More than a decade ago, in 2007, Daniel Day-Lewis and Writer/Director Paul Thomas Anderson teamed up for one of my favorite films of all time, "There Will Be Blood".
Daniel Day Lewis has made some amazing films apart from Anderson, including "Lincoln" and "Gangs of New York". Anderson has had equal brilliance away from Day-Lewis, with "Magnolia" and "Boogie Nights" each their own twisted masterpiece.
But when they're together, their combined film-making genius is off the charts. It's fully on display again in their new 2017 film, PHANTOM THREAD.
Day-Lewis is Reynolds Woodcock, the fashion designer of the day in 1950's London. Every part of his life is fastidious, fussy and scheduled.
Reynolds is a committed bachelor. As the film opens, he is having breakfast with his business partner/close confidant sister Cyril and a young woman who has obviously fallen out of favor from love to annoyance. Cyril and Reynolds deal with her like a supplier, all business as they close the books on the relationship.
When Reynolds escapes to the country and meets slightly clumsy but incredibly sharp waitress Alma, their verbal wordplay and unspoken conversation is pure Paul Thomas Anderson. Every word counts. Every camera angle and body movement is part of the story.
Daniel Day Lewis is brilliant as Woodcock. He's so good that in the long, quiet moments that weave through the film, you find yourself knowing exactly what he's thinking. Or so you think.
The two lead actresses are equally as good. Lesley Manville (Maleficent) is an enigma as Cyril. Tough, guarded and controlling, Cyril and Reynolds relationship is at the core of the film. Even by the end of the film, that relationship will have you talking and discussing every angle of its nature.
German actress Vicky Krieps is excellent as Alma, the waitress who becomes Reynolds new muse.
You could do a film school study on the 30 minutes of the film that start with their meeting, their first dinner and return to Reynolds country home, where he asks to fit her for a dress. That fitting becomes a gently invasive and powerful seduction.
But Alma is no gentle inspiration. While Reynolds and Cyril have doubtless escorted many young women out of the picture when their appeal grows stale, Alma is a force that must be reckoned with, one that wont be pushed to the side.
Paul Thomas Anderson loves to wrap you in characters that you grow to care about and then walk them elegantly into very dark corners where you really don't want to go.
It's the brilliant quirk of his storytelling that you can care about people who are far from perfect.
Day-Lewis was so brilliant (and no, that word isn't overused when it comes to him as an actor) as Daniel Plainview in "There Will Be Blood" that you couldn't take your eyes off the screen. I've had people that I recommended that film to say to me "but he was a horrible person! How could you like that movie so much?". That always baffles me. The more complicated the person on screen, the more interested I am.
PHANTOM THREAD is lead by a trio of very complicated people and its fascinating.
Speaking of muses, Jonny Greenwood of the alt rock band Radiohead has become Anderson's musical muse and he writes his most surprising music score here. Where his music for "There Will Be Blood" was all dissonant screeching violins and discomforting atonal blasts to keep you on edge, he creates something much more traditional for this English romance. Half of the score sounds like a sweeping 50's romance, but Greenwood begins sneaking in Bernard Herrman like tension as our couple's romance takes several unexpected turns. It's a great score.
Anderson not only wrote and directed the film, he also served as director of photography. The night shots of Reynolds and Alma in his car, somehow back-lit but shot live from a stationery camera front and back of the vehicle, are incredibly clever. There are sweeping long tracking shots of Reynolds team entering his mansion for the day's work, along with David Lean-like shots of the English countryside. During one of these scenes, as love is just beginning to form between Alma and Reynolds, she warns him "Whatever you do next, do it carefully."
Indeed.
Still talking about the film many hours after leaving the theatre, I was talking about how it feels like a classic 50's, early 60's Hitchcock English mystery. Of course it does. "Vertigo" is one of my top 5 of all time and the more you analyze what Anderson is creating, you find thin lines between Jimmy Stewart's role as obsessive Scottie and Day-Lewis' molding of Alma. Where you take it from there is best left for you to discover.
PHANTOM THREAD is not for everyone. The final act will alienate as many people as it challenges. Plot points dont hinge on ticking bombs or huge scale action.
How a character butters their toast becomes a major turning point. I can't imagine anyone but Paul Thomas Anderson and Daniel Day-Lewis being able to make the application of condiments so damn fascinating.
Beneath the manners, beneath the proper appearances, beneath the outer fabric, there's a secret buried within.
Discovering it in the hands of these film masters is a thrill. PHANTOM THREAD gets an A+ and another PTA spot in my Top 100 films of all time.
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