Phantom Thread (Review)

Reynolds Woodcock (Daniel Day Lewis) is a dressmaker in 1950s London and he always hides something in a dress. Something that only he knows is there. Phantom Thread marks another drastic change in director, Paul Thomas Anderson's (PTA) career in both style and substance. What makes this film a Paul Thomas Anderson film is hidden well within in the film in its smallest details.

In his early films, Paul Thomas Anderson’s film was filled to the brink with explosive camera work, flamboyant style and large ensembles. With every film, Anderson reinvents his style of filmmaking. His latest films are only reminiscent of his younger self. He’s able to hone done on a small handful of characters instead of relying on the greater sum of an ensemble. The whip pans, that were a trademark of his film back in his early days are all but forgotten now as his editing and visual capabilities are enhanced through what I like to call an “unnoticed style”. If crash zooms, wipes, and symmetrical images are used so often by a filmmaker it’s often associated with a filmmaker. Their style isn’t trying to hide. Anderson does use some frames within frames and cameras on cranes but his ability to tell a story through a cut and both the shots either side of the cut is no easy task. Most of these motifs throughout the film aren’t obvious to a general audience.

For the first time here Anderson works as his own director of photography (uncredited). He's been known to be a supporter of movies being shot on film over the digital counterpart for years and this is no exception. It's apparent that has been wanting to do this for a while and that he has the skill to do it. Harsh highlights from the environment have been a strong part of the middle part of Anderson's career and here it's on a smaller scale. The faces. The faces have been lit to show off detail. It helps the actors get across what they to the camera. His framing is careful to call itself out except where it needs to. When Alma is having her photo taken with one of Woodcock's dresses, the scene is framed like one of the photos being taken (this motif can be seen in Anderson's 2012 film 'The Master').

At first Lewis’s character Woodcock is made out to be a hardworking man who has a bit of an ego and temper but one we can still get behind. Once he falls in love with Alma (Vicky Krieps, who was snubbed at the Oscars) he puts on a facade. Alma tries to push Reynolds in one direction but his sense of self is too strong for Alma and she goes to further and further lengths to keep the relationship going. Their relationship is also faced with issues of ego and pride as craftspeople. Their fight for control over each other both privately and professionally eventuates in them receding from their full potential selves as individuals. This battle is to determine if as individuals they are great as a couple or as separate parties.

One of the biggest talking points of the film is that this is Daniel Day Lewis's last film before his retirement from acting. In this last performance, it's obvious that he will be remembered as one of the great actors of our time. What makes Lewis a great actor is his ability to tell us more about his character through body language and facial expressions. His use of eyes to react to another actor is so refined and nuanced that there’s a close up in the film (that pays homage to Hitchcock) that it carries his whole performance in that one scene. While this may be the last performance for Lewis, I hope it marks the rise of Vicky Krieps, an actress from Luxembourg, that like Paul Dano in There Will Be Blood gives a performance to match Lewis’s. Their relationship is about more than wits and winning an argument, it’s a subverted fight for power. The strength of her performance is built from her initial perceived innocence and her eventual corruption.

The dialogue here is like the dresses in the film, exquisite and sublime. It's no secret that Lewis had a hand in writing the script for the film and it shows. Anderson's dialogue is typically filled with American syntax and jargon, it also just sounds like it's from California where most of his movies are set. Because Anderson is a visual storyteller and his dialogue matches scenes perfectly and often stops using dialogue at certain moments as his actors are more than capable to carry the story. The narrative in this film is like most PTA films. Not the most important. It's more important to focus on the character development and then a story will naturally find itself as it does here.

If you’re familiar with the band Radiohead and its lead guitarist, Jonny Greenwood, it might be hard to believe that he composed the score for a period film. Early Radiohead was either grunge or art/alt-rock but over the years they consciously reinvented themselves. In their last album, A Moon Shaped Pool, Greenwood composed large amounts of the album’s string arrangements and like Anderson’s directing skills maturing so has Greenwood’s. Anderson has said that his two biggest influences on how he scores his movies are Bernard Herrmann and John Williams. Both composers are known for their music that hits the audience more powerfully than the corresponding images. Since Punch Drunk Love music have been an important part in Anderson’s films and Greenwood does the same thing here that Hermann and Williams do. Greenwood’s strength as a composer here is strong enough to carry entire sections of the film, especially the last 10-20 minutes of the film.

One of the interesting intricacies of this film is the food. This film will be known as fashion movie but it should also be known as a movie about food too. In Quentin Tarantino’s food is often present as meals are a time where people talk and we all know how much Tarantino loves talking. Anderson’s use of food, however, is more about the necessity of food as it’s our fuel to survive. The first major thing we learn about Lewis’s character is that breakfast sets his standard for the day. If he has a bad breakfast he will have a bad day and vice versa. The way food is prepared and served is an important part of the relationship between Lewis and Krieps. A major plot point later in the film also revolves around mushrooms.

This is a film that will slowly engross you until not only the final shot but well after the movie has finished. Its precision in the craft of filmmaking will be revered in the years to come. At this point, it’s hard to say that Paul Thomas Anderson will make a bad film and I could say the same for Daniel Day Lewis too, technically. The exploration of being both a craftsperson and in love is explored by its characters and not it’s plot which helps set the film stand out from just about everything else. Don’t be Woodcock and send the tea out and see this film.

Overall Score: 10/10

What do you think of this film? Are you now pursing a career in dressmaking?

Phantom Thread is out in cinemas this Thursday, 1st February.

Movies to watch if you like this (IMDb links): The Master, Blow-Up, The Unbearable Lightness of Being

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Writer/Director: Paul Thomas Anderson

Starring: Daniel Day Lewis, Lesley Manville and Vicky Krieps

Score: Jonny Greenwood

Editing: Dylan Tichenor