The woven intricacy and artistry of The Phantom Thread

This is only my first impression, so forgive me if I have missed any details. Oh, and there will likely be SPOILERS. So be warned.

I really love the attention to detail and subtlety of the tone and performances in the Phantom Thread. It rides a fantastic line between playful and dangerously serious, and the humour, like most of Paul Thomas Anderson’s work, is wicked. The majestic Daniel Day Lewis stars as Reynolds Woodcock, a dress maker and artist of his craft, who is the ultimate perfectionist and a creature of strict habit. And Vicky Krieps plays Alma, a woman who catches the eye of Woodcock and becomes his muse and eventual lover, who later grows into “the woman behind the man”. Both shine in a film that is, while slow paced, beautifully elegant and frighteningly tense.

When I finished the film I immediately began to interpret it in my head. I read something that said it was a 'horror film disguised as a romance', and I like that. The tone at times is unnerving, and the atmosphere is dense. The two characters are constantly dangling at the end of their respective tethers, teetering on the edge of a breakdown, which makes even two people simply sitting and eating their breakfast a real nail-biter. Their relationship, while at times romantic and bliss, has it’s dark sides. The ending showed how toxic they both were to each other, but how their relationship is what brought out the best in them both in a darkly poetic way.

The film romanticizes Woodcocks work and artistry as something so elegant, yet also displays that it is also shrouded with his own abusive behaviour towards his new muse Alma. But she's not innocent, far from it. She likes him to be unwell, weak, or at his lowest so that she can build him up again, giving her a real sense of purpose and power, which in a strange twist gives him a new lease of life which helps him come back stronger, fueling his work. When he is going strong he almost doesn't need her other than for her job, he only needs his own routine, his structure, which enables him to be an artist. Woodcock has power in his work, demanding things of his workers and of Alma, which she abides by, and her place can seem so small in these moments, but she has her time. They each have their sides, their power and their purpose. It’s a case of ying and yang. They grow to become inseparable, no matter how tough it gets.

PTA blends both sides of it so well that by the end of the film Woodcock willingly eats the poison Alma is feeding to him, realising and accepting that this is their purpose and place for one another.

What Anderson also does so well is show how much artistic integrity and care towards their Art Woodcock and Alma have, and the level of perfection they both strive for. Theres a scene where a drunken and slightly overweight woman is wearing one of Woodcocks dresses. She is a mess. When she is taken to her room to pass out, her behaviour drives Alma and Woodcock to rush up to her room, and demand the dress be returned to them. In fact, Alma is the one who strips her of it. They leave, and kiss romantically on the way home. A beautiful scene that depicts just how much of an artist he is, and just how supportive she is.

I loved it. It was really intricately put together and PTA is an artist at work yet again.