This is a movie about regret, self-destruction and forgiveness. Brendan Fraser is Charlie, a divorced gay man haunted by his lover’s death while struggling to connect with the defiant teenage daughter he abandoned years earlier. Charlie is weighted down literally as well as figuratively. This movie which takes place in a very small space is at times slightly oppressive with symbolism. Brendan Fraser’s heartbreaking performance elevates the film. There is a couple of literary motifs running throughout the story, including Charlie’s daughter’s analysis of Herman Melville’s Moby **** and Walt Whitman’s Song of Myself. While Charlie’s daughter rants about Whitman’s self-absorption, Charlies suggests that Whitman’s “self” is a larger concept, a universal one that “explodes” the concept of self. Could not the same be said about the phenomenon of extreme obesity, a dual and conflicted state of self-indulgence and self-reproach? Charlie is trapped within himself, at the near point of exploding with self-disgust. But ultimately it is forgiveness that frees him from himself. Is he being forgiven by his daughter or by himself? Is forgiveness a self-less act or the most extreme act of self-adulation. Here, the physical body is a symbol. Charlie’s lover would not eat; Charlie can’t stop eating; the woman who loved them both supplied food. This movie was somewhat of a circle-flailing, a pity-party without the pity. At times, it was hard to watch but just so you know I did cry at the end.
