Movies: Phantom Thread

(Drivebycuriosity) - Paul Thomas Anderson belongs to my favorite movie directors. I love his films "The Master" & "Inherent Vice". His newest creation, "Phantom Thread", came up to my elevated expectations (imdb). It´s a very special movie. "Phantom", set in England in the 1950s, tells the story of Reynold and Alma. Reynold is a fashion designer, a maker of awesome and very exclusive dresses, an artist - and he is very willful & abrasive. Alma is a waitress. They become a couple and the film focuses on a love story between two very different characters, a very special version of the beauty and the beast and a little bit like George Bernard Shaw’s "Pygmalion" (I don´t tell more, this is a spoiler free blog ).

It`s a very slow movie, a meditation about fashion, art, craftsmanship, perfectionism, luxury, food & devotion. Every shot was painstakingly crafted like the exquisite creations of the dressmaker. Many of the staff of Reynold`s couture house, as well as other bit parts, are played not by professional actors but by real seamstresses or persons connected with the fashion world. Anderson, who also wrote the script, gave the pair witty dialogues spiced with a sharp humor.  I really enjoyed watching Daniel Day Lewis & Vicky Krieps, who played the leading characters, and Lesley Manville, as Reynold´s sister & assistant.

It is remarkable that Anderson did also the cinematography, not even Stanley Kubrick & Alfred Hitchcock did that. He delivered a feast for the eyes. I watched the 70 mm version in New York´s AMC Loews Lincoln Square theater and got enchanted by the film`s visual magic. Paul Thomas Anderson created another work of art. Go and watch it!