The Whale movie review: Brendan Fraser delivers the performance of a lifetime

The Whale Movie Review: Brendan Fraser has always been associated with action-adventure films. Films that typically needed Fraser to look good (he was a pin-up star for many in the 1990s) and perform action stunts. Fraser, at least to me, never was an actor par excellence while growing up. And so his latest,'The Whale' pleasantly surprises me as Fraser gives his all to deliver a performance of a lifetime. As an obese man Charlie, whose health is deteriorating slowly due to his weight-related illness, and who wants to reconnect with his estranged daughter, Fraser delivers the most heartwarming performance of the season. That being said, filmmaker Darren Aronofsky’s new movie is not devoid of flaws.

Adapted from Samuel D Hunter's play 'The Whale', Aronofsky's film is primarily a redemption saga that has a lonely homebound English professor Charlie attempting to set things right and get connected to his daughter Ellie (Sadie Sink). Years back, Charlie had walked out on his marriage to Mary and left their young daughter with her. Now, in his final days, with illness and weight crippling him to stay sprawled on his couch the whole day, Charlie seeks to reconnect with his daughter, a troubled teenager who hates everyone. The father-daughter duo does not start on a good note with the daughter walking out on him refusing to bond while Charlie offers her money to stay to know her more. Something that Charlie's friend and caregiver Liz (Hong Chau) is not okay with. Charlie's other regular visitor is a young religious preacher Thomas (Ty Simpkins) who wants to take him on a spiritual path as his end nears.

The film's screenplay, also written by Hunter, restricts the space to Charlie's living room. The result is an intimate and sometimes mundane, claustrophobic experience thatcinematographer Matthew Libatique captures well. Hunter's screenplay is adapted from a play and therefore consists of a theatrical presentation. It seems the actors have almost been asked to utilise the limited space they have been given, something that theatre actors do. So a lot of confrontation scenes between Ellie and Charlie appear to bestaged, much like it is in theatre. It is not a bad thing, but films rely on spontaneity which, in this case, seems rehearsed and thereby dramatic.

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While Fraser, strapped in a fat man's body suit (he did gain extra pounds for the role though) emotes through his eyes, his performance is aided well by Sadie Sink and Hong Chau, who play rude, bitter, angsty women who rock a submissive, polite to a fault Charlie's world. Charlie has lived a greater part of his life in a lot of guilt. The guiltof abandoning his family, not being able to save his lover, and becoming the obnoxious-looking person that he is now. And as he counts the days to his death, he wants to set things right and urges anyone and everyone around him to be honest. His students, his angsty daughter, and his young friend.

'The Whale' borders onmelodrama especially towards the end, yet you can't help but empathise with Fraser's Charlie. He, of course, is pitch-perfect and makes Charlie almost an extension of himself. There is no doubt why pundits have been calling Fraser a strong contender for the Best Actor Oscar this year.

'The Whale' ultimately is a story of the redemption of a desperate father wanting to set things right for his daughter. It is shocking, it is comforting, slightly suffocating but above all heartwarming.

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