*Content warning – this piece contains mention of suicide and eating disorders
“I need to know that I have done one thing right with my life.”
To say that Darren Aronofsky’s movies haunt you for a very long time might be an understatement. I still cannot shake off Black Swan and Mother; in my opinion, Black Swan was one of the scariest movies I have ever seen. And yet again, Aronofsky takes his audiences on a giant emotional rollercoaster with The Whale.
Darren Aronofsky’s The Whale
The story is about a 600-pound morbidly obese English teacher named Charlie who is facing an imminent risk of congestive heart failure. He is given a week to live, and yet, he refuses to go to a hospital or get treated. It’s also a story of a father who had made some poor choices in life and now seeks redemption by reconnecting with his estranged daughter, Ellie.
To think of anyone portraying the role of Charlie other than Brendan Fraser is unimaginable. Right off the bat, the first feeling you get from the character is discomfort, and to some extent, disgust. The movie opens with this huge man masturbating to porn and nearly getting a heart attack.
But the moment he starts to interact with the other characters and you get an insight into his life, the discomfort turns into sympathy and adoration. Fraser brings an innocence to the character that surprises you.. With his deep, soothing voice, coupled with iconic deep blue eyes and a kind smile; Fraser compels you to look beyond his corporeal form and fall in love with the person inside.
The one line that describes this character the best is: “Do you ever get the feeling that people are incapable of not caring.” His optimism and the ability to see the best in people is almost contagious.
His pursuit of authenticity and truth is relatable. Amongst the air-brushed identities and honey-covered sentences, we are all looking for a sliver of honesty, the one thing we as a society feel starved off.
A story of pain and redemption
Charlie’s relationship with Ellie is strained yet beautiful. Sadie Sink’s performance is breath-taking. There’s a fire in her eyes that captivates you in every frame. Fraser, in a conversation on Variety, comments: “Sadie Sink has got the uncanny ability to focus rage in a way that I’ve never seen in any actors before, and I had the front-row seat to watch this kid.”
Ellie is a scary teenager; she incessantly snaps at Charlie, feeds him Ambien and knocks him out for a few hours, and torments Thomas, a church missionary, forcing him to smoke marijuana. But beneath all angst, the hurt and the pain of being abandoned by her father for an extra-marital affair with a man becomes apparent.
Charlie’s obesity is not treated just as a prop to give the movie an edge. He becomes addicted to food just as alcoholics become addicted to liquor to hide their pain. It is another form of substance abuse.
It was losing the love of his life, Alan, to suicide that drove Charlie to eat his way to the grave which is in stark contrast to how Alan spent his last few days with him, refusing to eat anything.
Accepting the truth is hard
The dynamic between Charlie and Liz, his caretaker, friend, and Alan’s sister, is beautiful. She is a nurse, so she understands the medical emergency that Charlie is in. She clearly worries about his health, yet she is also an enabler and gives him the fried chicken buckets and subway sandwiches he asks for. They also share some good laughs, however few they might be.
Charlie’s interactions with Thomas are not as revealing as one would hope for, but it serves the purpose of unmasking people’s hypocrisy and negative perception of obesity and homosexuality. Thomas, throughout the movie, comes across as a sweet guy who is only trying to help Charlie through the word of God. He keeps coming back regardless of being told off by Liz more than once. It is towards the end that Charlie finally forces him to be honest and admit that Thomas is disgusted by him.
The end of this movie makes this whole gut-wrenching, uncomfortable, and beautiful experience worthwhile. Ellie finally gives Charlie what he had been searching for all this time, the gift of truth and authenticity. It was the most beautiful thing I have witnessed in the past few years.
The Oscars
The Whale being nominated for the Oscars and Fraser winning the Best Actor award for it is truly justified. The movie is a powerhouse of phenomenal performances and unrivalled authenticity. The fat suit for Brendan Fraser’s character was a marvel on its own. The prosthetics were made to obey the laws of physics and gravity and felt real. The whole cast rehearsed for three weeks before starting the actual shoot. The relentless hard work and dedication of the entire team shines through this movie.
There is a lot of chatter about the movie promoting fat-shaming and body dysmorphia, but I disagree. The character gaining weight was never the focus of the movie. His weight is the product of his dealing with this immense loss in his life by eating. It is something that almost all of us can relate to. We all, at some point in our life, have eaten our feelings away. The difference is we stopped; Charlie could not.
I would end by saying that I too struggle with addiction to food and eat until I vomit almost every day. It is not a pleasant feeling, but it is an addiction like any other, a vicious cycle that is hard to break and not taken too seriously most of the time. But stress eating and eating as a coping mechanism are real issues, and I hope that the light this movie has shone on them doesn’t dim.
If you have been affected by any of the themes mentioned in this article, help is available. For those struggling with eating disorders, Beat, Mind and the NHS all offer support and advice and more information is available on their websites. Mind and the Samaritans can also offer support for anyone experiencing thoughts of self-harm or suicide.
