Phantom Thread

2017’s Phantom Thread, written and directed by Paul Thomas Anderson.

Starring Daniel Day-Lewis, Lesley Manville, Vicky Krieps, Brian Gleeson, and Gina McKee.

Nominated for an Academy Award for Best Picture, Best Director (Paul Thomas Anderson), Best Actor (Daniel Day-Lewis), Best Supporting Actress (Lesley Manville), Best Original Score (Jonny Greenwood), and Best Costume Design (Mark Bridges).  

What is it about?

In 1950’s London, renowned fashion designer Reynolds Woodcock (Daniel Day-Lewis) runs his household/business like a swiss watch, with the help of his sister, Cyril (Lesley Manville). They regard Day-Lewis’ partners as temporary muses, to help him hit those crucial needlepoints until the next fashion auction comes and goes. One day while out for dinner, Day-Lewis meets Alma (Vicky Krieps), and the 2 start a relationship. While their attraction lines up well, will both parties have too much tension that will threaten to unspool their lives?

Why is it worth seeing?

Writer and director Paul Thomas Anderson is one of the most gifted auteurs working in Hollywood today. While Anderson made a name for himself with such works as 1996’s Hard Eight, 1997’s Boogie Nights, and 1999’s Magnolia, it’s his later works that have hyper focused on the relationships between people, and what makes individuals tick. Masterpieces such as 2007’s There Will be Blood and 2010’s The Master, eliminate all frills and gimmicks, and leave performers and the script nowhere to hide in front of Anderson’s brilliantly arranged camera.

Based loosely off of the influential couturiers, Cristóbal Balenciaga and Charles James, in the character of Reynolds Woodcock, Anderson creates not just a man- but a household. With Woodcock’s sister, Cyril, protecting both his interests and the family’s, their world is an obscure and hazy one, where all outside interests find things cloudier than the most opaque fabric. Muses are encouraged to rent, not buy, in the household’s byzantine silences and aggressions.

However, the strength of the film lies in Day-Lewis’ Woodcock and Manville’s Cyril meeting their match in Vicky Krieps’ Alma. Krieps has her work cut out for her, in a household where routine and vague power struggles are favoured over empowerment and clarity. But Krieps has her own weapons, and like a poisonous mushroom, cultivates them amongst the shade of the oppressive shadows her famous housemates cast (Kripes is robbed of a Oscar nomination here, as she goes toe to toe with Day-Lewis and emerges unscathed).

Phantom Thread isn’t a conventional love story (and is all the better for it). It’s more of a character study about the dynamics of a handful of people, and the weird truths that lay behind the garments that we wear. Hidden behind the complicated contours of silk emblazoned fabrics, lie the face behind the mirror. There you’ll find what people want. That’s the strange magic of Paul Thomas Anderson.

Rating:

4/5

Trailer: Click Here.