The Whale

Director Darren Aronofsky and his star, Brendan Fraser, aim for empathy but come up short.

Here’s Charlie, keening and pleading behind a pane of glass for all of us to sigh and pout and gawk at, before moving on to the next fleeting curiosity. (Again, I see little empathy in the way this scene is framed and choreographed.) Thomas, seeing this heaving totem of misery, wants to save the dying Charlie’s soul, a witless effort toward a man who feels he’s past redemption—spiritually, morally, physically. This is a mighty act of becoming, the film seems to insist—and also one of empathy. But what’s expressed instead is a kind of leering horror, a portrait of a man gone to catastrophic ruin so that we, in the audience, may tap into our nobler, higher minds and see the worthy human being beneath the frightful exterior. Hunter’s 2012 play, The Whale is a story of a morbidly obese man, Charlie (Brendan Fraser), living out what might be his last days as his heart falters and his mind is lost to regret. And now there is The Whale, a lugubrious chamber drama that premiered here at the Venice Film Festival on Sunday.

In Darren Aronofsky's “The Whale,” the onetime leading hunk is earning Oscar chatter for his role as a 600-pound recluse, though the emotional actor is ...

It was clear from the supportive applause at the news conference that people were rooting for the actor, and that personal narrative of a career comeback combined with a showy role could take Fraser to the front of the pack. “I needed to learn to move in a new way,” Fraser said. “I looked different in those days,” he said. But when he was asked about that buzz and what it meant for the future of his career, Fraser said softly that it remained to be seen. And I think that is Charlie.” “It just didn’t move me, it didn’t feel right.” “Thank you for the warm reception,” Fraser said. I even felt a sense of vertigo at the end of the day when all the appliances were removed, just as you would feel stepping off the boat onto the dock here in Venice.” [Hong Chau](https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/25/movies/hong-chau-downsizing-stereotyping.html)) warns Charlie that his blood pressure is so severe that if he doesn’t change his ways or go to a hospital, he’ll almost certainly die. And whenever the clearly emotional Fraser managed to make it to the end of a statement without his eyes filling with tears, the room full of journalists burst into encouraging applause. Stories like this are possible because of our deep commitment to original reporting, produced by a global staff of over 1,700 journalists who have all dedicated themselves to helping you understand the world. Aronofsky wanted to mount the movie for years but could never land on the right lead.

If the Sunday night world premiere of “The Whale” at the Venice Film Festival is any indication, Brendan Fraser's return to Hollywood will be met with ...

Fraser became a marquee action star at the movies with 1997’s “George of the Jungle” and the box office franchise “The Mummy,” but he relinquished his leading man status in the 2010s, as he took smaller roles (including a part on TV’s “The Affair”). Although Fraser had a supporting role in Steven Soderbergh’s “No Sudden Move” last year, “The Whale” marks a huge comeback for the actor in his first starring role in a film since 2013’s direct-to-DVD action movie “Breakout.” On Fraser’s upcoming docket is Martin Scorsese’s Apple western “Killers of the Flower Moon.” His turn as Garfield Lynns/Firefly in the DC tentpole “Batgirl” will not be seen as Warner Bros. “I even felt a sense of vertigo at the end of the day when all the appliances were removed; it was like stepping off the dock onto a boat in Venice. In an interview ahead of the film’s Venice premiere, Fraser shared that his prosthetic suit was “cumbersome, not exactly comfortable,” adding, “The torso piece was almost like a strait jacket with sleeves that went on, airbrushed by hand, to look identical as would human skin, right down to the hand-punched hair.” When the credits rolled on the [Darren Aronofsky](https://variety.com/t/darren-aronofsky/) drama, in which Fraser plays a 600-pound gay man confined to a wheelchair, the actor was overcome with emotion. “The Whale” stars Fraser as a man living with severe obesity who struggles to reconnect with his 17-year-old daughter, played by “Stranger Things” breakout Sadie Sink.

Darren Aronofsky's latest walks a fine line between compassion and exploitation, but its star gives a refined, mournful performance.

And yet to look into his eyes is to see a person who’s willing himself to die, even as he wishes he had the will to live. Charlie is a bit of a pushover, too eager to see the good in others even as he’s unable to acknowledge his own sterling qualities. (The movie’s title is a reference to Moby Dick, the subject of an essay Charlie loves and returns to again and again for comfort.) There are so many ways in which this guy is just a drag to be around; his self-destruction is at least partly entwined with his self-centeredness. [Mother!](https://time.com/4951193/darren-aronofsky-mother-director/) was to some a tortured, pointless spectacle, to others a cautionary tale about the potential cruelty of the creative impulse. His compulsion is a kind of suicide pact he’s made with himself, and he’s locked in a tricky cycle: his increasing weight seems to have made him more depressed and less able to cope, a condition he self-medicates by eating. Charlie’s grief, and what he sees as the mistakes he’s made in his life, have filled him with anxiety and guilt, and the only way he can cope with those feelings is to eat his way through them, even past the point where he knows his excessive weight is killing him. Shot by his frequent collaborator Matthew Libatique, the movie has a dank, used-dishwater look—to represent Charlie’s despair, the total lack of light in his life, of course. He has no insurance, so he relies on his closest—and only—friend, Liz ( [Hong Chau](https://time.com/5027082/hong-chau-gets-big-break-in-miniature/), in a bright, bracing performance), who is, luckily, a nurse, and who also has a knack for stopping by at just the right moment. [Darren Aronofsky’s](https://content.time.com/time/photoessays/10questions/0,30255,2040711,00.html) The Whale—playing in competition at the 79th [Venice Film Festival](https://time.com/6210765/bones-and-all-review/)— [Brendan Fraser](https://time.com/5171977/brendan-fraser-philip-berk-hfpa-sexual-assault/) plays Charlie, a man who has given up on life, which in turn affects how and what he eats. His 2010 nutso-ballerina saga Black Swan was either a work of spangled dorkiness that was impossible to take seriously, or a cautionary tale about the potential cruelty of the creative impulse. The Whale, at least, is a different kind of film for Aronofsky, who has managed to pry the camera’s gaze away from his own navel.

Read Deadline's review of Darren Aronofsky's 'The Whale' starring Brendan Fraser and premiering at the Venice Film Festival.

Given the industry affection for Florian Zeller’s The Father, a similarly inventive filmed-stage experience, it’s not hard to see The Whale attracting similar awards buzz and not just for Fraser’s lead — there’s the terrific Hong Chau, who can command attention with the mere stubbing of a cigarette, and Samantha Morton, who brings heartbreak to a glorified cameo. But it’s also a mark of Aronofsky’s acuity as director that Charlie never becomes at all freakish or monstrous — that job falls to Ellie, a friendless Facebook bully who is obviously talented but prefers to stew in her own hostility. His new competition film [The Whale](https://deadline.com/tag/the-whale/) opens with that very intent — the screen is cropped to 1:33 — which turns out to be most appropriate for a small and intimate movie about a very big man. It’s a testament to Fraser’s incredibly soulful portrayal of Charlie that the make-up elements — notably his thinning hair, doughy face and bloated body — become almost invisible once the initial shock of seeing Dudley Do-Right in such terrible shape has passed. After his spell in the self-indulgent wilderness with Noah and Mother!, however, The Whale suggests the director is very much back as that Oscar bellwether, cutting the line to put a never-better This, Charlie’s first real chance to bond with his daughter, is kicked to the curb with the arrival of Mary (Samantha Morton), Charlie’s troubled and still wounded ex-wife.

VENICE, Italy (AP) — Brendan Fraser is having a moment at the Venice International Film Festival.

[In “Mother!”](/article/fall-films-jennifer-lawrence-entertainment-darren-aronofsky-north-america-dcd030395d4c48b0a2b3c27f68c3ff3b) he was limited to a house. “For someone like Charlie to see that there’s good in someone like Ellie, it’s throwing her for a loop.” “His superpower is to see the good in others and bring that out of them.” “The Whale” was Aronofsky’s favorite kind of challenge — in that it had so many limitations. “It’s a big moment for me and, I think, for cinema.” “The last few years, so many of us have lost so much. “I was afraid to write it,” he said. And A24 plans to release it in theaters on Dec. Aronofsky and his actors could be poised to leave with trophies in hand this year, too. I even felt a sense of vertigo at the end of the day when all the appliances were removed, as you would feel stepping off of a boat in Venice,” Fraser said. “To a lot of Sam Hunter’s pain, it took me 10 years to make this movie and that’s because it took me 10 years to cast,” Aronofsky said. While the film already has pundits predicting Oscar nominations, Fraser is trying not to think about whether awards are in his future.

For Fraser, "The Whale" is a confident leap forward into the movie-star status that he rightfully deserves.

The “Moby Dick” allusions, which seem onerous in the film’s beginning, build to something moving and, in the film’s final moments, even profound. Without Brendan Fraser’s innate charm and ability to project gentle sadness through the slightest flicker of his huge blue eyes, “The Whale” wouldn’t have that much else going for it. Charlie has never recovered since the death of Alan, the “love of his life,” a few years prior and has spent the time since on his sofa, slowly eating himself to death. However, most of those coming to “The Whale” may brim with goodwill because of Brendan Fraser. Despite the best efforts of his nurse best friend Liz (Hong Chau), Charlie refuses to go to the hospital, even though he is displaying signs of congestive heart failure and has a blood pressure of 238/134. Even when the usage itself is fat-phobic, in the case of Sarah Paulson as Linda Tripp in “American Crime Story,” there’s also the consideration that heavier actors who often struggle to get roles aren’t getting the opportunity to play fat parts.

Darren Aronofsky's The Whale fails Brendan Fraser, saddling him with a reductive role, that never moves beyond the closed-circuit claptrap.

The Whale does not engage outside of the known narrative of the actor in the film — it’s his comeback! (Reminder: the character is physically introduced through masturbation which signals the desire to shock with his body, right from the get, something opposite of the tear-drenched ending and partially why the ending doesn’t feel earned to me). He has a set routine, which includes regular visits from his caretaker, who has ties to his past (Hong Chau), and Dan, the pizza delivery guy who follows the regular instructions of delivery — leave on the ledge, money is in the mailbox. Morton, too, was more of a mainstay in the early 2000s and has faded into lesser roles. The Whale is Fraser’s first leading role in a theatrical movie in a decade. Therein lies part of the problem of The Whale, the main character is not a vessel for his own journey but for a secondary character, and, by extension, the audience.

At its Venice world premiere, Darren Aronofsky's 'The Whale' received a seven-minute standing ovation; star Brendan Fraser was visibly moved.

In that process, he’s on his journey of salvation.” Star [Brendan Fraser](https://deadline.com/tag/brendan-fraser/) was visibly moved as he was embraced by his director while extended applause rang throughout the auditorium. makes adjectives such as ‘brave’ and ‘fearless’ seem almost meaningless” and said The Whale is “cutting the line to put a never-better Brendan Fraser at the front of the Best Actor race.”

Brendan Fraser reveled in the spotlight once again at the Venice Film Festival and was praised for his role in the upcoming Darren Aronofsky movie, ...

[major comeback ](https://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/james-woods-supports-brendan-fraser-against-philip-berk-i-too-was-blacklisted)for Fraser’s career as it is his first leading role in almost a decade. I even felt a sense of vertigo at the end of the day when all the appliances were removed, just as you would feel stepping off the boat onto the dock here in Venice.” And I think that is Charlie.” “I developed muscles that I did not know that I had. “I needed to learn to move in a new way,” Fraser said. Brendan Fraser reveled in the spotlight once again at the Venice Film Festival and was praised for his role in the upcoming Darren Aronofsky movie, “The Whale.”

Brendan Fraser is making his big comeback in Daren Aronofsky's new film, "The Whale," which received a six-minute standing ovation at the Venice Film ...

The Whale is scheduled to be released in the U.S. The Whale marks Fraser's first major career comeback, as it's his first leading role in a decade. The film will be receiving an exclusively theatrical release. The recognition at the event received by Fraser is said to have led him to cry. Here is everything you need to know about the forthcoming film. Now weighing 600 pounds, Charlie may not have long to live.

Actor Brendan Fraser received a six-minute standing ovation Sunday night at the Venice Film Festival, after making a comeback to the profession following ...

Dude had a super unfair shake in Hollywood, but now it's (hopefully) coming around and he's going to get his due," Fraser had breakout roles in George of the Jungle (1997) and The Mummy (1999). Rooting for all your success brother and congrats to my bud Darren Aronofsky.— Dwayne Johnson (@TheRock) He underwent a laminectomy (a procedure to remove vertebrae from the spine), a partial knee replacement and vocal cord repair, "Welcome back Brendan Fraser. He supported me coming into his Mummy Returns franchise for my first ever role, which kicked off my Hollywood career.

Brendan Fraser attends "The Whale" & "Filming Italy Best Movie Achievement Award" red carpet at the 79th Venice International Film Festival on September 4 in ...

[According to Variety, ](https://variety.com/2022/film/news/brendan-fraser-the-whale-weight-prosthetics-venice-1235359484/) "The Mummy" star is being touted as a serious Oscars contender with his portrayal in the drama. [his performance in "The Whale," ](https://www.cnn.com/2022/07/27/entertainment/brendan-fraser-the-whale/index.html)

Here at The A.V. Club, we know that there's nothing that our readers care about more than how many minutes people clap for after a movie premieres at a ...

[groped by former Hollywood Foreign Press Association president Philip Berk](https://www.avclub.com/brendan-fraser-says-he-was-groped-by-ex-hfpa-president-1823237740), and believes that the fallout from that interaction left him all but blacklisted for over a decade. I wanted to know what I was capable of.” That’s the start of an Oscar campaign if we’ve ever heard one. On Sunday night, Darren Aronofsky’s new film The Whale premiered in Venice, where it received a six-minute standing ovation. Now, there is new clapping to talk about and it may even move you (not clickbait!). The actor told Club, we know that there’s nothing that our readers care about more than how many minutes people clap for after a movie premieres at a European film festival.

The 2022 Venice Film Festival is halfway through its run and, as expected, the movie event has brought together a slate of titles that have become this ...

The trailer for the movie is yet to be released. Clearly moved and trying to fight back tears, Fraser does an exaggerated bow and prepares to exit the theater, but is prompted to stay due to the continuous roar of applause. The 2022 Venice Film Festival is halfway through its run and, as expected, the movie event has brought together a slate of titles that have become this year’s standouts, and we’ll certainly hear from them in the months to come.

The Whale premiered at the Venice International Film Festival, so what are critics saying about Brendan Fraser's big comeback?

[Brendan Fraser and his reintroduction to Hollywood](https://www.cinemablend.com/movies/brendan-fraser-explains-why-darren-aronofskys-the-whale-was-perfect-for-his-reintroduction-into-hollywood) via this movie, so it will definitely be interesting to see what recognition comes from it. The critic says: So let’s get to the reviews, starting with [Games Radar+](https://www.gamesradar.com/the-whale-review/)’s Jane Crowther. From the review: The movie reportedly received a [The Whale was already generating Oscar buzz](https://www.cinemablend.com/movies/way-too-early-2023-best-picture-predictions).