Films you've seen lately

[Belgrove]

Paul Thomas Anderson's latest film Phantom Thread is difficult to characterise - a hint of Hitchcock with a pinch of Poe. Ostensibly a thriller, it nevertheless does not 'thrill', at least not in the conventional sense. Where it does thrill is in its qualities, it's strange narrative, sumptuous look, gorgeous sound and of the precise and unsettling performances. Daniel Day-Lewis plays Reynolds Woodcock, a hyper-sensitive, fastidious haut-couture designer who clothes royalty and the rich in 1950's England. He encounters the beautiful and spirited Alma, played by Vicky Krieps, who becomes his muse, moving into his town house under the watchful eye of Reynolds' enigmatic sister Cyril (sic) played by Lesley Manville. The approximate prototypes for these characters are, perhaps, those in Rebecca, but we end up with something more subtle, richer and strange than those creations of du Maurier and realisations by Hitchcock.

The film is exquisite, there is tactile, almost fetishistic pleasure in seeing the beautiful gowns being made, with the satiny sheen of the fabrics and and the sounds they make when pierced by pin and needle, and when fitted on the models and owners. It's very sexy! The carefully judged and tasteful soundtrack features the chamber music of Faure, Debussy, Schubert and Ravel, Bill Evans-esque Jazz, to which is added Jonny Greenwood's appropriately complementary score. But what is it about? Who is controlling and who is controlled? All the protagonists play these games in their own distinct ways and a strange symbiosis emerges. It also illustrates the terrible perils of holding too dear the refined and aesthetic life - beware! Ultimately it's all about the needle.

A beguiling film.

[Stanfordian]

Yesterday I saw 'The Post' - American political thriller film directed and produced by Steven Spielberg staring Meryl Streep and Tom Hanks. I loved it! Fans of 'All the President's Men' should love this too.

[Belgrove]

Yesterday I saw 'The Post' - American political thriller film directed and produced by Steven Spielberg staring Meryl Streep and Tom Hanks. I loved it! Fans of 'All the President's Men' should love this too.

Yes Stan, its very good indeed. Remarkable that it was conceived, made and distributed within a year. Streep and Hanks are terrific. Possibly one of Spielberg's most important films, given the state of the States.

[kernelbogey]

Yes Stan, its very good indeed. Remarkable that it was conceived, made and distributed within a year. Streep and Hanks are terrific. Possibly one of Spielberg's most important films, given the state of the States.

Streep and Hanks are terrific.

[Alain Maréchal]

Fans of 'All the President's Men' should love this too.

Especially the closing seconds! "Shot for shot", is the term, I believe. I wondered if they had used the original footage. I had seen ATPM again only a week ago so my memory was fresh.

I saw The Post yesterday, in Subtitled Original Language Version. Very tense, even though one knows the outcome, and even though one lived through it.

[Stanfordian]

Especially the closing seconds! "Shot for shot", is the term, I believe. I wondered if they had used the original footage. I had seen ATPM again only a week ago so my memory was fresh.

I saw The Post yesterday, in Subtitled Original Language Version. Very tense, even though one knows the outcome, and even though one lived through it.

Hiya Alain,

I see what you mean re the end shots but the general workings of the Washington Post newsroom reminded me of film of Bob Woodward (Robert Redford) and Carl Bernstein (Dustin Hoffman) from ATPM. Some how it didn't feel to me as if I knew the outcome, although I did.

[Alain Maréchal]

Hiya Alain,

I see what you mean re the end shots but the general workings of the Washington Post newsroom reminded me of film of Bob Woodward (Robert Redford) and Carl Bernstein (Dustin Hoffman) from ATPM. Some how it didn't feel to me as if I knew the outcome, although I did.

I was partly expecting one of the interns to be referred to as Woodward or Bernstein.

[Nick Armstrong]

Paul Thomas Anderson's latest film Phantom Thread is difficult to characterise - a hint of Hitchcock with a pinch of Poe. Ostensibly a thriller, it nevertheless does not 'thrill', at least not in the conventional sense. Where it does thrill is in its qualities, it's strange narrative, sumptuous look, gorgeous sound and of the precise and unsettling performances. Daniel Day-Lewis plays Reynolds Woodcock, a hyper-sensitive, fastidious haut-couture designer who clothes royalty and the rich in 1950's England. He encounters the beautiful and spirited Alma, played by Vicky Krieps, who becomes his muse, moving into his town house under the watchful eye of Reynolds' enigmatic sister Cyril (sic) played by Lesley Manville. The approximate prototypes for these characters are, perhaps, those in Rebecca, but we end up with something more subtle, richer and strange than those creations of du Maurier and realisations by Hitchcock.

The film is exquisite, there is tactile, almost fetishistic pleasure in seeing the beautiful gowns being made, with the satiny sheen of the fabrics and and the sounds they make when pierced by pin and needle, and when fitted on the models and owners. It's very sexy! The carefully judged and tasteful soundtrack features the chamber music of Faure, Debussy, Schubert and Ravel, Bill Evans-esque Jazz, to which is added Jonny Greenwood's appropriately complementary score. But what is it about? Who is controlling and who is controlled? All the protagonists play these games in their own distinct ways and a strange symbiosis emerges. It also illustrates the terrible perils of holding too dear the refined and aesthetic life - beware! Ultimately it's all about the needle.

A beguiling film.

Saw Phantom Thread at the weekend - I'd endorse all you say Belgrove. I'd add that I found there was a lot of subtle humour in the film too, deriving mainly from the hyper-sensitive fastidiousness you mention and thanks to the beautifully-written dialogue... and the performances. You can’t take your eyes off Daniel Day-Lewis in particular, and Vicky Krieps and Lesley Manville both run him very close.

And I don't know how far this is purely subjective, but watching Daniel D-L, I was continually reminded, visually and in other ways, of Mahler*. Plus of course there’s a big signpost among the other lead characters, as you mention, which makes me think that it’s intentional. As Visconti made Aschenbach the writer into a Mahlerian figure, I have a feeling that either Anderson or Day-Lewis or both have taken Mahler as an archetype of the ultra-sensitive, self-absorbed, neurotic artist, in this instance creating not symphonies but dresses… (There's no Mahler in the soundtrack, though, nor any hint of it as far as I could detect).

As usual with Anderson, you have no idea what to expect (he’s like Kubrick in that each film he makes seems to inhabit a different world from all his others). I wouldn't normally expect to get much out of a film about haute couture, but went in with confidence nonetheless having loved PTA's Magnolia, Punch Drunk Love and There Will Be Blood in particular.

It hadn't occurred to me it was supposed to be a thriller! Certainly not one for action fans... and I suspect for a number of others, it might be tiresome or too slow. But I was in the right mood, and found it an absorbing, thoughtful watch - the sort of film where a tiny look or change of expression is worth a page of script in many films. You savour the film pensively and sensually, and often with a smile.

Unique and unforgettable and I want to watch it again.



* for example:






.

[gurnemanz]

Thanks for above reviews of Phantom Thread. We also greatly enjoyed it. Re the naming of Alma, in a Film Programme interview with Francine Stock the director seemed to deny a deliberate Mahler connection. Worth a listen if you missed it. She started off as Agnes and Vicky Krieps suggested Alma as the name of Hitchcock's wife.

Mushrooms, anyone?

[Nick Armstrong]

Thanks for above reviews of Phantom Thread. We also greatly enjoyed it. Re the naming of Alma, in a Film Programme interview with Francine Stock the director seemed to deny a deliberate Mahler connection. Worth a listen if you missed it. She started off as Agnes and Vicky Krieps suggested Alma as the name of Hitchcock's wife.

Mushrooms, anyone?

Thanks gurney - though I'll pass on the mushrooms, ta very much! I will listen to that programme with interest, haven't heard it. I did a quick google search of the film's title and "Mahler" to see if it was commented on anywhere, but no results. But yes, I picked up the Alma Hitchcock connection too. Do you know what I mean about the sense of old Gustav being in the back of at least Day-Lewis's mind (and his hair stylist's)?

[Conchis]

I saw The Phantom Thread yesterday and enjoyed it, with a couple of reservations.

(SPOILERS)

The ending felt either a)over-subtle or b) make-do. There was nothing to prepare us for Woodcock's wilful collusion in Alma's scheme when he discovered it and his relationship with his late mother was left unexplored (this may have been deliberate - to allow an audience to speculate as to how it might have warped him. If so, I found it unsatisfying). In fact, the final fifteen minutes or so felt a little contrived, as if the director/writer didn't know how to bring the film to a conclusion, given that there could be no question of a straightforward 'happy ending'.

I read Alma's 'narrative' at the end as pure fantasy, as her marriage to Woodock seemed to be utterly sterile and artificial - based on her need to be needed and his to be 'looked after' by a nurturing female. You got the sense that the tentative bit of osculation they indulged in after they'd 'liberated' the dress from the dreadful drunken socialite was as physical as they got. I'm sure the choice of 'Woodcock' as Reynolds' surname was meant to be descriptive! :)

The choice of Vicky Krieps (whom I'd never heard of before) to play Alma was a good one, as she's neither beautiful nor plain: the perfect 'blank space' for Reynolds to work his fantasies on.

Excellent supporting performance from Lesley Manville: a character that might have looked like very little in the script, fleshed out with intelligence and perception.

[Stunsworth]

Watched Death of Stalin last night. A very black comedy with some hilarious lines. A very good cast too.

[Cockney Sparrow]

Watched Death of Stalin last night. A very black comedy with some hilarious lines. A very good cast too.

I felt the same - a good trip to the cinema....

[Stunsworth]

I felt the same - a good trip to the cinema....

I downloaded my version from Apple. The physical media versions are available next week.

[Nick Armstrong]

Watched Death of Stalin last night. A very black comedy with some hilarious lines. A very good cast too.

Yes I saw a preview a couple of months ago. Great stuff. I especially loved Jason Isaacs as Field Marshal Zhukov - some of his lines, delivered in broad Yorkshire, had me crying with laughter. The mix of accents (i.e. no cod Russian) among the Soviet 'élite' was a nice touch, reflecting the wide mix of origins among that gang.