“Breaking the Cycle: An emotional journey of healing, redemption, and self-discovery through obesity and trauma.”

2023-04-26 13:51:00

26. April 2023, 15:51

238 to 134! Charlie’s (Brendan Fraser) blood pressure is a concern, as is his 600-pound body weight. The heart attack is constantly looking over his shoulder, most of the time the English teacher from Idaho is sitting on his living room sofa. A phone falling to the ground becomes a physical challenge.

Charlie is burdened with his past: First he left his family for a new life partner, then he died. Masses of chocolate bars, huge pizzas always with special toppings and baked chicken out of a cardboard tub became everyday therapy.

Willful meanness

“Charlie’s obesity is a reflection of the emotional trauma he’s trying to heal with overeating,” says lead actor Brendan Fraser. In a mixture of remorse, interest, reparation and – despite all the failures – real love, Charlie seeks contact with his now 17-year-old daughter. At first with moderate success.

Ellie (Sadie Sink) is prone to willful meanness even to her father. In any case, their worldview is pretty cloudy: “People are assholes.”

misfit figures

Director Darren Aronofsky groups outsider figures around Charlie in the struggle with their social environment and themselves: from the angry teenager to a seedy doorstep missionary, Charlie’s ex-wife, a drinker, to the gruff and lovable nurse Liz, who Charlie is medically but also as a friend assists. “We don’t need all of those characters who surrender to their fate with cynicism,” says director Darren Arronofsky.

man is good

And so it is Charlie who, in his unshakable belief in goodness, pays homage to an almost fairytale-like humanism, no self-pity, no shame for what he has done to himself, no disrespect from his daughter can stop him. However, there is no redemption and truthfulness without heartbreak, and not just because Charlie already has the best physical conditions for it.

Overview

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#Brendan #Fraser #Whale