Phantom Thread

Director/writer Paul Thomas Anderson has done it again, creating a classic in Phantom Thread, which garnered six Oscar nominations. Anderson and Phantom Thread’s leading man Daniel Day-Lewis previously collaborated on There Will Be Blood, and Day-Lewis has said this is his final film performance. It’s a high note.

The period piece tells the fictional story of 1950s British fashion designer Reynolds Woodcock (Daniel Day-Lewis), a fastidious man who contends that he is so given to the creative process that he must remain a bachelor. His sister Cyril (Lesley Manville) enforces his fastidiousness, breaking up with his girlfriends and managing his life. Enter Alma (Vicky Krieps), a waitress who comes tripping and falling into Reynolds’ manicured empire. The film is rated R for a handful of curse words.

The story unfolds from Alma’s perspective, so we see how it is to be in a relationship with a “great man” who is demanding and uninterested in the problems of the humans around him. “I cannot start my day with confrontations. I simply have no time for confrontations,” Reynolds tells a girlfriend early in the story who is wondering about the future of their relationship (I laughed). Anderson’s slow unfolding of Alma and Reynolds’ relationship doesn’t follow conventional plot structure. It’s like a real relationship, with ebbs and flows, one trying to get the attention of the other.

Through Reynolds, Anderson gets at that relentless inner voice that says we aren’t worth anything if we aren’t always doing something. Without naming it, he gets at the concept of the Sabbath: the importance of stopping all of your “important” work. The work will fade for a moment so you can see the value of other things.

What will linger with you from Phantom Thread is the sensory experience, and especially the sounds: scissors cutting rich fabric, the swoosh of dresses, Alma buttering toast, Alma pouring tea loudly. Isn’t that sensory experience why we go to the movies, instead of staying home to read a book?