A Phantom Thread

I had mixed sentiments going into A Phantom Thread, as I appreciate the Daniel Day Lewis' approach to acting and the skill level he brings to each role he takes on. Being an outsider who dabbles as little as possible in typical social settings, being that awkward introvert, jack of all trades, gifted at none type personality that I have, I appreciate all that Daniel Day Lewis is. He eschews the traditional Hollywood roles and feeding the hype and gossip. He goes in, does his work, and then goes about his business of being the elusive one that not many know about aside from his small circle. A Phantom Thread being his last film, I can understand why he's choosing to leave the field, as he has stated he has done all he wants to do role wise, and he wants to finally follow through with what he's claiming to do for years: leave the profession. I think part of this has jaded my take on most of his movies, especially this one.

I went into A Phantom Thread expecting something of a noteworthy final performance from Day-Lewis, but not quite sure if this was my favorite of his. At times, I could tell his heart just was not as much in his role as previous films. That being said, I find this film to be one of the more ironic films that Day Lewis could even consider doing as his final film . This movie the very epitome of all the reasons why Day Lewis was choosing to leave the industry. The movie had a promising lead and opening. It was fun to see the craziness of a fashion industry house in the hustle and bustle, but the film promptly slowed as Woodcock travels to the country and meets Alma. Alma was your typical jealous country bumpkin that quietly acts on her seething rage. This tends to put some odd undercurrents and tones on the movie. While I understand, we are trying to address the whole Time's up and me too campaigns, I feel her seething rage to continuously attempt to poison Woodcock to the point he was violently ill multiple times in the movie for the mere sake of having one on one quite time is far from what the activist movements are really trying to get to. While it is nice to have some domineering women on the screens, Alma is merely domineering herself into an unhealthy co-dependent muse relationship that as a lone wolf woman myself, my skin just crawls as I watch her vile herself into such an unhealthy relationship.


This give and take is much of what Day-Lewis has spoken out against in why he strongly dislikes Hollywood, in addition to the fact he just doesn't enjoy acting anymore. I don't know if it is the mere fact that his growing distaste for acting just really then put a damper on the roles that he chose, especially this one. But by far, this was probably the worst film he could have chosen to have as his career ending role. I also found it a bit ironic when I went to watch the film, the projectioner caught fire with 45 minutes to go. My saving grace should have been to take the comp tickets and just leave, however being at the movie myself at night at a theater that has had some aggression issues upon leaving, I figured it would have been better to ultimately leave with the crowd. Probably one of my least favorite movie going experiences in the last five years, which with the quantity of films I do take in is a challenge in itself.