The Whale

Venice film festival: It's hard to feel much sympathy for Brendan Fraser's morbidly obese English teacher in this much anticipated but disappointing return ...

Fraser does an honest job in the role of Charlie, and Hong Chau brings a welcome fierceness and sinew to the drama, but this sucrose film is very underpowered. Alongside it all, there is Charlie’s love of literature, especially Melville’s Moby-Dick, and Charlie is glumly aware that he is the whale, the huge bloated entity that no one wants to hunt down or obsess over or even think about at all. He claims to the group that his laptop camera isn’t working, which is why the square on the screen where his face should be is blank.

It'll be no surprise if 'Black Swan' director Darren Aronofsky's psychological drama wins a hatful of awards.

A UK release date is yet to be announced. In spite of his decrepitude, he is a sweet natured and optimistic character with an engaging sense of humour. Beneath all its blubber, though, this turns out to be a film with a very big heart. At times, you wonder why a filmmaker as sophisticated as Aronofsky is resorting to such manipulative tactics. He lies to his students that the camera on his laptop is broken so he doesn’t have to reveal himself in his full grotesquerie. Then, most important to Charlie, there is his estranged daughter, Ellie ( In its lighter moments, The Whale is disconcertingly reminiscent of American family sitcoms full of eccentric relatives and friends who bicker incessantly but love each other really. One regular visitor Liz, (Hong Chau), a sharp-tongued but affectionate woman who has a demanding job yet still tends to his medical needs and keeps him in food. Now, covered in layers of prosthetics, he gives one of those sad-eyed performances, like a dog with an injured paw begging for a bone, that many audiences will find very hard to resist. “Who would want me to be part of their life?” he asks plaintively toward the end of the film. Watching it, you feel grossly manipulated but the approach is undeniably effective. He sweats profusely, vomits into dustbins and almost chokes on the junk food he gorges himself on.

Brendan Fraser brings a big heart to Darren Aronofsky's faltering adaptation of a stage play about a man eating himself to death.

He seeks out his daughter Ellie (Stranger Things’ Sadie Sink), and tries to make amends for the rage and hurt that filled the hole in her life when he left nine years before. But there’s an extra element of shame and taboo attached to compulsive eating; something that Aronofsky confronts with the unflinching and forthright manner in which he uses the character’s (prosthetic-enhanced) body. Smeared in the remnants of past meals, slicked with an oily layer of sweat, Aronofsky stresses the grotesque quality and the indignity of Charlie’s miserable life. And fans of the more spiritual end of Aronofsky’s career spectrum will be gratified to discover that the film is closer in tone to The Fountain than it is to Mother! Following on from its premiere in competition in Venice and a slot in TIFF, the film is likely to be a talking point release and, with word of mouth support, could achieve some degree of theatrical momentum. But since the chronically obese online English teacher is a shut-in who rarely leaves his sofa, let alone his apartment, his actual first-hand experiences of “people” is limited.

At its Venice world premiere, Darren Aronofsky's 'The Whale' received a seven-minute standing ovation; star Brendan Fraser was visibly moved.

In that process, he’s on his journey of salvation.” Star [Brendan Fraser](https://deadline.com/tag/brendan-fraser/) was visibly moved as he was embraced by his director while extended applause rang throughout the auditorium. makes adjectives such as ‘brave’ and ‘fearless’ seem almost meaningless” and said The Whale is “cutting the line to put a never-better Brendan Fraser at the front of the Best Actor race.”

In Darren Aronofsky's “The Whale,” the onetime leading hunk is earning Oscar chatter for his role as a 600-pound recluse, though the emotional actor is ...

It was clear from the supportive applause at the news conference that people were rooting for the actor, and that personal narrative of a career comeback combined with a showy role could take Fraser to the front of the pack. “I needed to learn to move in a new way,” Fraser said. “I looked different in those days,” he said. But when he was asked about that buzz and what it meant for the future of his career, Fraser said softly that it remained to be seen. And I think that is Charlie.” “It just didn’t move me, it didn’t feel right.” “Thank you for the warm reception,” Fraser said. I even felt a sense of vertigo at the end of the day when all the appliances were removed, just as you would feel stepping off the boat onto the dock here in Venice.” [Hong Chau](https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/25/movies/hong-chau-downsizing-stereotyping.html)) warns Charlie that his blood pressure is so severe that if he doesn’t change his ways or go to a hospital, he’ll almost certainly die. And whenever the clearly emotional Fraser managed to make it to the end of a statement without his eyes filling with tears, the room full of journalists burst into encouraging applause. Stories like this are possible because of our deep commitment to original reporting, produced by a global staff of over 1,700 journalists who have all dedicated themselves to helping you understand the world. Aronofsky wanted to mount the movie for years but could never land on the right lead.

Venice, Italy (AP) -- Brendan Fraser is having a moment at the Venice International Film Festival.