The Whale

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1:50

The Whale

R

2022

1h 57m

Drama

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Tomatometer

Popcornmeter

64%

Tomatometer

348 Reviews

91%

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1,000+ Verified Ratings

A reclusive English teacher suffering from severe obesity attempts to reconnect with his estranged teenage daughter for one last chance at redemption.

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Critics Consensus

Held together by a killer Brendan Fraser, The Whale sings a song of empathy that will leave most viewers blubbering.

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Audience Says

With a heartbreaking story brought powerfully to life by Brendan Fraser's starring performance, The Whale's as hard to watch as it is to look away from.

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Christina Newland

iNews.co.uk

09/18/2024

3/5

...a very authentically felt and still-uncomfortable topic from such a saddening standpoint.

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Udita Jhunjhunwala

Livemint

06/02/2023

Charlie [is] played brilliantly by Brendan Fraser...

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Jenny Nulf

Austin Chronicle

02/21/2023

2/5

There’s nothing consciously sinister about THE WHALE’s use of Charlie’s eating disorder (the original play was, in fact, written from experience), but Aronofsky’s adaptation is cruel, not just to Charlie’s character, but to all of them.

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Louis Skye (Ronita Roy Mohan)

Women Write About Comics

Aug 20

This film made me angry. The Whale is made by and for thin people, with little consideration for how fat people might feel watching it. Though touted as a compassionate portrayal of a fat character, I couldn’t find an ounce of that compassion on screen.

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Julian Singleton

Cinapse

Jul 11

With his new film, Aronofsky recognizes how agonizing grief and guilt may be, but that the rewards of redemption are worth far more than any possible act of retribution.

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Guillem Martinez Oya

Cinematismo

Jul 10

3.5/5

A film about how we deal with trauma in our social interactions. [Full review in Spanish]

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Nick

08/15/2023

Brendan Frasers performance is lives up to the hype.

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Jim P

03/28/2023

It was a great movie as far as the content.. We feel the language could have been cleaned up and it would have still been a great movie.

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Andrea

03/24/2023

Spectacular film that took us through a range of emotions for full depth of the human experience.

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Leo

03/22/2023

The 'Whale' was fabulous. Acting by alll characters was well done. Story line touching and deeply analyzes dysfunctional familly.

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April

03/21/2023

Im not sure how I feel about the movie. The actors were great but it was a depressing and hard to watch him eat.

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Susie R

03/20/2023

I really liked this movie, it was very moving at the end, had me in tears!

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Darren Aronofsky

Director

Brendan Fraser

Actor

Sadie Sink

Actor

Hong Chau

Actor

Ty Simpkins

Actor

Samantha Morton

Actor

The Whale: Movie Clip - You Left Me

0:48

The Whale: Movie Clip - People Are Amazing

0:55

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The Whale: Featurette - Charlie

1:29

How Brendan Fraser Became Charlie in The Whale

14:24

The Whale: Trailer 2

1:50

The Whale: Trailer 1

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Synopsis

A reclusive English teacher suffering from severe obesity attempts to reconnect with his estranged teenage daughter for one last chance at redemption.

Director: Darren Aronofsky
Screenwriter: Samuel D. Hunter
Distributor: A24
Production Co: Protozoa Pictures
Rating: R (Sexual Content|Language|Some Drug Use)
Genre: Drama
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Dec 21, 2022, Wide
Release Date (Streaming): Feb 21, 2023
Box Office (Gross USA): $17.2M
Runtime: 1h 57m
Sound Mix: Dolby Digital

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