The Whale

Charlie is a middle-aged, severely obese English teacher who hides in his small Idaho apartment, teaching college writing classes through video without ever showing his face. Over the course of a week he is visited by his sharp-tongued teenage daughter, his exhausted nurse friend Liz, and a naive young missionary, as he tries to repair old damage and find some meaning in his life. The film stays mostly inside the cramped living room, creating an intimate, heavy mood that mixes pain, dark humor, and unexpected tenderness.