The Academy Awards ceremony ended a few hours ago with awards, most of which came within the framework of expectations, but it also included a limited number of surprises, including the award for Best Actor in a Leading Role, which was won by American actor Brendan Fraser.
Fraser won for his performance in The Whale, a role that brought him back into the limelight after a long absence and added brilliance to the career of an actor who was expected only to succeed in mediocre commercial films.
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Darren Aronofsky's whale
The Whale is a psychological drama directed by Darren Aronofsky and written by Samuel D.
Hunter, based on his play of the same name, the film starring Brendan Fraser, Sadie Sink and Hong Chau, was shown for the first time at the Venice Film Festival, and then commercially, to earn $ 36 million against a budget of only $ 3 million.
Although critics were not generally impressed by the film itself, most of the comments were positive about the performance of the lead actor, who won the Critics' Choice Award and was nominated for the "Golden Globe" and BAFTA, in addition to the Oscar, while the film won the Oscar for Best Make-up.
The movie "The Whale" revolves around Charlie, an English language teacher, who gives lessons to students from home, and insists every time that his camera be turned off.
And one of the snapshots reveals the reason behind this, as Charlie suffers from severe obesity, and due to unhealthy food and his inability to move due to his weight, he suffers from high blood pressure and a heart disorder, and his days in life become numbered.
Charlie lives in complete loneliness, broken only by his friend, a nurse, Liz, who visits him from time to time to give him a little medical attention.
In his last days, Charlie tries to reconnect with his only daughter, whose relationship was severed after his divorce from her mother, at a time when the psychological crisis that caused his transformation from a teacher, husband, and father to a lonely overweight man who expects death at any moment unfolds.
As for Darren Aronofsky, he is a director who has many very shocking films. He does not avoid shots that expose the pain of his heroes, or their physical and psychological deterioration. He confronts his audience with the harsh reality.
And in the movie “The Whale” he practices the same cruelty, so the viewer ranges between intense pity for the hero and his tragic life, and disgust at his terrifying physical condition with its various consequences. In a field of contradictory feelings.
The director brings viewers closer to a situation they surely want to turn their backs on, forcing them into a relationship with the hapless hero who ruined his life, trying to place themselves inside his gigantic body and the maze of emotions he has to deal with before his death.
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Getting up after a fall
The two Oscars won by "The Whale" clearly indicate everything that is special about it: Brendan Fraser's performance, and his make-up, give a realistic portrayal of this flabby, gigantic body of the hero.
But apart from these two factors, what is the strength factor in the movie?
The script of "The Whale" is one of its most important weaknesses, as the hero was shown in a very angelic manner.
He made the mistake of indulging in grief so much that food became his only consolation, that he began a protracted process of self-destruction, which led him to isolation from the world and a slow death.
The scenario justified Charlie's distance from his daughter and his psychological separation from her, considering it a mistake from his ex-wife, who decided to take revenge on him by depriving him of his child.
On the one hand, the rationale may have made sense, but on the other hand, Charlie could easily reconnect with his daughter when he wanted to say goodbye to her before dying.
Why hasn't that happened before?
Unanswered question!
Aronofsky also presented his heroes in fixed frameworks, as this is good and that is evil, and there is a clear victim and a specific perpetrator, which deprived the film of the required depth, and imposed on the viewer specific feelings towards each character.
On the other hand, he tried to add a problematic aspect to his work by addressing the role of religion in the life of Charlie and those around him, and how it affected their decisions and destinies, but this was dealt with superficially in the end.
This makes us wonder what if "The Whale" starred anyone other than Brendan Fraser?
The actor who was excluded from Hollywood due to an assault by a member of the Golden Globes, only to be blacklisted, unemployed for years, and entered into a state of psychological distress as a result of it all.
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In all forums, the presence of Frazier and his return to the limelight was the most interesting point. The matter gradually turned into a celebration of the returning actor more than a celebration of his performance in the film, and sympathy towards him rather than towards the character of Charlie.
For all these reasons, in addition to the modest level of the script and the simple directing that relies on enhancing the feeling of imprisonment in the hero, whether in his body or in his home, we find that we are facing an ordinary movie from the 2022 films that got a distinguished status for the wrong reasons.
And after the Oscars are over, the most important question to ask: Which of the winning films will be remembered ten years later?
The movie "The Whale" will always be associated with Brendan Fraser as the film that gave him the Oscar and brought him back to light, but as a film independent of its hero, it may not carry an artistic value that makes it a real competitor in cinematic terms.