Some Thoughts on “The Whale” (2022)
I just finished watching “The Whale,” and am unsure how I feel about it.
It is a deeply uncomfortable movie by design about a man slowly killing himself and trying to redeem his past mistakes. The film is made more discomforting by the 4:3 aspect ratio it’s presented in, trapping us in a claustrophobic box from which to view. It gives the film this sense of closeness to our characters, and has us feel like we are observing this from within the apartment all the events take place. This claustrophobia is a good thing, but I feel will be lost once the film is out of theaters and onto home screens for the most part. This feeling of being trapped; isolated with our characters will erode and become more of a “I see what you’re doing there,” afterthought than an experience you have with the film.
There’s nothing quite like seeing a movie in a theater. The experience cannot be replicated, just like the physicality of a live performance of music cannot be replicated. This in-authenticity will likely make the film unmemorable or otherwise unnoteworthy, defeating one of the main themes of the film: honesty. I felt the inauthentic way which Brendan Frasier’s character, Charlie’s students speak about the essays he’s making them write. These canned responses which talk about the intended theme of a novel rather than the authentic emotions and feelings which the novel makes you feel. This movie is nothing if not for emotion, and it shines in its melodrama, even when that same melodrama pulls you out of the experience, if only briefly. There’s a point where everything comes crashing down which feels almost too pathetic or too heightened, only to send us back with the positivity of Charlie's character.
Any message of the film must be looked at through that lens: emotion, and authenticity. On the one hand the film presents unbreaking nihilism for the majority, while giving us a message of positive redemption. No one in the film is without redemption, but the people who see through the bullshit are not rewarded, but told to stop. At one point, Charlie sends his students a call to say something honest, and is promptly fired for it. This is presented as the college firing him for teaching authenticity rather than the fundamentals to writing in his 101 class. This dichotomy on its face seems understandable, as often academic pursuits seem at odds with authenticity, but rather than providing a resolution to this, the film simply states that the world will dislike you for being honest. Rather, I’d like to urge us to analyze this from a perspective that this dichotomy doesn’t exist. You can learn fundamentals of “how to write,” and still be honest and authentic. This is a point that the film harps on quite often, and feels bitter, while still being understandable, and relatable.
Charlie’s redemption is one that feels satisfying but as of writing this also doesn’t guide me to feel the grand emotion that the film wants me to. This is not to say that the movie is not interesting or worth a watch, but rather that I’m unsure how to feel after being told that everyone can be redeemed, and that good writing or storytelling is writing and storytelling which is honest. It becomes a lecture at a certain point, where the film’s idea of a good story is very well written, but falls flat due to the melodrama of the characters themselves. I don’t know how to tell you that you’ll enjoy a movie. I don’t know how to tell anyone that a movie isn’t worth seeing or is. Charlie’s eventual redemption comes in the form of him forming a human connection with his daughter. He is the only one that believes that she can still grow up to be a good person, and help others.
People are worthy of redemption, even if you cannot stand to be around them anymore. That is the final message the film leaves us with, and one that is good. As Marxists, it is tempting to forget that individual interactions with one another are less important than the state of the world. We’ve all met a person who thinks this way. Someone who believes that every interaction they have with another human is indicative of the greater sociological drama which is unfolding in our world. Films like “The Whale” bring us that individual interaction, and the foulness that makes us human and isn’t going away. It’s in the search for answers to this depressing thought that differentiates our characters (one finds comfort in God, one finds comfort in booze, one in eating, one in caring) and presents the broader issue at hand. The accuracy with which the film portrays the way depression can strike people differently is the strongest part of the film. “The Whale” affirms that in every cultural showing, whether it’s a movie, play, or book, there is something to be gained and something to enjoy.
-Smelley