Phantom Thread

Paul Thomas Anderson's films are not to be enjoyed as much as endured. That is not to say they aren't well made; Anderson is an auteur of the first order. (His is a fiercely creative imagination.) It's that his subject matter is often bleak, people behaving badly, irrationally, brutally, talking past each other and quite often past the audience too. Such is the case with Phantom Thread, reportedly the last picture the film's star Daniel Day-Lewis will make. 'Tis a pity that the celebrated actor will not be signing off with a more powerful role or substantial piece. Still, Day-Lewis, Anderson and the film are nominated for Oscars. Day-Lewis plays Reynolds Woodcock, a British dressmaker for the aristocracy who seduces and then abuses a young woman (Vicky Krieps), who though his model and lover turns out to be more than a match for Woodcock's monstrous behavior. The film is beautifully designed and filmed and plays with viewers' perceptions and expectations. While one might expect a famous couturier to be turning out some knock out frocks, Woodcock's creations, to my eye, are boxy and cranky and unbecoming to the women who commission his work. In fact, he's touted as a genius but he's actually more of a fussy martinet who is coddled by his severely pinched sister, Cyril (Lesley Manville), and haunted by his dead mother, whose wedding dress he made at the age of seven. Anderson, who also wrote the screenplay, once again welcomes audiences into a world of supremely unlikable people and it's excruciating.