally, guided by the same director who directed The Wrestler.
Fraser plays Charlie, a gay college professor who teaches English online because he is so morbidly obese he is unable to leave the house. When he lectures his students, he keeps his screen off so that his students don't know what he looks like. Being barely ambulatory, the people in Charlie's orbit are very limited: there is Liz, his caregiver who knows he belongs in the hospital but is enabling his inevitable premature death; a young religious zealot who feels he can help Charlie; his angry ex-wife who has never gotten over the fact that Charlie left her to be with a man, and most importantly, the only thing in Charlie's life he hasn't given up on, his teenage daughter, Ellie, who appears to hate Charlie with a white hot passion.
A lot has been written about this film over the past year but very little about the near brilliant screenplay by Samuel D. Hunter, based on a play, in its unapologetic crafting of this central character. We are initially extremely sympathetic for this character who has to put a lot of work into getting out of his chair and has to put money for the pizza delivery guy in the mailbox so that he can leave the pizza at the door. We don't see the layers that are added to this character as the film progresses that make the character not as sympathetic as he initially appears to be. It becomes clear that all the wrong he has done was in the name of his daughter, whose approval is so important to him he has offered her all of his money to reconnect with her rather than to help himself. His daughter's nasty manipulation of her father's guilt makes it difficult to sympathize with her either. Even the young religious zealot turns out to have a backstory and agenda that are disturbing and unnecessary complications to Charlie's life.
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Darren Aronofsky, who not only directed The Wrestler, but Requiem for a Dream, is no stranger to mounting stories about severely broken people and manages to mount this story from as many angles as possible. Love the first scene of Charlie teaching with his screen dark while the camera pans over the screens of his students who are all reacting to Charlie in individual ways as well as their reactions near the end when Charlie reveals himself to them. Aronofsky is also not shy about showing us the pain and inconvenience of Charlie's condition...the difficulty of simple things we take for granted like removing a T-shirt or picking something up off the floor are not easy to watch, not to mention the scene where Charlie almost chokes on a submarine sandwich...the terrified look on his face as he realizes what is happening is heartbreaking.
Brendon Fraser's personal life and career have been a private hell for several years now and watching him able to work past his personal demons through this damaged character was a joy to witness. He may no longer be the hunky sex symbol who spent George of the Jungle clad only in a loin cloth, but he completely invests in this pathetic and complex character in a performance that displays the talent that Fraser hinted at in Gods and Monsters. There is no doubt that this performance will win Fraser his first Oscar.
Hong Chau has also earned a supporting actress nomination for her explosive performance as Charlie's caregiver, Liz. Sadie Sink, who impressed earlier this year in Dear Zoe, is uncomfortably caustic as Charlie's angry daughter and Samantha Morton does imbue some sympathy as Charlie's ex...the moment where she asks to listen to Charlie's heart is lovely, but with a solid assist from Darren Aronofsky, this film is a triumph for Brendon Fraser who proves to be an actor of depth and sensitivity.
In the most spectacular comeback to films since Mickey Roarke in The Wrestler, Brendon Fraser will win his first Oscar for Outstanding Lead Actor for The Whale, a claustrophobic, unforgiving, frightening and terribly sad look at a man who has given up on most of his life, coincidentally, guided by the same director who directed The Wrestler.
Fraser plays Charlie, a gay college professor who teaches English online because he is so morbidly obese he is unable to leave the house. When he lectures his students, he keeps his screen off so that his students don't know what he looks like. Being barely ambulatory, the people in Charlie's orbit are very limited: there is Liz, his caregiver who knows he belongs in the hospital but is enabling his inevitable premature death; a young religious zealot who feels he can help Charlie; his angry ex-wife who has never gotten over the fact that Charlie left her to be with a man, and most importantly, the only thing in Charlie's life he hasn't given up on, his teenage daughter, Ellie, who appears to hate Charlie with a white hot passion.
A lot has been written about this film over the past year but very little about the near brilliant screenplay by Samuel D. Hunter, based on a play, in its unapologetic crafting of this central character. We are initially extremely sympathetic for this character who has to put a lot of work into getting out of his chair and has to put money for the pizza delivery guy in the mailbox so that he can leave the pizza at the door. We don't see the layers that are added to this character as the film progresses that make the character not as sympathetic as he initially appears to be. It becomes clear that all the wrong he has done was in the name of his daughter, whose approval is so important to him he has offered her all of his money to reconnect with her rather than to help himself. His daughter's nasty manipulation of her father's guilt makes it difficult to sympathize with her either. Even the young religious zealot turns out to have a backstory and agenda that are disturbing and unnecessary complications to Charlie's life.
Darren Aronofsky, who not only directed The Wrestler, but Requiem for a Dream, is no stranger to mounting stories about severely broken people and manages to mount this story from as many angles as possible. Love the first scene of Charlie teaching with his screen dark while the camera pans over the screens of his students who are all reacting to Charlie in individual ways as well as their reactions near the end when Charlie reveals himself to them. Aronofsky is also not shy about showing us the pain and inconvenience of Charlie's condition...the difficulty of simple things we take for granted like removing a T-shirt or picking something up off the floor are not easy to watch, not to mention the scene where Charlie almost chokes on a submarine sandwich...the terrified look on his face as he realizes what is happening is heartbreaking.
Brendon Fraser's personal life and career have been a private hell for several years now and watching him able to work past his personal demons through this damaged character was a joy to witness. He may no longer be the hunky sex symbol who spent George of the Jungle clad only in a loin cloth, but he completely invests in this pathetic and complex character in a performance that displays the talent that Fraser hinted at in Gods and Monsters. There is no doubt that this performance will win Fraser his first Oscar.
Hong Chau has also earned a supporting actress nomination for her explosive performance as Charlie's caregiver, Liz. Sadie Sink, who impressed earlier this year in Dear Zoe, is uncomfortably caustic as Charlie's angry daughter and Samantha Morton does imbue some sympathy as Charlie's ex...the moment where she asks to listen to Charlie's heart is lovely, but with a solid assist from Darren Aronofsky, this film is a triumph for Brendon Fraser who proves to be an actor of depth and sensitivity.