From Darren Aronofsky comes The Whale, the story of a reclusive English teacher who attempts to reconnect with his estranged teenage daughter. Starring Brendan Fraser and based on the acclaimed play by Samuel D. Hunter.

For in-depth thoughts on The Whale, please see my colleague Brandon Lewis’ review from its TIFF screening here.

Video Quality

The Whale comes to Blu-Ray in a very detailed 1080p presentation in its intentionally claustrophobic 1.33:1 original aspect ratio that impresses within its visual ambition in high definition. The clarity throughout is outstanding with subtle flourishes in the dingy production design and the makeup coming through perfectly. While relatively reserved, the color saturation is great with the palette pushing slightly warm.

Nearly the entire film takes place within this apartment with only occasional glimpses outside to the larger world. The film uses lighting and shadows effectively to build up a specific atmosphere in the sparsely lit apartment. Skin tones are natural to the lighting conditions with a grand amount of minute detail on display. Black levels are pretty deep and do not fall victim to any noticeable digital noise or errors of the sort. This is not the most visually dynamic film, but it looks quite striking as presented here. Lionsgate Home Entertainment has delivered an outstanding transfer with this one.

Audio Quality

The Blu-Ray disc comes with a DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track that is deceptively engaging. The track really springs to life with the environmental sounds that flesh out the very insular life of Charlie. The dialogue comes through clearly without ever being overshadowed by the environmental effects. The sound design is carefully rendered with all of the sounds positioned just right in the mix. The score is showcased impeccably here with an enveloping use of the surround speakers. The environmental effects create a soundscape that matches the underlying tension permeating through the apartment. Activity in the low end is decent, but it mostly aids in providing some texture to a few odd moments. This is a well-rounded audio presentation that brings the movie to life in a really substantial way. There are optional English SDH and Spanish subtitles provided.

Special Features

People Are Amazing – Making The Whale: A pretty great 25-minute featurette in which the cast and creative team discuss the inspirations for writing the play, the decision to adapt the material for the screen, finding the visual vocabulary for the narrative, the quest to find the right performers, the complexities of each character, the collaboration during production and much more.

Sounds Of The Ocean – Scoring The Whale: An eight-minute piece with composer Rob Simonsen in which he discusses his ideas for crafting these musical themes, the interplay between the characters and more.

Final Thoughts

The Whale is a very raw and intense interpersonal drama which does not always hit the emotional touchstones it is striving to throughout the narrative. This is partly due to the direction of Darren Aronofsky which feels a bit detached considering the foundational elements of the story. Brendan Fraser makes up for this a great deal by delivering a very vulnerable, open-hearted performance that smooths over the occasionally voyeuristic framing. Hong Chau matches the excellence of Fraser in her standout role. The film is not completely misguided, but it needed to do some more emotional labor to justify where it ends up. Lionsgate Home Entertainment has released a Blu-Ray featuring a standout A/V presentation and a couple of insightful special features. If you are worried that this film may offend you, it is probably better off not wasting your time, but those who are open to the experience will find an emotional journey in need of slightly more finesse. Recommended

The Whale is currently available to purchase on Blu-Ray, DVD and Digital.

Note: Images presented in this review are not reflective of the image quality of the Blu-Ray.

Disclaimer: Lionsgate Home Entertainment has supplied a copy of this disc free of charge for review purposes. All opinions in this review are the honest reactions of the author.