I just saw ‘Phantom Thread’…

…and it was astonishing.

Spoilers

Not every year has a 10/10 film in it. It’s usually something that happens every few years. 2016 had Arrival, 2014 had Whiplash, 2013 had Her, and 2010 struck lucky with The Social Network and Inception. So when you do see a 10/10 in theaters, it really strikes you. Phantom Thread is an absolute lightning bolt.

I am not as familiar with PTA as I probably ought to be. I’ve seen Boogie Nights, Magnolia, Punch-Drunk Love, and The Master before this. Yes, that means I have not seen There Will Be Blood, crucify me. If I were to choose between the older late 90’s, early 00’s PTA or the more recent one, I’d probably pick the newer one. Even though I like all of his films, his older ones feel impersonal, Magnolia especially. He liked to split his focus on to so many different things, that, no matter how developed the characters were, I never really felt connected to any of them. The closest he got was with Punch-Drunk love, but that was such an absurd story where so many insane things happened that the characters felt kind of distant. Even in movies that are absolutely insane, like Eraserhead or FWWM, you still feel very connected to these characters, because they seem tangible.

Now, I don’t know what the case is for There Will Be Blood, but I thought The Master was a gigantic improvement in this regard. The film focuses on Joaquin Phoenix’s character a lot more than his other films focused on any one of there’s, and so the story felt a lot more engaging to me. I don’t really know anything about Inherent Vice, but Phantom definitely continued this trend, but it mixes it with that sort of split focus with this more direct story, and it is, in my opinion, his best work yet.

Phantom Thread focuses on three characters, really. Reynolds, Alma, and Cyril. The point of the story may seem to be mostly about Reynolds, but really it works  best when viewed as a story about all three of them. Reynolds is your dedicated artist who doesn’t quite understand how to balance his art with his social life. Cyril is his dedicated assistant who sort of exercises her artistic aspirations vicariously through Reynolds. And Alma is the outsider who, though adoring of Reynolds’ work, also wants to bend him so that she focuses more on her. I don’t call Reynolds’ a dressmaker, because that’s not really the essence of what he is. He is an artist through and through, his art just comes in this form. A lot of male critics would probably say right now how they aren’t someone to appreciate fine clothing, but that’s not really the point. If he were a painter, you could have almost the exact same story, it’s just that it acts through the guise of a story about a dressmaker. I think male viewers tend to miss this, they just think “Oh, that’s about a dude making women’s clothes,” and that’s not what it is. So, ladies who want to bring a fellow to this film, make sure you change their attitude so that they aren’t thinking so close-mindedly. Luckily, neither of the people I went with are like that, so I didn’t have to argue with them about it.

Now, this is really going to embarrass me, but I have never seen a Daniel Day-Lewis performance. I’ve heard the stories, I am aware of his prowess, I have just never had any direct experience with it. And for a first film to see from him, I am aware that this probably isn’t the best way to get the full scope of his talents. So I don’t officially want to say that his performance of Reynolds is one of the best I’ve ever seen. I want to be able to compare it to the wider context of his career before I do that. But, it is a great performance. Vicky Krieps is also very good as Alma. She had one moment where I thought her line delivery was off, but other than that, it was pretty impeccable. And Lesley Manville as Cyril was honestly on par with Lewis.

My personal favorite part of this film is the way it is colored. A lot of times, when you watch a film that has white overtones, they’ll use backgrounds and items that are more on the darker side, which gives the film sort of dull grey look. Even movies that I really love do this, like Gone Girl, or Three Colors: White. What I love about this movie is that, instead of using darker things, it makes it so that the lighting gives off this bluish glow that makes the film look very wintery. And, it balances this look out with some scenes that have a much warmer, fiery tone to them. I adore the way this movie looks, and when you pair it with the fittingly sleek cinematography, it turns into one of the most gorgeous films of the decade, right up there with Drive and Her.

Of course, this movie is written very well. I really found myself relating to Reynolds throughout this film. I completely get the whole OCD thing that his character has, especially whenever he complains about irregular noise. I hate watching movies on a device where I cannot use headphones, because any noise just ruins it for me. I usually don’t get a bad experience in a theater that often, which I am grateful for. But I also just found myself sympathizing with him a lot. I wouldn’t want people to fuck with my art if I had put as much effort into it as Reynolds had his dresses. I don’t think I’m as proud as he is, I wouldn’t tell a doctor to “Fuck off” when I was basically dying, but as I am a believer in auteur theory, I just think it adds to the interest of the character.

Also, this story goes places that you really do not expect it to. I can say with 100% sincerity that I did not think Alma would end up poisoning Reynolds with those mushrooms, nor did I expect him to survive and agree to let it happen to him again. And I think this is really great writing, because even though there is the scene where they establish that Alma has access to poisonous mushrooms, I still didn’t foresee it ever going anywhere.

I also love how at the end, it reveals that the whole time while Alma was telling the story to the doctor, Reynolds was laying in her lap. As an audience member, you kind of just expect that kind of thing to be leading up to her confessing her crime to a police officer or something. And then when you learn that she’s talking to the doctor, your like “Oh, she’s explaining why she killed him, because the doctor figured out something.” But no, he’s only there because Reynolds wanted him to be, and she’s just explaining really for the sake of conversation. Subtle twists like that leave me really satisfied and make me feel very happy.

Phantom Thread is one of the best films I’ve seen in theaters for a very long time. I absolutely loved it.

10/10

Thank you, and remember kids, if you want to have a staring contest with me, you will lose.