The Whale: A Memorino of a Losing Relationship with an Interacting Missionary (Ty Simpkins)

Film festivals can produce a kind of collective euphoria, but watching “The Whale,” it’s hard not to be baffled by the prolonged standing ovation that greeted the film in Venice, even allowing for the understandable appreciation associated with Fraser’s sort-of comeback – in a striking departure from his hunky “The Mummy” days – and the challenging logistics involved.

In a sense, the focus on a sad, lonely and self-destructive man has a good deal in common with director Darren Aronofsky’s 2008 movie “The Wrestler,” which also forced the main character to confront his own mortality.

Still, Charlie has more than that on his mind, reaching out to the now-high-school-age daughter (“Stranger Things’” Sadie Sink), who he abandoned when she was child, clearly eager to make peace with the girl before it’s too late. He was shocked by his size and told her that he let his weight get out of control, only to later provide details of the tragedy that preceded that.

Teaching college literary courses online but hiding his appearance from his bored-looking students, Charlie has his hermit life interrupted by a missionary (Ty Simpkins), who happens to knock on his door at an indelicate moment, as Charlie is experiencing one of several dangerous episodes.

“I don’t go to hospitals,” Charlie tells him, which brings to mind the movie “Leaving Las Vegas,” in the sense that the central character hopelessly states at the outset that he has no intention of seeking to confront or address the condition that’s gradually killing him.

The daughter is an exception, joining a long line of badly written teen movie stars, seemingly devoid of rage or tears.

What Happened to Brendan Fraser in “The Closed Invasion of the Family” (The Lost Love of Charlie)? (The film is about a very human being)

The film should ask us to see Charlie, the protagonist played by Brendan Fraser, as a person, to understand his grief and mourn with him, to hope for him to pull his life together. But that isn’t how the movie was filmed. Most audiences will see the spectacle of a 600-pound man unwilling to care for himself, grieving the loss of his partner who died by suicide, eager to die himself, and using food as the means to that end. The disdain the filmmakers seem to have for their protagonist is constant, inescapable. It hurts to have all this talent and award winning creators working on a film about a very human being. What, exactly, is the point of that?