The Whale
Rent & Buy
A reclusive English teacher suffering from severe obesity attempts to reconnect with his estranged teenage daughter for one last chance at redemption.
What critics thought
The Whale splits critics sharply: nearly everyone agrees Brendan Fraser's central performance is the film's beating heart, but a substantial bloc argues that Aronofsky's direction and Samuel D. Hunter's script exploit rather than empathize with their subject, reinforcing anti-fat stereotypes through a prosthetic-suited protagonist and a camera that treats his body as spectacle. The debate is less about whether the film is well-made than about whether its empathy is genuine or merely performed.
“Aronofsky and Fraser have taken substantive risks, in the name of an insistent empathy.”
Glenn Kenny·RogerEbert.com
“Fraser seals his comeback in a sensational film of rare compassion.”
Robbie Collin·The Telegraph
“we really only know that because the movie shouts it at us”
Richard Lawson·Vanity Fair
“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”
Mark Hanson·Slant Magazine
“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.”
Katie Rife·Polygon
Accolades
Genres
Drama
Cast & Crew
Darren AronofskyDirector
Brendan FraserCharlie
Sadie SinkEllie
Ty SimpkinsThomas
Hong ChauLiz
Samantha MortonMary
Sathya SridharanDan the Pizza Man
Allison AltmanYoung Mary (uncredited)
Lance OppenheimJulian (uncredited)
Wilhelm SchalaudekLiam (uncredited)
Glenn MullinsYoung Charlie (uncredited)
Rob SimonsenComposer
Samuel D. HunterWriter
Matthew LibatiqueCinematographyFrom the studio
The Whale
A reclusive English teacher suffering from severe obesity attempts to reconnect with his estranged teenage daughter for one last chance at redemption.
What critics thought
The Whale splits critics sharply: nearly everyone agrees Brendan Fraser's central performance is the film's beating heart, but a substantial bloc argues that Aronofsky's direction and Samuel D. Hunter's script exploit rather than empathize with their subject, reinforcing anti-fat stereotypes through a prosthetic-suited protagonist and a camera that treats his body as spectacle. The debate is less about whether the film is well-made than about whether its empathy is genuine or merely performed.
“Aronofsky and Fraser have taken substantive risks, in the name of an insistent empathy.”
Glenn Kenny·RogerEbert.com
“Fraser seals his comeback in a sensational film of rare compassion.”
Robbie Collin·The Telegraph
“we really only know that because the movie shouts it at us”
Richard Lawson·Vanity Fair
“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”
Mark Hanson·Slant Magazine
“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.”
Katie Rife·Polygon
Accolades
Genres
Drama
Cast & Crew
Darren AronofskyDirectorBrendan FraserCharlieSadie SinkEllieTy SimpkinsThomasHong ChauLizSamantha MortonMarySathya SridharanDan the Pizza ManAllison AltmanYoung Mary (uncredited)Lance OppenheimJulian (uncredited)Wilhelm SchalaudekLiam (uncredited)Glenn MullinsYoung Charlie (uncredited)Rob SimonsenComposerSamuel D. HunterWriterMatthew LibatiqueCinematographyFrom the studio
Rent & Buy