There’s a lot of sensitive subtext shrouding Darren Aronofsky’s The Whale, which hits U.S. theaters on Dec. 9. Based on Samuel D. Hunter’s 2012 off-Broadway play of the same name, The Whale follows Brendan Fraser as Charlie, a reclusive 600-pound gay English teacher grieving the death of his partner, while trying to reconcile with his estranged daughter Ellie (Stranger Things’ Sadie Sink) before he dies. The A24 psychological drama—the Black Swan filmmaker’s first movie since 2017’s Mother!—has garnered a lot of attention for revitalizing Fraser’s career with a leading role that’s generating Oscar buzz.