“These assignments don’t matter. This course doesn’t matter. College doesn’t matter. These amazing, honest things that you wrote, they matter.”


Do yourself a favor and watch this film.

I was not the only one sobbing in the theater.

Anyone who claims this film "lacks empathy", "leers and ogles in disgust", or is "fatphobic" is simply betraying their own lack of empathy.

Brendan Fraser gives his all in this heartbreaking performance, a sublime control over his eyes with the ability to demonstrate pure kindness. I couldn't help it, I was immediately moved by his character and when Sadie Sink's character comes in it's where the magic happens. A clash between teen angst and fatherly love, ***The Whale*** explores themes of family, faith and honesty. A look at morbid obesity which felt crude and touching but I have to say some scenes felt purposefully comedic?? Every character interactions from the support cast felt meaningfull and elevated Charlie's character. Great performances, claustrophobic setting, peak father daughter drama and I swear I could smell that appartment. The ending might feel over-the-top for some but i'm on board with it. I got emotional in the last 15 minutes or so, felt cathartic and dug out my empathy.

Not amazing, but I enjoyed it. The performances were excellent, and they were more than enough for me to rate this favourably.

Quite disappointing.
Too many scenes of characters being abusive to each other, without remorse nor acknowledging that they're doing harm.
The film could've had a lot of teachable moments but too many concepts, ideas and behaviors were left unexplored: disgust, intolerance, child neglect, religion, rituals, expressing gratitude etc. etc.

Fuck religious people and fuck Liz for enabling his disordered eating.

Wow. What a sad depressing movie sheesh.

_The Whale_ is a lesson in empathy that, perhaps, comes across as a little too heavy-handed, wallowing too long in its tragedy along the way. It's frustrating to watch - despite the underlying lesson at hand, the characters don't tend to show much empathy for each other. The whole movie just feels like people shouting at each other and not _with_ each other. They're all laying their tribulations bare, but it takes everyone else way too long to listen, creating a repetitive cycle of door bursts open -> shouting -> someone cries and storms out. However, that frustration is genuine - the performances on display are outstanding to an ultimately redeeming degree. Fraser and Chau come across as the strongest, but each performance is still praiseworthy and keeps things engaging despite the repetitiveness.

Despite these compelling performances, the overall package tends to allude to itself and just misses the mark that it set for itself. Perhaps it's a sign that it couldn't entirely escape the trappings of its stage origins, but it certainly does its best to transcend them.

Devastating. Just devastating. The entire cast did an amazing job here. So moving.

WOW, what a performance! I hope Brendan wins the Oscar!!!

Just give Brendan Fraser the Oscar already!

Quite simply a beautiful film, heartbreaking and so damn beautiful with a great role played by Brendan Fraser and a superb supporting cast, one of the best films of the year so far if not the best.

I heard the praise for Brendan Frasier during this movie's debut and thought "It's gotta be hyperbole for the sake of promotion. There's no way it can be worthy of that".

It wasn't. It was.

What was being said after the movie's debut was for the most part worthy and accurate. This to me was an absolutely brilliant movie, amazingly told. I wanted to cry multiple times through the movie. When it was over, I wanted to walk out of the cinema and directly in to another cinema that was about to show it. But there wasn't any.

So powerful. So heartbreaking. So beautiful.

The obvious point is that this is Brendan Fraser’s movie and he really nails it. I think I had a different read on how this ends up than others did so I think there is more here than some people give it credit for, outside of a movie that opens with a 600lb man jacking off to gay porn

Based on the play with the same name, The Whale is such an impactful piece. I found myself so heartbroken watching how the main character Charlie, played by Brendan Fraser, deals with his depression and life regrets. Speaking of Brendan Fraser, such a sweet soul and he played the role beautifully. I was able to go to an opening night Q&A with him speaking. My favorite part was hearing how they wanted to make Charlie look human despite how you may see other movies with actors in "fat suits". This movie also has no small roles. Sadie Sink and Hong Chau as supporting actresses uplifted the turmoil that one man’s suffering can ripple to the people around you. Definitely adding this movie to my list of favorite Darren Aronofsky films.

Drama which does not impress. Reasons include the acting and the plot a bit flat, the plot construction a bit predictable and the ending a bit silly, the unimpressive cinematography, and the fact that in Europe such plot would not be realistic.

Wow, amazing movie. A felling like nothing else. :sob:

I rated this a 5 out of 10. The story was touching and yes I cried my face off, but I agree with the discourse around this movie that it's exploitative and essentially invites the viewer to just gawk at the fat person. Fraser was great, but Aronofsky has no subtlty or tact.

Really not a bad movie, but I really wouldn't call it a tear jerker if that's what you're looking for.

Brendan Frasier is excellent, but the movie isn't Oscar worthy to me, but it will probably get nominated anyway.

For me, just another "MY KID IS SO SMART " messages, which begs the question, "WHY ARE THERE SO MANY IDIOTS IN THE WORLD?"