‘The Whale’ Review: Darren Aronofsky’s devout examination of the Seven Deadly Sins
Much has been made of Brendan Fraser’s performance in Darren Aronofsky’s new film The Whale, a buzz that has slowly grown since it was first shown to audiences at the Venice Film Festival in September last year. Fraser’s excellent portrayal of a reclusive and morbidly obese English literature lecturer prompted a six-minute standing ovation from the onlookers in Venice, and understandably so.
Fraser has now made his long-awaited return to the hearts and minds of cinema lovers after a rather torturous second phase of his acting career. In The Whale, Fraser has asserted his rightful claim to be uttered in the same breath as some of his most-talented contemporaries. Not just that, he has also illuminated the same attention to craft for which the likes of Christian Bale and Daniel Day-Lewis are famed.
To play the role of Charlie, Fraser spent around four hours of each filming day with up to 21 stone of prosthetics attached to his body. So it is no wonder he struggled to get up off the sofa, relying on a range of physical support aids to move around his ever-increasingly miserable house. While Fraser delivers the film’s several emotionally climactic moments of dialogue with unrivalled excellence, the beauty behind them comes down to the glorious writing of Samuel D. Hunter, whose 2012 play of the same name informed the film. However, it should be stressed that Rob Simonsen’s evocative score is relied upon far too heavily, as there is not a moment of revelatory poignancy during which the string sections do not rise. The unfortunate effect is that the superb dialogue cannot stand on its own two feet, overshadowing its dramatic weight.
The Whale is far more than just an emotional drama about an overweight man getting heavier and becoming estranged from his family because he is traumatised by the death of a loved one. At its heart, Aronofsky’s film admirably toys with the thematic conventions of literature, art and religion, too.
Of course, there is the rather obvious point that Charlie lectures English literature and that frequent references are made to the initially not-so-subtly seeming Herman Melville novel Moby Dick and its massive titular whale. Apart from that, there is the constant sense throughout the film that art and literature have the power to save us from both the banality of our ever-increasingly isolated, pathetic lives.
For instance, it is only upon urging his online students to abandon the usual way they conduct academic essays and suggesting that they write him something truthful instead that they inadvertently create something resembling genuine art. It moves Charlie to tears of admiration and prompts him to reveal his physical reality to them in return. In the same light, Charlie cherishes his estranged daughter Ellie’s eighth-grade essay on Melville’s novel so closely that it saves him from his impending doom on several occasions. This narrative strand reinforces the deliverance from humankind’s eternal fall that literature can affect, even despite Ellie not knowing that the essay was worth anything much at all.
And that very salvation is a vital proponent of The Whale in sum, for there is a profound religious narrative at the film’s core. This comes to light when a Christian missionary calls at Charlie’s to seemingly convert him to the ways and teachings of the Lord. Given Charlie’s history, he is remiss in accepting any sort of pious redemption, clearly on his own mission in trying to salvage what remains of his relationship with Ellie whilst continuing to eat himself to death.
But most importantly, that religious theme is played out in an examination of humankind’s ever-increasing willingness to live destructively, according to the Seven Deadly Sins. Ignoring, for now, the rather obvious ones (Greed, Gluttony and Sloth), we see that Charlie has forsaken his family with his unabated Lust, leading to the Envy of his wife, Mary, and the Wrath of his vengeful daughter. Meanwhile, whatever could possibly remain of Charlie’s Pride is what causes him to insist on not visiting the hospital, even knowing how close he is to Death’s Door.
Rather than a mere, tragic and moving dramatisation of Super Size Me, The Whale expressively delivers those stark undertones of religion and art throughout the film. It provides us with constant reminders that no matter how disgusting, pathetic or vengeful our lives become, there is always the potential to heal both ourselves and our formerly abandoned loved ones. Redemption is always possible, either through the words of reverent or secular teachings or perhaps just in the humble school assignment of a 13-year-old child.
