Phantom Thread (2017)

Introduction

Paul Thomas Anderson is no stranger to making films about neuroticism and narcissism and he is also no stranger when it comes to the meticulous work of Sir Daniel Day-Lewis. In his final film before retirement, Sir Daniel Day-Lewis brings the fashion designer Reynolds to life in a fantastic effort at creating one of the most charismatically crazy characters of the last 25 years of cinema. A blend of psychodrama, romance and high drama, Lesley Manville holds her own as the sister trying to keep this man well grounded, the backbone to the whole movie. As for Vicky Krieps, she is the only person who could match the level of intensely thrilling and passionate that Sir Daniel brought to the film himself.

Plot

A fashion designer is in peril when he tries to turn his newest love into his latest muse. It becomes a fight of what is right to him and what is good for the psychological health of basically everyone else. Sir Daniel Day-Lewis portrays a man who finds love difficult, has a strange thing about sewing secrets into clothes, misses his mother and quite possibly has a secret hatred for his sister. With some killer scripting and some wonderful shots of Vicky Krieps in beautiful dresses, this film proves to be more than a psychodramatic nightmare of love and all its abuses. It is a powerful critique of the male-centric world in which women serve as to be seen and not heard. I would like you to tell that to Lesley Manville in this film though, she is literally shoving that man around. She is really the whole backbone to this movie and I say that again with the most tenacity that I can muster.

Appraisals and Awards

Winner of the Academy Award for Best Costume Design, this film would go on to win most of its awards for director Paul Thomas Anderson who looks like he put his whole soul into breaking Sir Daniel just before his retirement (seriously, read the interviews, Sir Daniel was exhausted). The film actually has its own accolades and achievements page on Wikipedia so, if you don't know how many awards that is then you can check it out. I'm not writing all of them here because it is simply too many.

It also appeared on a lot of top tens lists for 2017, with The Daily Beast and RogerEbert.com putting Phantom Thread at number one on their end of year lists. By the looks of things for the major magazines, Phantom Thread never really fell out of anyone's top ten.

Legacy

Phantom Thread has a legacy of being Sir Daniel Day-Lewis's final movie before retirement yes, but it also has a legacy of being Paul Thomas Anderson's last good film before whatever Licorice Pizza was. In the coming years, I can only assume that there will be more love for Phantom Thread and more appreciation of its visual brilliance as a movie. It has some wonderful scenes, some great scripting and obviously, fantastic actors all over it. It is one of those films that will become a 'film you have to see before you die.' As of yet though, the film is too young to say anything.

My Personal Opinion

Everyone and their pet dog knows what I think of Phantom Thread. It is one of my personal favourite movies of the last ten years. It has the brilliance of a romantic psychodrama that you can only really get the same feeling from when you watch a Bette Davis movie. The elegance of Phantom Thread which is juxtaposed directly to its subject matter, its abusive relationship themes, its terrifying secrecy and its claustrophobia play so well together it becomes part-romance-part-thriller in an instance. The atmosphere switching at very key moments. In my opinion, it is one of the most beautiful movies ever made.

Conclusion

I absolutely adore Sir Daniel Day-Lewis and I and many others wish he would come back to movies, but honestly what a way to go out. He really left his career on a high with this character possibly being his most complex and difficult to play. I understand Daniel Plainview is right there, but there is something about Reynolds which makes him both loveable and unlikeable at the same time. He is the charismatic nightmare that you just fall in love with but you will be sorry to do so. We are all Alma in this movie.