“The Whale” is an abhorrent celluloid, but it as well features fantabulous performances.

It gawks at the grotesquerie of its central figure beneath the guise of sentimentality, but it likewise offers precipitous exchanges between its characters that call alongside bracing honesty.

It’s the form of celluloid yous should in all probability reckon if alone to have got an informed, thoughtful word most it, but it’s likewise ane you lot in all probability won’t desire to scout.

This aligns it alongside Darren Aronofsky’s movies inwards full general, which tin can ofttimes be a challenging sit down. The manager is notorious for putting his actors (in addition to his audiences) through the wringer, whether it’s Jennifer Connolly’s drug addict inward “Requiem for a Dream,” Mickey Rourke’s aging athlete inwards “The Wrestler,” Natalie Portman’s obsessed ballerina inwards “Black Swan,” or Jennifer Lawrence’s besieged married woman in “mother!” (For the tape, I’one thousand a fan of Aronofsky’s piece of work inwards general.)

But the difference between those films as well as “The Whale” is their intent, whether it’s the splendor of their artistry or the thrill of their provocation. There’s a verve to those movies, an unpredictability, an undeniable daring, too a virtuoso fashion. They feature images yous’ve likely never seen before or since, but they’ll undoubtedly stay amongst yous afterward.

“The Whale” may initially experience gentler, but its main bespeak seems to be sticking the photographic camera inwards front of Brendan Fraser, encased inward a fatty adapt that makes him appear to weigh 600 pounds, as well as asking us to wallow in his deterioration. In theory, nosotros are meant to compassion him or at to the lowest degree detect sympathy for his physical and psychological plight past the film’s decision. But in reality, the overall vibe is ane of morbid fascination for this mount of a man. Here he is, knocking over an cease tabular array every bit he struggles to acquire up from the couch; there he is, cramming candy bars in his mouth as he Googles “congestive ticker failure.” We tin can tsk-tsk all nosotros like betwixt our mouthfuls of popcorn too Junior Mints piece watching Fraser’s Charlie gobble greasy fried chicken straight from the bucket or inhale a giant meatball sub with such alacrity that he nearly chokes to decease. The message “The Whale” sends us dwelling house amongst seems to live: Thank God that’s non us.

In working from Samuel D. Hunter’s script, based on Hunter’s phase play, Aronofsky doesn’t appear to be as interested inwards understanding these impulses in addition to indulgences every bit much as pointing too staring at them. His depiction of Charlie’s isolation within his squalid Idaho apartment includes a scene of him masturbating to gay porn with such gusto that he almost has a heart set on, a second made of equal parts shock value and shame. But then, in a jarring shift, the tone eventually turns maudlin amongst Charlie’s increasing martyrdom.

Within the extremes of this approach, Fraser brings more warmth and humanity to the role than he’s afforded on the page. We hear his phonation get-go; Charlie is a college writing professor who teaches his students online from behind the security of a dark foursquare. And it’s such a welcoming as well as resonant audio, full of decency too humor. Fraser’s been away for a while, but his contradictions have got ever made him an engaging covert presence—the contrast of his imposing physique together with playful spirit. He does thus much amongst his eyes hither to pass on us a glimpse into Charlie’s sweet but tortured person, in addition to the subtlety he’s able to convey goes a long agency toward making “The Whale” tolerable.

But he’s too saddled with a screenplay that spells out every emotion in ways that are so clunky as to live groan-inducing. At Charlie’s most desperate, panicky moments, he soothes himself past reading or reciting a student’s dear essay on Moby Dick, which—in part—gives the celluloid its title together with will accept on increasing significance. He describes the elusive white whale of Herman Melville’s new as he stands up, shirtless, too lumbers across the living room, downwardly the hall, in addition to toward the bedchamber alongside a walker. At this minute, you’re meant to marvel at the elaborate makeup in addition to prosthetic work on display; yous’re more than probable to curl your eyes at the writing.

“He thinks his life volition live ameliorate if he can simply kill this whale, but inwards reality, it won’t help him at all,” he intones inwards a painfully obvious chip of symbolism. “This volume made me think virtually my own life,” he adds every bit if we couldn’t figure that out for ourselves.

A few visitors interrupt the loneliness of his days, chiefly Hong Chau every bit his nurse too longtime friend, Liz. She’s deeply caring but as well no-nonsense, providing a crucial spark to these otherwise dour proceedings. Aronofsky’s longtime cinematographer, the brilliant Matthew Libatique, has lit Charlie’s flat inwards such a relentlessly nighttime too dim fashion to signify his sorrow that it’s oppressive. Once you lot realize the entirety of the celluloid will have identify within these cramped confines, it sends a shiver of dread. And the choice to order this level inwards the boxy, 1.33 aspect ratio farther heightens its sense of dour claustrophobia.

But then “Stranger Things” star Sadie Sink arrives as Charlie’s rebellious, estranged daughter, Ellie; her mom was married to Charlie earlier he came out every bit a gay human. While their start coming together inward many years is laden with exposition well-nigh the hurting in addition to awkwardness of their fourth dimension apart, the ii eventually settle into an interesting, prickly rapport. Sink brings immediacy in addition to accessibility to the role of the sullen but brilliant teenager, and her presence, like Chau’s, improves “The Whale” considerably. Her casting is too spot-on inwards her resemblance to Fraser, especially inwards her expressive eyes.

The arrival of yet another visitor—an earnest, insistent church building missionary played by Ty Simpkins—feels like a sum contrivance, even so. Allowing him inside the flat repeatedly makes null sense, even within the context that Charlie believes he’s dying in addition to wants to make amends. He even says to this sweetness young man: “I’one thousand non interested inward existence saved.” And yet, the exchanges between Sink too Simpkins furnish some much-needed life too emotional truth. The subplot most their unlikely friendship feels similar something from a totally different motion-picture show in addition to a much more than interesting 1.

Instead, Aronofsky insists on veering between cruelty and melodrama, amongst Fraser stuck inwards the center, a curiosity on display.