Darren Aronofsky is one of my favourite film directors. His delirious, expressionist work continually explores the protagonist’s extreme mental states, making us question whether what we see really happens or is just a figment of the character’s restless mind. (You can read my Jungian analysis of his film mother! here)
Unfortunately, despite phenomenal casting (especially Brendan Fraser as the morbidly obese protagonist, Charlie), Aronofsky’s newest film, The Whale, disappointed me.
Aronofsky and writer Samuel D. Hunter, who adapted his own stage play, serve us a story that fetishises the obese body. It does not even try to dig deeper into the complexity of the disease, ignoring the issue of societal fatphobia. The film primes us to stare at Charlie with disgust, his body being a freak show. Obesity is used to move the narrative forward without exploring the subject ethically.
Charlie is a writing instructor teaching online courses that allows him to hide from students, claiming his laptop camera is broken. He is being cared for by his nurse and friend, Liz (Hong Chau). Charlie is gay who abandoned his family, including his daughter Ellie ( Stranger Things star Sadie Sink), to live with one of his students. Unfortunately, their romance was without hap[py ending as Chartlie’s partner committed suicide. This caused our protagonist to overeat so compulsively that he became morbidly obese. Charlie refuses to go to the hospital, claiming he doesn’t have insurance. What is not mentioned, however, is the societal fatphobia prevalent also in the medical community. The patients are often ashamed, and the doctors refuse the treatment.
The film takes place almost entirely in Charlie’s apartment, apart from the establishing shot of semi-rural Idaho. The small flat, always dark and greyish, illuminated by little table lamps, reminisces the ocean’s depth. Nevertheless, Charlie is not a whale in the open water but rather entrapped in the aquarium, displayed for our entertainment. His obesity is fetishised as the camera often makes circular movements around Charlie, stopping at the close-ups of his face, unravelling him from eating enormous portions of fast food. As I mentioned before, Brendan Fraser is excellent as Charlie and deserves the accolades he received from critics and audiences. The makeup and costume department also did a tremendous job of transforming Fraser into Charlie.
There is a subtle difference between empathy and sympathy, with empathy allowing for our deep identification with a character on screen. It is not just feeling for them, but feeling them. The Whale indicates mostly shallow sympathy, making the able-bodied viewers relieved for not being in Charlie’s position. However, Brendan Fraser’s extraordinary acting allows for rare glimpses of empathy.
The film is full of biblical symbols and motifs, with a young church missionary played by Ty Simpkins trying to convince Charlie to turn to Jesus for salvation. Charlie is also portrayed as a messiah, Jesus-like personae, only seeing good in people, despite their cruelty towards him. I suggest that this portrayal of obesity is unproductive and can be particularly harmful to those suffering from various eating disorders.
The Whale is a failed attempt to convey an important story: a story about someone living in a body that not only does not adhere to beauty standards but also a body on the verge of self-annihilation. Instead, we got a story about a man we pity and loathe but certainly do not perceive as someone to empathise with (despite Fraser’s exceptional acting). In a nutshell, Charlie’s suffering is only a narrative device to make us feel better about ourselves.