All About How 'Phantom Thread' Doesn't Taste Right
- Feb 2, 2018
- 2 min read
Something about Phantom Thread , the Paul Thomas Anderson period piece up for six Academy Awards, just doesn't taste right. Yes, that's literal for those of you that have seen it already. But what I'm really trying to say is that in 2018, it feels strange to celebrate a movie that, at its heart (spoiler ahead), is a romance about a powerful, controlling, emotionally-abusive white man, and a less powerful, younger woman.
Whether or not Thomas-Anderson is making a larger point about toxic masculinity has been the subject of much debate. What's not up for debate is that Daniel Day-Lewis' Reynolds Woodcock sucks. He is everything we are working to fight against.
But before I continue, you might be wondering what exactly Phantom Limb is about. Here's a quick run-down:
Reynolds Woodcock is a rich-and-famous dress designer in 1950s London. He's got a weird complex around his dead mom (hence the film's title); and a weird relationship with his sister, who he lives with. For a second I thought it was going to turn into a middle-aged-man's Personal Shopper, but the ghost theme takes a backseat to the morbid relationship story that ensues. Anyways, Woodcock walks into a restaurant near his country house and asks out the much younger waitress taking his order. Her name is Alma. She's played by Luxemburger Vicky Krieps, who is fantastic, and says Phantom Thread is a feminist movie (though I'm not sure I saw it that way). Alma ends up becoming Woodcock's fashion muse and sort-of live-in girlfriend. Things between them are fine enough at first. But it's not long before Woodcock starts treating her like shit. Why? Because, as mentioned, he sucks.
Rather than turn into a feminist revenge epic, Phantom Thread becomes one woman's how-to guide on making a relationship with her emotional-abuser work. Once upon a time, it might have been read as the story of a tortured artist. But Reynolds Woodcock is no tortured artist: he's the emotionally-abusive man of power we see everywhere. And in that sense, Phantom Thread feels timely. But ultimately, it plays like a big fuck-you to the #TIMESUP movement.
And for that reason, Phantom Thread, although artistic, sly, finely-dressed and finely-acted, has a weird after-taste that I can't seem to shake.
*Editors note: although I didn't like Phantom Thread very much, I very much enjoyed getting to sit down and write again. This blog post, my first movie review on All About, was very much a blast to write. Here's to doing what we love! :)
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