Phantom Thread (2017)

[Steph J]

Saw it yesterday and liked it a lot, which is saying something since it's a movie about a man who behaves like an entitled baby, which should make it insufferable (though I suppose it helps that the movie acknowledges that he's acting like an entitled baby). The costumes, production design, and score are all excellent and so are the performances.

I knew going into it that there was some "twist," but was unspoiled and genuinely surprised by what the twist was because I never would have guessed that that was the direction the story would head in. Afterwards I had a discussion with a friend about why 

Spoiler

Day-Lewis' character seemed so... into the fact that his wife was poisoning him. I think it's because the first time she did it he had a hallucination of his mother, who has remained a central figure in his life despite being long dead (I mean, their whole first date is marked by multiple red flags signalling his mother issues; his mother is the "phantom thread" woven through his story), so he sees being poisoned as a means of bringing his mother back, even if only in that small way.

Would love to hear other interpretations, though.

Edited January 22, 2018 by Athena
year

[GHScorpiosRule]

I didn't get a chance to see this over the weekend and I WANTED to! Stupid health issues. I don't care, I don't care, this is Daniel Day-Fucking!-Lewis's last film and I am going to see it on the big screen. I know a lot of folks here don't like him or his style of method acting, but I do. I've loved him forever, and hope to see it this weekend.

[snickers]

Ok so I saw this today and like lady bird was not wowed by this....I think lady bird is a better movie! I mean I didn’t dislike it, but I don’t get all the critic love and while I love DDL just as much as the next person, to me this was not his best work.....his facial expressions were great though.

 

i was shocked by the twist and then more shocked by the end though upon further reflection it made a lot of sense.....

[Browncoat]

So much dysfunction in this movie.  I didn't dislike it, either, but I'm not sure I can say I liked it.  The acting, cinematography, and costumes were all wonderful, but the story and the characters?  So, so dysfunctional.

I decided it was part a straight-up character study, part The Beguiled, and part Misery.

When did Daniel Day Lewis become Jeremy Irons?

Edited February 9, 2018 by Browncoat

[CofCinci]

This film was terrible.  When he giddily kissed her while on the tiolet after he ate the mushroom omelette - I wanted to leave.  Luckily there were only a few more minutes left to the film. 

[Mindthinkr]

My friend and I went to see this not exactly knowing what to expect. We were gobsmacked. We thought we were in for some costume porn (lovely costuming, and the other aspects of the movie) but left SMH. It did do one thing that I very much like a movie to do. It made me think. Analyze, and then think some more. It opened up conversations. Was it 

Spoiler

Sadomasochistic? 

I’ve heard that powerful men sometimes like their partner to be dominant in the privacy of their own home. I also wondered what his sister Cyril thought of what was going on. If she figured it out would she turn in Alma for attempted murder? 

What a movie to chose to end a career on!