A morbidly obese English teacher, forced to live in his own home, tries to reconnect with his teenage daughter, whom he hasn’t seen in years.
Posted at 9:00 am
Bringing to the screens Samuel D. Hunter’s play The Whale, Darren Aronofsky (Requiem for a Dream, Black Swan) met his challenge of adapting to cinema a work that on paper seemed difficult to adapt.
Aside from the performances of the cast, including the outstanding performance of Brendan Fraser, the feat lies above all in the way Aronosfsky, aided by his lifelong accomplice Matthew Libatique in cinematic direction, created an eminently theatrical cinematographic piece in the beginning . Even if the origin of this work remains evident in the dramatic construction of the screenplay, The Whale is a true cinematic proposition.
First there is the frame. Square. As if to delimit the limited space in which the protagonist must develop, without the possibility of leaving home. This frame also evokes the sense of suffocation that Charlie must feel, a morbidly obese man whose mobility is restricted, prisoner of a body that is too heavy. Aronofsky still manages to stir things up in this apartment, thanks in particular to the few visitors who attend classes practically from home with the literature-loving English teacher (one of his favorite stories is Moby Dick, the title of which the film refers to) and takes great care never opening the camera on his computer screen.
The final act of The Whale, in which Ellie, Charlie’s teenage daughter (played by Sadie Sink), visits her father to settle scores after years of absence, is particularly poignant.
We can obviously see an exercise in style in this feature film, but the fact remains that Brendan Fraser’s performance overcomes this impression by bringing real authenticity to the whole.
Ever since The Whale premiered at the Venice Film Festival, where a first version of this text was published, the name of the actor, who makes a spectacular comeback here, has been regularly cited for other laurels. Brendan Fraser is also in the running for the Golden Globe for best actor in a dramatic motion picture and should go by Oscars night in principle. It will be absolutely deserved.
theatre
The whale
Darren Aronofsky
Starring Brendan Fraser, Sadie Sink, Hong Chau
1:57 (inside)