Sometimes it's difficult to change perceptions about an actor that, for much of his career, his been a bit of a goofball. I certainly tend to think of Brendan Fraser more for his roles in Encino Man, Dudley Do-Right, George of the Jungle, than any of his more dramatic work. But The Whale showed me that he really is a good actor who has been gone from the screen for too long.
As great an actor as he is though, I really didn't like The Whale as a movie overall. It seemed to me that Fraser's character Charlie wants and desires truth. Yet he is surrounded by and comfortable with people who don't give him the truth. His personal nurse, revealed to be the sister of his partner, not only gives him unhealthy foods that he desires, but brings him that food despite protesting that he's killing himself as he's morbidly obese. That, and she smokes around him as well. She's an enabler to him, even going so far as to get him a wheelchair instead of having him continue using his walker.
He keeps in contact with his ex wife, and is satisfied with her answer of the past 8 years that their daughter is just fine, when it's revealed later that she isn't. In the movie he seems dismayed that she kept the truth from him, yet he never pressed her, remaining to believe she was still the little girl at the beach on a nice family vacation.
When his daughter does come into his apartment, he sees her anger as wonderful, and does not admit to himself that his leaving deeply hurt her and that he was being absolutely selfish.
The one character that does try to consistently speak some truth to Charlie is the missionary kid Thomas, though he's hiding secrets of his own. Yet when he reveals that Charlie's lover was desiring spiritual fulfillment (as found in a highlighted passage in his Bible) that he didn't receive from the church and his own father, Charlie gets mad at him and begins to reject that revelation.
All of this is underlined by Charlie's insistence that his online students be honest in their writing for their assignments, while he hides himself away from their view (until the very end that is).
It just came across to me as a mixed bag of messages that had little coherence, and at times even seemed to undermine what it was trying to say. Overall, Fraser deserved his award for this movie for some fantastic acting, but I wish the story was good.
As great an actor as he is though, I really didn't like The Whale as a movie overall. It seemed to me that Fraser's character Charlie wants and desires truth. Yet he is surrounded by and comfortable with people who don't give him the truth. His personal nurse, revealed to be the sister of his partner, not only gives him unhealthy foods that he desires, but brings him that food despite protesting that he's killing himself as he's morbidly obese. That, and she smokes around him as well. She's an enabler to him, even going so far as to get him a wheelchair instead of having him continue using his walker.
He keeps in contact with his ex wife, and is satisfied with her answer of the past 8 years that their daughter is just fine, when it's revealed later that she isn't. In the movie he seems dismayed that she kept the truth from him, yet he never pressed her, remaining to believe she was still the little girl at the beach on a nice family vacation.
When his daughter does come into his apartment, he sees her anger as wonderful, and does not admit to himself that his leaving deeply hurt her and that he was being absolutely selfish.
The one character that does try to consistently speak some truth to Charlie is the missionary kid Thomas, though he's hiding secrets of his own. Yet when he reveals that Charlie's lover was desiring spiritual fulfillment (as found in a highlighted passage in his Bible) that he didn't receive from the church and his own father, Charlie gets mad at him and begins to reject that revelation.
All of this is underlined by Charlie's insistence that his online students be honest in their writing for their assignments, while he hides himself away from their view (until the very end that is).
It just came across to me as a mixed bag of messages that had little coherence, and at times even seemed to undermine what it was trying to say. Overall, Fraser deserved his award for this movie for some fantastic acting, but I wish the story was good.