Phantom Thread
The PTA film I was most excited to revisit. I remember being entranced by the trailer, the score in the trailer, and all the talk surrounding it being Daniel Day Lewis’ final film. This resulted in me watching (for the first time) all of PTA’s work from the 2000s and 2010s, getting utterly perplexed in different ways by each of them, and then going out to see this in theaters when it came out. Was as entranced with it as I was with the trailer, and as perplexed with it as I was with the rest of his films I saw beforehand. This nexus of hypnotic interest and confounded admiration is where my love for PTA as a filmmaker began, and is still the feeling I chase when watching new films. I want to be fascinated, confused, moved, challenged and ultimately AWED by films. Rewatching it after all these years, Phantom Thread is still a film that evokes all these feelings for me in the most satisfying ways.
Sooooooo this is like, the best looking film ever, right? Crazy that there isn’t a credited cinematographer - PTA and his lighting team just worked together as collective DPs to shoot this. The result is breathtaking, no other way to put it. Embodiment of “every frame a painting” with such texture and lived-in vintage grain, smoke and haze. This film and The Master share that high contrast, shot-on-film (65mm for The Master, 35mm for this) detail and depth in the image, especially on faces, that I really love. The technical achievements stretch beyond the cinematography though - This is easily Jonny Greenwood’s best score, wrapping around the film so effortlessly. I love how it goes from lush and pretty to haunting and brooding. The piano motif and strings in the main theme immediately brought me back to how much I replayed this soundtrack when it first came out.
The central emotional and intellectual tussle has as many threads and seams as Woodcock’s dresses. Layers of control, interdependence, submission, all weaving back and forth, in and out. Traditional ideas of romance, love and relationships in film, as well as the characters experiencing them, are interrogated and challenged, ultimately landing somewhere messy and somewhat toxic but authentic and deeply interesting. Daniel Day Lewis and Vicky Krieps capture it all and add even more. Leslie Manning is a wonderful addition to the dynamic. We’re actually so spoiled to have a filmmaker of PTA’s caliber work with actors that have such talent and ability to dive into the nuanced depths of these characters. There’s a ton of scenes I love, but the one that always hits the hardest is Woodcock’s hallucination when he first gets sick. Just such a hauntingly visceral sequence.
All in all, just another absolute slam dunk from PTA. The 2010s saw him mature and shift as much as the 2000s did, both formally and intellectually. I think Phantom Thread is a great cap to this period, exemplifying and highlighting all the subtle complexities in style and narrative that make his work so special.