With The Whale’s full nationwide rollout just over a week away, a final trailer for Darren Aronofsky’s latest drama has been released. The film, which has garnered both criticism for the handling of its subject matter and praise for Brendan Fraser’s moving lead performance, is showing in select theaters now.
In the new teaser, the audience gets a fuller glimpse of Charlie’s limited life, and especially his struggle to reintegrate his estranged daughter Ellie (a surlier-than-ever Sadie Sink) into it. As they sit in Charlie’s living room when Ellie comes to visit, he reminds Ellie—who he hasn’t seen since she was eight years old—that she’s an amazing person, and an incredible daughter. “Are you actually trying to parent me right now?” she shoots back. He solemnly (and heartbreakingly) responds: “Who would want me to be a part of their life?”
Although Charlie’s main focus in making amends is Ellie, she’s not the only person in his life he’s distanced from. When Charlie teaches a virtual crew of English students, he keeps his camera off— the college kids only experience him as a disembodied voice echoing from a black screen marked “Instructor.” But his care for watching them succeed and treating them with kindness is palpable in his speech, even in the brief class scene the trailer shows.
The new trailer also allows Charlie some moments of levity amid the pain—namely, a sweet and giggly moment with his caregiver Liz (Hong Chau). Nothing, however, changes the somber overarching tone of the project. Charlie is making amends at what he clearly feels to be the end of his life and trying to put a little more goodness out into the world while he has the chance.
The Whale, which is playing in select theaters now, will see a nationwide release just ahead of the holidays, on December 21.