Directed by:
Paul Thomas AndersonScreenplay:
Paul Thomas AndersonCinematography:
Paul Thomas AndersonComposer:
Jonny GreenwoodCast:
Daniel Day-Lewis, Vicky Krieps, Lesley Manville, Richard Graham, Camilla Rutherford, Jason Redshaw, Cedric Tylleman, Gina McKee, Brian Gleeson (more)VOD (3)
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Set in the glamour of 1950’s post-war London, renowned dressmaker Reynolds Woodcock (Daniel Day-Lewis) and his sister Cyril (Lesley Manville) are at the center of British fashion, dressing royalty, movie stars, heiresses, socialites, debutants and dames with the distinct style of The House of Woodcock. Women come and go through Woodcock’s life, providing the confirmed bachelor with inspiration and companionship, until he comes across a young, strong-willed woman, Alma (Vicky Krieps), who soon becomes a fixture in his life as his muse and lover. Once controlled and planned, he finds his carefully tailored life disrupted by love. With his latest film, Paul Thomas Anderson paints an illuminating portrait both of an artist on a creative journey, and the women who keep his world running. (Universal Pictures UK)
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Reviews (11)
The aesthetics and thoroughness are so phenomenal that I only regret the amount of space Reynolds' ego receives in the story. If his repetitive manners and utmost despotism were replaced by the richer background of Alma or Cyril, this deliberately unpaced, original, and falsely dramatized display of audiovisual beauty would perhaps have reached even the unattainable.
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Do you know that feeling you get when you watch a movie with Daniel Day-Lewis (who has been awarded several Oscars) in his final role, you see that he is absolutely enjoying himself acting-wise but at the same time, you know that everything else in the movie is brutally average, uninteresting and absolutely pointless? You don’t? Well, watch Phantom Thread, then.
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This is what Basic Instinct could have looked like in the sixties. Lots of dark thoughts and inner motivations wrapped up in the irresistibly aristocratic style of the mid-twentieth century British bourgeoisie. A clash of two completely different personalities, a duel of two strong characters, a battle of an outwardly powerful man vs an inwardly even more powerful woman. There's no point in addressing the fact that Paul Thomas Anderson is a master of emotions, Daniel Day-Lewis plays "the grand finale" and Vicky Krieps doesn't act but just "is". Is there any point in addressing why this strong melodrama, heading towards a crushing finale, suddenly turns towards black-humour in the very end? That is such a shame! If that doesn't bother you, you’ll have a five-star experience.
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It pretends to be a posh romance targeted solely at a distinguished audience, which even the silent coughing takes as the grossest vulgarity. However, nothing could be further from the truth, because beneath the surface it boils through the intense subliminal tension of relationships, from which the Mrštík brothers would be captivated by the black-humorous bliss. It is definitely not for everyone (but not in the sense that it is targeted at more demanding viewer), there are a lot of those who will probably like the first half that is more tragic whereas other may prefer the second one that is more pathological and vice versa. At the same time, they go hand in hand and one without the other would not work. Day-Lewis fully deserves to be praised for this performance. It´s not surprising though. However, the fact that the duo Vicky Krieps and Lesley Manville is not outshined by him, nor they are just a sparring partner to him, but they manage to keep up with him, despite less grateful roles, is not so often mentioned. But it should have been mentioned. As for Anderson, it is slightly worse, because from his complex filmmaking performance it is difficult to determine whether he is a better cameraman, screenwriter or director. For most of the film makers the Phantom Thread movie would be the highlight of their career and for the rest of their professional life they would strive to make something as good as that. As for Anderson, this movie is the third from the end. And he is still at the beginning of his career.
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Acting-wise, there's probably nothing much to fault with Phantom Thread, although it's too bad that Daniel Day-Lewis is saying goodbye, but it's his choice and it's a good send-off, showing once again what a great actor he is. But plot-wise, the film failed to pull me in as much as I had hoped, but that's almost always the case with Anderson's films.
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