Day-Lewis' Final Outing Will Only Entice Some

This is the film Daniel Day-Lewis is going out on.

Let’s not kid ourselves, the reason a lot of people are paying attention to Phantom Thread is because acclaimed actor extraordinaire Daniel Day-Lewis has announced it’s his last film before retiring from the profession. And that is a big deal. The three-time Academy Award winning method actor has cemented a legacy of strong performances, even with such a relatively small filmography (this is only his seventh film of the last twenty years). It re-teams him with Paul Thomas Anderson, director of his second Oscar-winning turn in There Will Be Blood. But Phantom Thread is a very different kind of movie -is it possible Day-Lewis’ last role will give him that last golden statue to tie Katharine Hepburn’s record?

Set in 1950s London, the film is about a famous dressmaker, or couturier, called Reynolds Woodcock (Day-Lewis), who while in the country becomes enamoured with a waitress Alma (Vicky Krieps). She becomes his muse and they begin a relationship, but his distance, dedication to his work, and difficulty quickly begins to take an emotional toll on Alma.

It should be stated right up front that Day-Lewis’ performance in this movie is excellent. Which is no real surprise. In addition to the wide variety of characters he’s played, he’s demonstrated a deftness at playing the stunted famous artist in Rob Marshall’s 8½ homage Nine. He’s once again putting his all into the part, and is absolutely believable as this man who’s in love but also interminably stuck in his ways. Unfortunately it’s that latter part of his personality that shows through most frequently. His attitude towards Alma is often reprehensible, and the excuse of him being consumed and obsessed with his work doesn’t justify it. Nor does his ignorance in expressing his love, which he seems to fall out of until a point where he gets deathly sick and needs her to care for him. He has a very specific routine he won’t tolerate deviations in, which is the cause of a lot of his shortness towards Alma. In this impatience and frustration, Luxembourg actress Vicky Krieps is really good. Though you don’t quite understand her feelings towards Reynolds, Krieps plays well the longing she has for a real and healthy relationship. The only other character of significance in the film is Reynolds’ sister and manager Cyril, played with conviction and strength by Leslie Manville. She gets some pretty great moments asserting power over him even if she shares some of his detachment.

Anderson’s script is well written, though the story doesn’t really pull you in for the sheer fact that the central couple don’t endear themselves to investment. It’s an unhealthy relationship that never feels good for either of them. This is the point clearly, but Anderson doesn’t do enough to keep it interesting. It’s a commentary on how difficult relationships with impassioned artists can be, but this isn’t all that new to Phantom Thread. It relates this subject no better or worse than Ralph Fiennes’ The Invisible Woman, and in that film, the artist, Charles Dickens, was much less unreasonable and more empathetic.

However this movie is well-made with some smart artistic decisions. The dark tone in particular is really effective in relating how turbulent the romance is, and nearer the end some of the actions are fitting with this, in addition to being quite extreme and fascinating. This is also an intense film. There’s one scene where all Alma is doing is making Reynolds’ dinner, and there’s a wonderful off-kilter mood through the scene that in another movie might precede a murder. But for that, the movie’s artsy flare is hurt by some very slow pacing. There’s method in it: the movie is gradual, meticulous, and precise -much like the process of dressmaking, especially how Reynolds’ sees it. But that doesn’t mean much when scenes are dragging on past their expiry. And of course, there are a lot of pretty dresses in this movie, and plenty of focus on their beauty.

This film is aesthetically pleasing and incredibly well-acted, but it doesn’t really do much for me. Reynolds’ behaviour makes it hard to invest in his relationship with Alma, and the slow pace weighs heavily on the movies’ ability to engage. However, Anderson and Day-Lewis do have that engagement, and it certainly does show. Out of Day-Lewis’ final performance, I expected perhaps more a subtext on resolution or ageing, but what I did get was still something great; even if Reynolds Woodcock won’t leave near the impact on peoples’ memories as Chrissy Brown or Daniel Plainview did.