But if this is how Day-Lewis will go out. In that case, he’ll do so in a role that isn’t as captivating as many of his previous ones but one that is so subdued that you’ll find yourself comparing against these past masterful roles and wondering how he is so easily able to create characters that are so different from one another when it seems like such a challenge for so many of the other actors of our generation, even some of our better ones.

When you think about it, how is it that the same actor who excelled in such films like A Room With a View, The Last of the Mohicans, My Left Foot, The Age of Innocence, There Will Be Blood, The Boxer, The Unbearable Lightness of Being, Gangs of New York, Nine, In the Name of the Father, Lincoln, and The Crucible. While maybe not in my list of my favorite all-time actors, this IS a list of heavyweight performances. He had five Oscar nominations for these 13 performances and should have had nominations for The Last of the Mohicans and The Age of Innocence. He truly is the most talented actor of our generation. It would be a shame if this were his final role, but if it is, it would make watching the movie worthwhile. In all honesty, Phantom Thread was a two-hour bore-fest. Still, it did allow me to go down memory lane and wonder how this man, with so many boisterous performances, could be the same man who is playing this neurotic dressmaker whom you could see the public adore. Still, one who would make spending even an evening at home with him seem like torture. His performance as Reynolds Woodcock in Anderson’s (The Master, Magnolia) isn’t weak because of the film’s quietness. It’s quite the opposite. He takes material that would suffocate the life out of the movie if its lead had been anyone else and makes it a case study, one that might cause you to ask yourself if this is Day-Lewis’s most complex character of his career.

Lewis and Anderson reunite in Phantom Thread for the first time since striking gold (or maybe oil?) with 2007’s There Will Be Blood. This is the director’s most linear movie to date. With films like Punch Drunk Love, Inherent Vice, The Master, Magnolia, and Boogie Nights, Anderson zigzagged all over the place, sometimes following his predefined rules and letting plausibility go entirely out the window. That’s not the case with Phantom Thread. It’s the exact opposite of what you expect out of an Anderson movie, and because it stars Day-Lewis, you might be looking for something more profound than that. As mentioned, I didn’t love this movie and often felt bored (so much so that I compared Day-Lewis’s roles against one another).

Reynolds Woodcock (Day-Lewis) is a well-respected and in-demand dressmaker with some elite royal clients. It’s 1950s London, and Reynolds lives with his sister Cyril (Lesley Manville – Mr. Turner, A Five Star Life). Cyril is more than a sister, though. He manages Reynolds’s businesses and keeps his admirers rotating in and out of his life. She understands Reynolds more than anyone, including maybe even Reynolds himself. He does not deal well with surprises, so she ensures that his daily itinerary is identical. He’s also not necessarily fond of interacting with people in social settings. His work is his work, and that is where he thrives. His home life is his home life, and like all of us, this is where he can escape the rules of society and be the person with whom he’s truly comfortable.

Unfortunately, like many of us, he wants the best of both worlds. He favors the companionship of women, but relationships don’t work for him (even as much as he’d like them to). It’s like many of us who are comfortable in a routine but also want to reap all of the benefits of change while not being willing to sacrifice. That doesn’t work. But he’s tried in the past and tries again with Alma (Vicky Krieps), a waitress at a local restaurant, whom he takes a liking to at first glance. The two strike up a relationship, and she becomes a person he centers much of his dressmaking around, despite having a body shape that isn’t ideally suited for the general public (she’s a little thicker in the midsection). Unfortunately, like with most relationships, there are many ups and downs. Watching Reynolds and Alma navigate these waters isn’t great, but the payoff is worth it.

There were a couple of key takeaways that I left this movie with. One was that this could be a great way for Daniel Day-Lewis to end his career. I’m curious if he’s ever had a softer, more restrained role in his career. So, does that mean this is one of his most likable performances? Hardly. It goes hand in hand with my other takeaway from this movie. And that is because each of us has a public and private life, and sometimes those two lives are nowhere close. That felt like the case with Reynolds. The most sought-after dressmaker beloves the public. He could put on that mask in the public eye and be the person everybody wants him to be. But at home, he was so regimented with his routine that even the slightest distraction could be seen as a nuance. But because this is a movie, we can see this man’s public and private sides.

A life with Reynolds would seem like anything but pleasant, as Cyril, Alma, and others saw. I’ve read that Day-Lewis gets so immersed in some of his characters that it takes him to come out of that role and back into reality. It has been said that this is often the reason for the duration of time between his films. With Phantom Thread, Day-Lewis accepts the challenge of portraying a soft-spoken man who was revered by so many with his work to taking that same soft-spoken character back to the confines of his estate and showing the audience just how awful and miserable that same man can be in his personal life without needing him to be violent, belligerent, or even raising his voice. His simple, unrelenting need to let people know when they are upsetting him or to say what he is thinking without trying to sugarcoat it makes you wonder if there is something inherently wrong with his brain or if he truly doesn’t care about anyone else’s feelings. It may be his most challenging role to date because of his muted Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde approach. There are times you like Reynolds. There are times you want to see through his flaws. There are times you want to forgive him. And sometimes you don’t like him at all because he seems to care only about himself and how easily he hurts others.

All Day-Lewis fans should see this movie. It’s hard to think that this man only has 14 starring role movies to his credit. This certainly is not the best film he’s been in and might barely even squeak into the Top 10 that we remember for him if this is his final movie). But it is one of his best and most challenging performances. It is a pleasure to watch him so effortlessly flash the brilliance associated with a character who is so meticulous in everything that he does. With that sheepish grin and boastful confidence, Day-Lewis brings us into 1950s London and allows us to watch him like the other characters in his life. We don’t know any more or any less than they do. We experience each new situation in the same way that they do. We don’t know what unpredictability the day will bring and how Reynolds will react. What we do know is to be ready for anything and everything while realizing we may not like all of his responses and counter-actions.

Plot 7.5/10
Character Development 8.5/10
Character Chemistry 9.5/10
Acting 9.5/10
Screenplay 7.5/10
Directing 8/10
Cinematography 9.5/10
Sound 9/10
Hook and Reel 6/10
Universal Relevance 7/10
82%

C

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• The Age of Innocence
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