I watched The Whale (2022) and as someone who used to be morbidly obese, daddy issues, and had an eating disorder, I cried so hard

Submitted by HistoryFreak30 t3_11e40i3 in movies

(SPOILER)

I watched the film for the first time today and I cried really hard.

I can relate to both Charlie and Ellie. Charlie's binge eating and hiding behind the camera was relatable to me because back when I was morbidly obese, I would just hide in my room and eat all the junk foods I wanted because it cover ups my anxiety. When he started to cry and binge-eat, I cried so fucking hard. It was a reminisce of my childhood and teen years.

As for Ellie, I can relate in a sense that my own father wasn't emotionally there for me and clearly had his own issues hence I would have this anger and resentment towards him at times.

I cried like a baby when Charlie said to Ellie "You are beautiful" even though she acts shitty towards him. Idk man but this whole movie is a tear-jerker and I am glad I watched this.

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Sea-Chicken7901 t1_jacjb38 wrote

I saw the Whale and I couldn't leave the theater for about 10 minutes after because I was still sobbing uncontrollably. The emotional kick on the gut was enough to knock the wind out of me for the next few days.

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JurassicBasset t1_jack4ph wrote

I haven’t been able to stop thinking about movie, it was fantastic. And while Brendan Fraser and Hong Chau are getting most of the attention, Sadie Sink, Ty Simpkins and Samantha Morton gave amazing performances as well.

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JStormtrooper t1_jaclhae wrote

Very engaging movie, all of the characters were well act and well written. Loved the complexity of my emotions towards all of them and how there was nobody clearly in the right or wrong.

It was a very “human” movie.

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Agamemnon420XD t1_jacrgeb wrote

Good for you. I didn’t cry but I almost did. It was an extremely touching movie.

I tell people, Whale is like Black Swan, except far more relatable, because instead of being about a person striving for perfection, it’s just about a person, a failure, trying to accomplish at least one thing good for the world before dying, and about how humans care about each other so deeply.

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Uneequa t1_jacucaj wrote

Yeah, the part where he went all-in on food was hard to watch.

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GodFlintstone t1_jacw9pl wrote

There has been a ton of discussion on the question of whether or not the film is fatphobic.

I didn't see the film that way at all but I'm curious about what you think.

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HistoryFreak30 OP t1_jacxu9k wrote

Replying to GodFlintstone (#2,107,026)

I never saw it as fatphobic. It even depicts what morbidly obese people go through and we are all just human beings. I am glad someone made a movie out of this showing that morbidly obese are not "lazy" but they have mental health issues and food addiction.

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Dear-Ninja-6400 t1_jadgbiz wrote

I cried when he choked and dropped his sammich...then the nurse picked it up off the floor and gave it back to him to finish chowing down on. And that is his friend......

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Dear-Ninja-6400 t1_jadgerx wrote

I also really liked when the alpha girl yelled. She plays a good crazy chick.

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Winged_Pegasus t1_jads6ki wrote

The only thing I knew going in was a clip from the BAFTAs where Hong Chau tickles Brendan Fraser, and I was like, "what the fuck is this?"

But I watched it and it was an excellent film. I should have considered harder that it was an Aronofsky movie, so it wasn't going to be a fat suit tickle fight movie. Which was a real fear.

All the performances were excellent. I really enjoyed the scenes between Sink and Simpkins.

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PermaBanDodger t1_jaegmw9 wrote

I watched it and I walked away thinking to myself "I need to lose some fucking weight before I end up like this poor bastard"

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MJDeebiss t1_jaex6fw wrote

I thought it was a good watch and Brendan and Hong Chau were fantastic. I think everyone acted well, actually, but Ellie was just written too over-the-top mean for me where I almost rolled my eyes as soon as she started acting out every time. I mean, I know kids can act like that, hell I probably have, but not that sustained. That's my only dislike really. I was refreshed her Mom called her on it.

I guess I liked all the acting better than the whole of the movie.

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