The Whale (2022)

In a town in Idaho, Charlie (Brendan Fraser), a reclusive writing instructor with severe obesity and congestive heart failure, teaches classes online, hides from the world in his apartment and eats himself to death. Knowing his time is limited, he refuses his caregiver’s (Hong Chau) demand that he go to a hospital, choosing instead to spend his remaining time trying to reconnect with his estranged daughter (Sadie Sink).

Director Darren Aronofsky (Requiem for a Dream, Black Swan, Pi) has never shied away from incisive portraits of difficult topics. Based on a 2012 play by Samuel D. Hunter, The Whale is an empathetic but close-to-the-bone look at one more entry in the vast array of ways (and reasons) humans can destroy themselves. Now with three Academy Award nominations including Best Actor and Best Supporting Actress.