The Whale (2022 film)

Darren Aronofsky has said that he tried to get the film, an adaptation to Samuel D. Hunter's 2012 play The Whale, made for over a decade, but could not do it because he struggled to find the right actor to portray Charlie. After seeing portions of Brendan Fraser's performance in a trailer for Journey to the End of the Night (2006), he decided that Fraser could be a good choice.[7]

The original play was set in 2009, but the setting was updated to 2016 because Hunter wanted to show the events as being before a major "seismic change", and since doing so would make it clear that the play's events were prior to the COVID-19 pandemic.[8] Within the film, the television shows the unfolding of the 2016 Republican Party presidential primaries.[9] In the original play, Thomas, an Evangelical Christian missionary, is instead a Mormon missionary.[8] The Liz character, in the original play and in the screenplay, did not have her ethnic background or race specified. The actress chosen to portray Liz, Hong Chau, is of Asian heritage. The final screenplay specifies that Liz was adopted as a way of accommodating Chau's casting; this was not in the initial revisions of the screenplay.[10] Chau argued that Liz should have an unkempt look and should be tattooed, aspects that were incorporated into the character.[11]

On January 11, 2021, it was announced that A24 had obtained global distribution rights to The Whale, directed by Aronofsky and starring Fraser.[12][13][14] Chau, Sadie Sink and Samantha Morton joined the cast in February, followed by Ty Simpkins in March.[15][16] Sathya Sridharan joined the cast at an unknown date.[17]

At one point, the film was set to star James Corden with Tom Ford directing, but Ford left due to creative differences. George Clooney also briefly considered directing the film, but ultimately declined.[18]

Principal photography ran from March 8 to April 7, 2021, in Newburgh, New York. Post-production began later in April.[19][20]

For the role, Fraser spent four hours each day being fitted with prosthetics that weighed up to 300 pounds (136 kg). He also consulted with the Obesity Action Coalition and worked with a dance instructor for months before filming began in order to determine how his character would move with the excess weight.[21]

Hunter stated that it is up to the viewer to interpret whether Charlie actually walks in the ending scene and Fraser argued that Charlie is finally "liberated".[22] Sink stated that her character is emotionally traumatized and that Charlie is able to look through a façade that Ellie puts up as a barrier between herself and her father.[23]

The Whale grossed $17.5 million in the United States and Canada, and $37.4 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $54.9 million.[3][4]

After several weeks in limited release, the film grossed $1 million in its third weekend (expanding from six theaters to 603) and a total of $1.6 million over the four-day Christmas frame, then $1.4 million in its fourth weekend.[32][33] It then expanded to 1,500 venues on the sixth week of its theatrical run and passed $11 million domestically, somewhat breaking the perceived ongoing trend that the general public was losing interest in prestige films in a moviegoing environment altered by the COVID-19 pandemic. These results were attributed to the praise and awards buzz for Fraser's performance.[34]

Brendan Fraser (left) and Hong Chau received universal acclaim by critics for their performances; both were nominated for Academy Awards, with Fraser winning.

Review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reported an approval rating of 64%, based on 341 reviews, with an average rating of 6.6/10. The site's critics consensus reads, "Held together by a killer Brendan Fraser, The Whale sings a song of empathy that will leave most viewers blubbering."[35] Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 60 out of 100, based on 57 critics, indicating "mixed or average" reviews.[36] According to MovieWeb, the film polarized critics and audiences.[37]

The Whale received positive feedback at the Toronto International Film Festival, with particular praise for Fraser's, Chau's and Sink's performances.[38] When the film had a limited theatrical release, Variety reported that the reviews "have been polarizing, with others [than Variety's review] criticizing the film's portrayal of fat people".[39] Glenn Kenny of RogerEbert.com praised Aronofsky's direction and Fraser's performance, writing that the "story is one of different levels of heartbreak and human misunderstanding" and "Aronofsky and Fraser have taken substantive risks, in the name of an insistent empathy."[40] Robbie Collin of The Telegraph gave it a perfect five stars, writing: "Fraser seals his comeback in a sensational film of rare compassion."[41]

Richard Roeper of the Chicago Sun-Times described the film as an "empathetic, haunting, beautiful, heartbreakingly moving story of a broken man".[42] He named it best film of the year and deemed Fraser's performance as his career's best.[43] Variety chief film critic Owen Gleiberman also praised Fraser, calling him "slyer, subtler, more haunting than he has ever been".[44] Matthew Creith of Out Front wrote: "The highlight of The Whale comes from an outstanding turn from Hong Chau, who gives a memorable performance in a vital role that balances Charlie's outlandish behavior."[45] Hannah Strong of Little White Lies praised Fraser and the "strong ensemble,” highlighting Sink's "tricky role" in which she "captures the anger and sadness that comes from parental abandonment", and stating that while Aronofsky "isn't a particularly empathetic filmmaker" and The Whale is not without flaws, the film "reflects tenderly on shame, guilt, and the human impulse to care and be cared for".[46]

Richard Lawson of Vanity Fair wrote that the film is "meant to be a poignant consideration of guilt, sexuality, religion, remorse" but "we really only know that because the movie shouts it at us". He also criticized Fraser's performance as "lost".[47] Mark Hanson of Slant Magazine felt that Aronofsky reins in his "typically ostentatious style", but that "considering how Libatique's camera leeringly treats Charlie as an unsightly object of pity throughout, it's difficult to deny the film's fatphobia, though its mawkishness is no less oppressive".[48] Katie Rife of Polygon wrote: "If you look at The Whale as a fable, its moral is that it's the responsibility of the abused to love and forgive their abusers. The movie thinks it's saying 'You don't understand; he's fat because he's suffering.' But it ends up saying 'You don't understand; we have to be cruel to fat people because we are suffering.' Aronofsky and Hunter's biblical metaphor aside, fat people didn't volunteer to serve as repositories for society's rage and contempt."[49]

The film has received criticism for its portrayal of the main character. Time magazine described the controversy, stating: "Some of the film's critics believe it perpetuates tired tropes of fat people as suffering, chronically depressed and binge eating."[50] On the podcast Don't Let This Flop, Rolling Stone writer EJ Dickson said the film was met with criticism for its use of a prosthetic suit instead of casting an obese actor, with accusations that it "stigmatizes and mocks fat people".[51] On NPR's culture section, Jaclyn Diaz reported that this criticism extends to detractors calling the film's premise "inherently dehumanizing".[52]

Writing for The New York Times, Roxane Gay expressed her opinion that the film's empathy was only superficial and that the depiction of Charlie reinforced anti-fat stereotypes and preconceptions. She wrote that although Aronofsky said he wanted to give an empathetic portrayal she "was bewildered because an empathetic portrayal isn't at all what was conveyed onscreen. As I looked around the audience, I was struck by the fact that there were only four or so fat people in the audience and none on the stage."[53]

Director Darren Aronofsky responded to the controversy by defending the film saying the criticisms "make no sense". Aronofsky said that "actors have been using makeup since the beginning of acting—that's one of their tools. And the lengths we went to portray the realism of the makeup has never been done before", adding that "people with obesity are generally written as bad guys or as punch lines, we wanted to create a fully worked-out character who has bad parts about him and good parts about him". He said of fat people that "they get judged everywhere they go on the planet, by most people. This film shows that, like everyone, we are all human".[54]