A morbidly obese English teacher forced to live in his own home attempts to reconnect with his teenage daughter, whom he hasn’t seen in years.
By bringing to the screen the play by Samuel D. Hunter entitled The WhaleDarren Aronofsky (Requiem for a Dream, black swan) took up its bet to transpose to the cinema a work which, on paper, seemed difficult to adapt.
In addition to the performances of the actors, including the exceptional performance of Brendan Fraser, the feat lies above all in the way that Aronosfsky, supported by his lifelong accomplice Matthew Libatique in the cinematographic direction, had of making a cinematographic object of a eminently theatrical piece at the start. Even if the origin of this work remains evident in the dramatic construction of the scenario, The Whale is a real cinema proposal.
First there is the frame. Square. As if to delimit the restricted space in which the protagonist must evolve, without the possibility of leaving his home. This frame also evokes the feeling of suffocation that Charlie must feel, a morbidly obese man, whose mobility is reduced, prisoner of a too heavy body. Inside this apartment, Aronofsky nevertheless manages to create movement, in particular thanks to the few people who come to visit this English teacher, a fan of literature (one of his favorite stories is Moby-Dickto which the title of the film refers), who gives his lessons virtually from his home, taking great care never to open the camera of his computer screen.
The last act of The Whaleduring which Ellie, the teenage daughter of Charlie (played by Sadie Sink), visits her father after years of absence to settle accounts, is particularly poignant.
We can obviously see in this feature film an exercise in style, but the fact remains that Brendan Fraser’s performance transcends this impression by giving the whole a real authenticity.
Since the launch of The Whale (The whale in French version) at the Venice Film Festival, during which a first version of this text was published, the name of the actor, who is making a spectacular comeback here, is regularly cited for various laurels. Brendan Fraser is also in the running for the Golden Globe for best actor in a dramatic film and should in principle go until the evening of the Oscars. It will be totally deserved.
Drama
The Whale (VF: The whale)
Darren Aronofsky
With Brendan Fraser, Sadie Sink, Hong Chau
1:57 (Indoor)