The Whale

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The Movie in 3 Sentences

• Charlie, a reclusive English teacher living with severe obesity, tries to reconnect with his estranged teenage daughter before his health gives out. He is severely depressed, extremely obese, and just sustaining his life for another day to his death bed. The story unfolds almost entirely inside his apartment, where visitors from his past and present force old wounds back into the open.
• Although the film is deeply steeped in sorrow and depression, I can see why so many people connected with it. There’s something deeply human about everyone in the story, even when they’re difficult or self-destructive. Fraser tugs at your heartstrings as Charlie struggles through both his physical condition and the emotional wreckage of his life. I also thought it was bold that the film tries to find something beautiful and tender in characters who, at first glance, aren’t presented as conventionally attractive or easy to embrace.
• Knowing some of the personal hardships Brendan Fraser went through made his performance even more affecting. Watching him return and prove that he still had this kind of performance in him was worth seeing on its own. It’s a beautiful, deeply vulnerable performance—and one that felt long overdue for him.