The Whale (2022)

What did people think? I keep making these threads as I’d have thought we’d have one but couldn’t find any, so if this is a repetition, mine can be deleted/merged. It was much better than I’d expected, as far as I’m concerned.

I love your threads. Keep making them! I missed The Whale at my local arthouse theatre so I'm going to have to wait for it to go online unfortunately.

Brendan Fraser's role as a prison guard John Gunther in season 3 of the series "The Affair" may have been a premonition of this role in some ways -- he was unusually bloated -- though I think his character was less sympathetic than it's supposed to be in The Whale.

Thank you.

It seems to still be showing in London which is nice. I love Everyman but saw this at Picturehouse Central both times.

It’s a much more profound film than I’d expected. Then again, I’ve always connected with Aronofsky, he’s one of the few filmmakers where I consistently have a strong emotional response to his films.

I guess I do understand the so-called controversy around this one, but I also thought it was quite apt psychologically. That always gets me.

I don’t even know if he’s ‘supposed’ to be sympathetic in The Whale. Granted, Aronofsky says so in response to complaints, but I think the criticism that his films aren’t heavy on empathy is valid - in fact that’s probably a big part of why I like them. But yeah, it’s hard to tell how sympathetic Charlie is meant to be. I read an article in The Times I think or some rather counter-intuitive publication which went into the whole ‘controversy’ and suggested the film dehumanised plus-sized people. But to me it’s a chicken and egg thing; I read it as someone who binge-eats after severe trauma/tragedy, which I think is perfectly true to life.

The controversy is stupid. Do people want Fraser to genuinely risk his health and gain so much weight it would be life-threatening? Seems pretty selfish to me.

Naturally, like all such controversies, it’s idiotic. Not to such an extent, but I’m sure Joaquin Phoenix or Christian Bale would have tried it. I think the idea in the eyes of those critiquing is that these roles should be offered to actual plus-sizes people. Which in the very least would lead to them being heavily type-cast like Melissa McCarthy, and that then gets criticised in its own right.

The article I read went into how the character is not shown as sexually desirable. The whole thorny issue of sex in film now aside (I have a thread on that too and have recently read another good article somewhere), why on Earth would Charlie be perceived as sexually desirable within the confines of this story, and who by, his daughter or his nurse or the teenage boy? How crazy is that?

(This is not the article I read, but it’s similar: https://amp.theguardian.com/film/2023/jan/29/why-we-need-to-see-fat-actors-as-objects-of-romantic-desire-in-mainstream-films)

There is simply no way to satisfy some people. It feels like they only watch film in hopes of them fulfilling some really specific criterias in their heads instead of judging the stories as they are told. And The Whale is a beautifully told, heartbreaking story that is quite the contrary very humanizing and profound. When you listen to Fraser in interviews you can tell he wanted to portray Charlie with a great deal of empathy and love, which shows in his performance.

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I really enjoyed watching The Whale. I thought the characters in it had a certain complexity to them and that Brendan Fraser was really fantastic in it. At times it was a little theatrical, but I found out later that it was based on a play, so I guess a lot of that theatricality was carried over onto the big screen. I think perhaps the complexity of the characters allow us to have both sympathy for them but also feel a little repulsed by their hard edges, which is something I like in films - it gives the audience a lot to think about and question in their own minds. It's not completely black or white, but very interesting and emotionally demanding.

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Just watched The Whale this morning and found it deeply moving and I am convinced that Brendan Fraser will be winning the Best Actor Oscar.

I watched The Whale the other day. I thought it was well directed, with a very good screenplay. Brendan Fraser is fantastic and I think he deserves to win the Oscar for best actor. Hong Chau is great too. My rating is a

I rated it the same as you did.

I watched it last night. I really like Darren Aronofsky, but this film isn't great. It's massive awards bait. The subplot is absolutely implausible and laughable. The ending is ludicrous and manipulative. A shallow, weak film. Brendan Fraser is good, but Samantha Morton is incredible in the tiny amount of screen time she's given.

There were two films I was afraid to watch, The Joker and now The Whale. The Joker I was right about being afraid, the scene where he goes inside the fridge, everyone laughing in the cinema, I was trying not to cry in front of my colleges, I understood it. I can't say the same about The Whale, people were saying everyone was crying by the end, I wasn't, I don't feel suicidal, I'm overweight, but I'm not trying to compensate something, I genuinely love to eat, it's my favorite and probably only passion, but I don't eat what's bad for my body, I felt disgusted by the pizza and chocolate scene. I think Fraser made a great acting, those puppy eyes, that voice from the inside, the warmth in the smile, you could feel every emotion, I could see his thoughts, Daren really knows how to pick actors, first Rourke, now Fraser. It was exactly what I was hoping for.

What do you call the subplot there?

The boy in the cult. Really weak.

I didn’t even think of that, but fair enough.

I will watch this movie when I have free time. It's too busy these days.

I am also getting anxious to watch it. I will be watching it very soon.