in other hands, ‘The whale’ could have been an unmitigated disaster. If any piece of the gigantic tower of emotional Jenga that Darren Aronofsky has assembled had fallen to the ground, everything would have fallen apart. But, somehow, everything fits together from beginning to end, each of the decisions that are made favor the final result and when the story is completely unrolled, You can’t help but feel more than deep compassion by one of the most complex and dramatic characters in cinema this year.
full of emotions
During the almost two hours of ‘The Whale’ we witness the dissection of a life throughout a week. The world of the film works as a reflection of itself: it begins in the most earthly way possible, with a dirty masturbation that almost causes death, and ends in the realm of ideas, with a literary analysis that can save a life. And, by the way, no one is in a rush for the viewer to understand Charlie’s journey because we’re not even part of it: when we enter that monday, the ship has long since reached its destination and our job is to contextualize the remains of the shipwreck.
I don’t want to fool anyone Darren Aronofsky’s new wallows in miserybut far from being a succession of events, the more dramatic the better and from overwhelming the viewer with tears and tears, the film remains stoic, as if it were the epilogue of a life in which the excuse of obesity is the least important. ‘The whale’ is the portrait of a character with no reason to live who frays and tears apart his failures accepting and longing for the end of his suffering.
And what could be a via crucis for the viewer becomes a festival of empathy thanks to two nuances. First, the fabulous subtlety of a script that decides not to give all the information at once, but to release it throughout the footage, saving the most powerful and effective emotional punch for the end. His protagonist is tender, educated and sensitive, but, like any person, he falls into contradictions, he is complex and his personality is never revealed in a single sentence for the story. It’s the viewer’s job to figure out who Charlie is between layers of self-hatred, acceptance, depression, friendship, family, memories, and pain. And it would not be possible without the second great nuance of the tape: Brendan Fraser.
The return of the King
I can’t think of any face other than Brendan Fraser to play Charlie. His eternally melancholic gaze, his grimaces that cannot hide the pain caused over the years, his tender and humble attitude… That of ‘The Whale’ is a role he was born to play. Yes, it is true, he has a fat suit, but what the public who has not seen the film does not understand is that obesity is the least of it: what really makes Charlie is what he manages to convey with his experiences, his eyes and his broken memories.
The paper is a real gift for Brendan Fraser, who in his return through the front door has given everything to make this a memorable character. He succeeds, and in what way: it is not possible to leave the room of ‘The Whale’ without leaving touched at least for a moment. Devoid of cynicism and irony, Aronofsky’s film is both hopeful and heartbreaking., showing that, however small, we all leave a legacy behind. Even if we don’t think we deserve it or don’t know how to see it, there will always be people supporting us and loving us. There will always be a hope that keeps us alive.
The stylistic burden and the supposed theatricality of ‘The Whale’ also play in its favor: the whole plot takes place in the same scenario that is barely broken by a couple of dreamlike flashbacks, but it couldn’t be any other way. Charlie’s house serves as a limbo through which the cuttings of his life parade, one by one, the memories of everything you’ve been through and that configure, in a more or less abstract way, a heartbreaking vital puzzle.
I open thread
No, ‘The Whale’ does not “go” about obesity. The film is not interested in making a speech about it, beyond making it clear that reaching the levels of the protagonist is (obviously) insane. What the director does is use the illness of the character as a mat on which to assemble the puzzle of his life, more as an excuse than as a reason. If you were expecting a moralizing speech on eating disorders, Aronofsky doesn’t care: blow up your expectations whether you like it or not.
And that is not always perfect: the film, wanting to seek emotion at all costs, it falls into the grotesque and the insurmountable at times. In fact, it is this continuous rejoicing in misery that can lead to boredom on the part of a sector of the public, something that, as much as I have enjoyed it, I find absolutely understandable. Also, some of the supporting characters, in their attempt to serve as a reverse of Charlie, don’t work despite understanding their symbolism in the plot. The rhythm of the tape sometimes stops completely, and all sequences in which Fraser does not appear quickly lose interest: ‘The Whale’ needs its protagonist to be on camera all the time, and that does not speak in favor of the solidity of the rest of the cast.
‘The whale’ is going to cause controversy, both by people who have seen it and by people who have not. There will be no shortage of those who say that they “romanticize eating disorders” and who advise routines to lose weight: neither of them will have understood at all what it is about. And in a world of cinema where it’s easy to stay on the surface, Aronofsky tries to bend the rules and try to make us forget in five minutes the fat suit and the speech he has no interest in showing, focusing on the most shocking emotional journey of recent months played by the man with the saddest, most captivating and understanding look that we can see on a big screen. The extra cynicism depends only on you as a viewer.