in other hands, ‘The Whale’ could have been an unmitigated disaster. If any piece of the towering 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 start to finish, each decision made favors the end result and when the story comes full circle, You can’t live without feeling more than deep compassion By one of the most complex and dramatic characters in cinema this year.
full of emotion
during about two hours of ‘The Whale’ We see the dissection of life over the course of a week. The world of the film works as a reflection of itself: it begins in the most mundane way possible, with a dirty masturbation that almost leads to death, and ends in the realm of ideas, a literary analysis. With what can save lives. And, by the way, the audience is in no rush to understand Charlie’s journey because we’re not even a part of it: When we enter that Monday, the ship has long already 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 Walled In GriefBut far from a succession of events, the more dramatic the better and overwhelming the audience with tears and sobs, the film remains static, as if it were the epilogue of a life in which the pretext of obesity is the least important. ‘Whale’ is a portrait of a character who has no reason to live, who is afraid of his failures and sheds tears Accepting and longing for the end of your suffering.
And what might have been through crucifixion for the viewer becomes a festival of empathy for the two nuances. First, The brilliant subtlety of a script that decides not to give away all the information at once, but to release it throughout the footage, saving the most powerful and effective emotional punch for the end. Its protagonist is gentle, educated and sensitive, but like any person he is conflicted, he is complex and his personality for the story is never revealed in a single sentence. It’s the beholder’s job to see who Charlie is amidst layers of self-loathing, acceptance, depression, friendship, family, memories, and pain. And none of this would be possible without another great cast member of the tape: Brendan Fraser.
return of the king
I can’t think of any better face to play Charlie than Brendan Fraser. His eternally sad gaze, his grimace that can’t hide the pain Over the years, due to his soft and humble attitude… ‘The Whale’ is a role he was born to play. Yes, it’s true, he has a fat suit, but what the public that hasn’t seen the movie doesn’t understand is that fatness is the worst: Charlie creates exactly what he succeeds in expressing with his experiences, his eyes and his broken memories.
paper is A real gift for Brendan Fraser, who gave it his all to make it a memorable character in his return from the front door. He succeeds, and how: it is not possible for the ‘whale’ to leave the room without touching it for at least a moment. Cynical and devoid of irony, Aronofsky’s film is both hopeful and heartbreaking., It shows that no matter how 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 who support us and love us. There will always be a hope that keeps us alive.
The stylistic burden and perceived theatricality of ‘The Whale’ also work in its favor.: The entire plot takes place in the same landscape barely broken by two dream-like flashbacks, but it couldn’t be any other way. Charlie’s house serves as a limbo through which clippings of his life parade one by one, memories of what you’ve been through And it configures, in a more or less abstract way, a heartbreakingly important puzzle.
i open the thread
No, ‘The Whale’ doesn’t “go” about obesity. The film isn’t interested in making a speech about it, beyond making it clear that reaching the level of a hero is (obviously) insane. what the director does is use the character’s illness A mat on which to assemble the puzzle of your life, more as an excuse than a reason, If you were expecting a moralistic speech on eating disorders, Aronofsky doesn’t care: blow away your expectations, whether you like it or not.
And it’s not always right: the film seeks to find emotion at all costs, It gets bizarre and inaccessible at times. Indeed, it is this continued rejoicing in misery that can breed boredom on the part of a segment of the public, something that, as much as I have enjoyed it, I quite understand. Also, some of the supporting characters, in their effort to act as a contrast to Charlie, do not work despite understanding their symbolism in the plot. The tape’s rhythm sometimes stops completely, and All scenes in which Fraser does not appear quickly lose interest: “The Whale” needs its protagonist to be in front of the camera at all times, and it doesn’t do the rest of the cast a favor for their solidity.
‘The Whale’ is going to cause controversy, both by those who have seen it and by those who have not. There will be no shortage of people who say they “romanticize eating disorders” and who regularly recommend losing weight: None of them will understand at all what it is about. And in a world of cinema where it’s easy to live on the surface, Aronofsky tries to bend the rules and make us forget in five minutes the fat suit and the speech he’s not interested in showing, focusing on the most shocking emotional journey of recent months One of the saddest, most endearing and wisest characters we’ve ever come across on the big screen. The extra cynicism hinges only on you as a viewer.
