The church of Darren Aronofsky, where 'connection,' 'empathy,' 'love' are the sermon

Director Darren Aronofsky has a way of opening up performers to new emotional depths, explorations of inner pain that often seem to surprise even the actors themselves. So it has been with "The Whale," featuring a celebrated lead performance by Brendan Fraser.

In a recent interview for The Envelope podcast, Aronofsky said he didn't anticipate what he called the "Brenaissance," the outpouring of long-standing affection for Fraser. In the film, Fraser plays Charlie, a man whose weight has grown to some 600 pounds, putting his health at extreme risk. His main goal becomes to repair the relationship with his teenage daughter,