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The Whale
(2022) - Directed by Darren Aronofsky
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Psycho-Drama / Family Drama / Chamber Film
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Psycho-Drama / Family Drama / Chamber Film
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"Do you find me disgusting?"
When I saw the films Sleuth and Autumn Sonata, two films that only required a couple of actors and a room to tell the bulk of its story, I grew a deep appreciation for how it takes a small scope and turns it into a grand emotional scale. Interested in other films like this, I was going to look up films of the genre after having fleshed out the last touches of my Top 100 Directors List. Of course, deciding to work on that later, I looked through my list and grew a bit tired of having put off more Aronofsky films for so long, other than Requiem for a Dream, Black Swan and Noah.
In The Whale, Brendan Fraser plays Charlie, a morbidly obese online teacher who's being taken care of by a nurse, and refuses to go to the hospital. One day, his rebellious daughter shows up, and he tries to reconnect with her, and even help her in her schooling. Passing by his house is a religious zealot desperate for self-acceptance, and once he comes back, shadows of Charlie's late ex-boyfriend whom he left his family for come back.
Now I am not a guy who makes fun of weight. I understand that this movie has come under some fire fore its portrayal of a morbidly obese man. Uh, nobody's perfect. It's not the fat that makes him a jerk, doi. I've got a fat grandmother who passed away this year, and she was the one person I loved more than anyone. But it's not like I've either only loved or only hated every fat person I've me, and I see nothing in this film that somehow says, "all fat people are evil" or some shit like that. Nothing. The man's struggling to get his health and life together, he's one guy, end of story.
While I can admit that seeing a guy that obese isn't what I would call a "pretty sight," My biggest hype film for 2026 is the next Evil ****ing Dead. I can stomach this, and I don't ever look at a morbidly obese guy as "lesser than others." Every one of us has something potentially disgusting about us. We're ******* humans. So every time we have something disgusting about us, in fact, even if it's only a tiny little problem, we as humans should be helping each other overcome our flaws.
This is literally the point and the message of The Whale. The movie is about a plethora of characters who have one practically out-of-control flaw: there's the daughter's terrible attitude, there's the mother's terrible negativity and drinking problem, there's the missionary who's obsessed with feeling good about himself, there's the nurse who doesn't trust anyone, and the point is easily forced onto us because every cast member in this film is SO FREAKING PERFECT. It's like having flashbacks to watching Ingrid Bergman's performance in Autumn Sonata. Lemme tell you, movies like The Whale prove that the home is the perfect place for both the chamber film and the family drama. This seems almost obvious to me.
And not just that. When I'm watching Fraser have his dramatic moments, it's like watching everything that happened when my dad passed away in 2017, even when it's not at all like that. The setting, the realism, the perspectives, it all hurts. God. There are scenes here which can go from humorous in a realistic light to dark and grim at the first sign of a wheez or cough, because that's the fear we all have for close friends and family in dire health. We can laugh with our families just as easily as we can cry with them.
Now there is one serious thing that I can't relate to very well. I'm no atheist, and I've never had these specific types of religious dealings with friends or family. But considering the leading aspect of my current praise of the film: the household tension that arises between connected people, I don't really think I can criticize the movie for anything pertaining to that. And I'm the kind of easy-goer who prays and accepts sin as something unavoidable. This is why I don't "ostracize" anything, and even listen to Slayer. Much of what I think about is how people, including myself, need to overcome problems and oftentimes need others to do so. I can't really relate to Thomas's opinions on homophobes either, as a long time ago, I felt like I was supposed to be against it due to a common interpretation of the bible, but I understand that zealously is Thomas's flaw just as much as Charlie's flaw is an inability to get his life straightened out.
On top of which, can I take a moment to just detail how well Aronofsky's sense of direction and music has come? After nine movies, he has a perfect set of eyes and ears for capturing scenarios and expressions through music and motion. It's tame, slow, careful and powerful in meaningful bursts.
Sin isn't something you "hate." It's something you grow from and help others grow from. The Whale is not a movie about fat, and there's certainly none of it in the movie. There is meat to it throughout, and every bit of it says, "this is about giving into your flaws. This is about your addictions and your life." That's all it is. Think about your own life. This is a reversed version of Requiem for a Dream, allowing all of the characters to bleed out the poison from their scars and have even the faintest attempt at connecting. Even if you don't die perfect, you still have the chance to be better and grow from your mistakes. This is all I ever think about. I wrote a debut novel with two teens devoted to their own conflicting beliefs joining together to take down an even greater evil than contradiction. There may even be a part of me that wished for this movie to be written. This brilliant cast of perfectly fleshed-out characters will stand as another polarized entry in Aronofsky's career, but I'll stick with the positives.
This is the first film in about a decade that has made me cry.
Darren Aronofsky's Directorial Score (4 Good vs. 0 Bad)
Requiem for a Dream: 100
The Whale: 100
Black Swan: 97
Noah: 58
Score: 88.75 / 4
Darren Aronofsky's position on my Best Director's List raises from #121 to #97 between Don Bluth and David Zucker. I'll remedy this tomorrow with another Aronofsky film.
In The Whale, Brendan Fraser plays Charlie, a morbidly obese online teacher who's being taken care of by a nurse, and refuses to go to the hospital. One day, his rebellious daughter shows up, and he tries to reconnect with her, and even help her in her schooling. Passing by his house is a religious zealot desperate for self-acceptance, and once he comes back, shadows of Charlie's late ex-boyfriend whom he left his family for come back.
Now I am not a guy who makes fun of weight. I understand that this movie has come under some fire fore its portrayal of a morbidly obese man. Uh, nobody's perfect. It's not the fat that makes him a jerk, doi. I've got a fat grandmother who passed away this year, and she was the one person I loved more than anyone. But it's not like I've either only loved or only hated every fat person I've me, and I see nothing in this film that somehow says, "all fat people are evil" or some shit like that. Nothing. The man's struggling to get his health and life together, he's one guy, end of story.
While I can admit that seeing a guy that obese isn't what I would call a "pretty sight," My biggest hype film for 2026 is the next Evil ****ing Dead. I can stomach this, and I don't ever look at a morbidly obese guy as "lesser than others." Every one of us has something potentially disgusting about us. We're ******* humans. So every time we have something disgusting about us, in fact, even if it's only a tiny little problem, we as humans should be helping each other overcome our flaws.
This is literally the point and the message of The Whale. The movie is about a plethora of characters who have one practically out-of-control flaw: there's the daughter's terrible attitude, there's the mother's terrible negativity and drinking problem, there's the missionary who's obsessed with feeling good about himself, there's the nurse who doesn't trust anyone, and the point is easily forced onto us because every cast member in this film is SO FREAKING PERFECT. It's like having flashbacks to watching Ingrid Bergman's performance in Autumn Sonata. Lemme tell you, movies like The Whale prove that the home is the perfect place for both the chamber film and the family drama. This seems almost obvious to me.
And not just that. When I'm watching Fraser have his dramatic moments, it's like watching everything that happened when my dad passed away in 2017, even when it's not at all like that. The setting, the realism, the perspectives, it all hurts. God. There are scenes here which can go from humorous in a realistic light to dark and grim at the first sign of a wheez or cough, because that's the fear we all have for close friends and family in dire health. We can laugh with our families just as easily as we can cry with them.
Now there is one serious thing that I can't relate to very well. I'm no atheist, and I've never had these specific types of religious dealings with friends or family. But considering the leading aspect of my current praise of the film: the household tension that arises between connected people, I don't really think I can criticize the movie for anything pertaining to that. And I'm the kind of easy-goer who prays and accepts sin as something unavoidable. This is why I don't "ostracize" anything, and even listen to Slayer. Much of what I think about is how people, including myself, need to overcome problems and oftentimes need others to do so. I can't really relate to Thomas's opinions on homophobes either, as a long time ago, I felt like I was supposed to be against it due to a common interpretation of the bible, but I understand that zealously is Thomas's flaw just as much as Charlie's flaw is an inability to get his life straightened out.
On top of which, can I take a moment to just detail how well Aronofsky's sense of direction and music has come? After nine movies, he has a perfect set of eyes and ears for capturing scenarios and expressions through music and motion. It's tame, slow, careful and powerful in meaningful bursts.
Sin isn't something you "hate." It's something you grow from and help others grow from. The Whale is not a movie about fat, and there's certainly none of it in the movie. There is meat to it throughout, and every bit of it says, "this is about giving into your flaws. This is about your addictions and your life." That's all it is. Think about your own life. This is a reversed version of Requiem for a Dream, allowing all of the characters to bleed out the poison from their scars and have even the faintest attempt at connecting. Even if you don't die perfect, you still have the chance to be better and grow from your mistakes. This is all I ever think about. I wrote a debut novel with two teens devoted to their own conflicting beliefs joining together to take down an even greater evil than contradiction. There may even be a part of me that wished for this movie to be written. This brilliant cast of perfectly fleshed-out characters will stand as another polarized entry in Aronofsky's career, but I'll stick with the positives.
This is the first film in about a decade that has made me cry.
Darren Aronofsky's Directorial Score (4 Good vs. 0 Bad)
Requiem for a Dream: 100
The Whale: 100
Black Swan: 97
Noah: 58
Score: 88.75 / 4
Darren Aronofsky's position on my Best Director's List raises from #121 to #97 between Don Bluth and David Zucker. I'll remedy this tomorrow with another Aronofsky film.