Director: Paul Thomas Anderson
Screenplay: Paul Thomas Anderson
Starring: Daniel Day-Lewis, Vicky Krieps, Lesley Manville
Running Time: 130 minutes
Genre: Period drama
1950s London. Reynolds Woodcock (Day-Lewis) designs highly desired dresses and garments for the members high society, including royalty. An obsessive, controlling perfectionist, Woodcock lives a life of strict routine, haunted by the death of his mother, who has a penchant for sewing secret messages and items in his garments. He forms relationships with women, who serve as his inspiration and muse for a time, until he discards them when he tires of them or they threaten his routine too much. The only person Woodcock is close to is his sister, Cyril (Manville). On vacation in the country, Woodcock becomes enamored of a young waitress, Alma (Krieps), and invites her into his world. However, the strong-willed Alma soon threatens Woodcock's ordered lifestyle.
This is a sumptuous film almost everything on screen is beautiful. It feels like a ghost story without a ghost, and it is a haunting film. Director Paul Thomas Anderson commented that one of his inspirations was the work of ghost story writer MR James. The performances are fantastic, with Daniel Day-Lewis, in what is reputed to be his final performance, giving an air of fragility and humanity to an essentially unlikable character. Vicky Krieps also gives a great performance as Alma, and her bond with Day-Lewis feels genuine. The film is surprisingly funny, with some hilarious scenes and lines, particularly the sequence where Woodcock snaps at Alma for the heinous crime of buttering her toast too loudly. The relationship between Woodcock and Cyril is also intriguing, they have a kind of love-hate relationship, at one point Cyril tells him: "Don't try and pick a fight with me, you certainly won't come out alive. I'll go right through you, and it'll be you who ends up on the floor". Because, of course, siblings know your weak spots, and know how to hit you where it hurts.
This is a beautiful, deeply moving and frequently hilarious film.
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