Phantom Thread is a historical drama which premiered in 2017. The story, which is set in London in the 1950s, focuses on the life and career of the fictional fashion designer Reynolds Woodcock.
Here is some basic information about this drama:
** Written and directed by Paul Thomas Anderson
** Costumes designed by Mark Bridges
** Run time: 130 minutes
The cast includes the following:
** Daniel Day-Lewis as Reynolds Woodcock – a fashion designer
** Lesley Manville as Cyril Woodcock – Reynolds’ sister
** Vicky Krieps as Alma – a waitress
** Camilla Rutherford as Johanna – Reynolds’ girlfriend
** Gina McKee as Countess Henrietta Harding – a customer
** Brian Gleeson as Dr Robert Hardy
** Harriet Sansom Harris as Barbara Rose – a customer
** Lujza Richter as Princess Mona Braganza – a customer
As stated above, this is a historical drama, i.e. a fictional story that is placed in a historical context.
In this case, the context is England in the 1950s. Most scenes are set in London, but a few scenes are set in the English countryside.
I do not wish to spoil the viewing for anyone. This is why I am not going to say not say much about what happens in this historical drama, but I have to mention a few details in order to explain and justify my rating.
Reynolds is a fashion designer who creates dresses for people who are rich and famous. His life is carefully designed by himself and his sister Cyril.
He is a confirmed bachelor who has one beautiful woman after another. When he is tired of a woman, he will lose interest, and his sister Cyril will tell the women to disappear.
One day Reynolds meets Alma who is a waitress in a restaurant where he wants to have breakfast. He invites her out and she says yes. Soon she becomes his muse and lover.
But Alma is not like the other women in his life. She does not submit to him. She will not be told what to do. She has a mind of her own. Now Reynolds must decide how he is going to respond to this new and unexpected situation.
This is how the story begins and this is where my presentation ends. If you want to know what happens to Reynolds, Alma, Cyril, and the people around them, you will have to watch the drama all the way to the end.
As stated above, Reynolds Woodcock is a fictional character, but he is not pure invention. The character is inspired by two famous fashion designers:
** Charles James (1906-1978) from the USA
** Cristobal Balenciaga (1895-1972) from Spain
What do reviewers say about this historical drama?
Here are the results of three review aggregators:
** 71 percent = Rotten Tomatoes (the audience)
** 74 percent = IMDb
** 90 percent = Meta
** 91 percent = Rotten Tomatoes (the critics)
On Amazon there are at the moment more than 3,000 ratings of this product, more than 600 with reviews.
The average rating is 4.4 stars which corresponds to a rating of 88 percent.
If you ask me, this historical drama is highly overrated. I cannot understand the numerous positive reviews.
What is wrong?
# 1. It is slow
# 2. It is boring
# 3. It is far too long
In addition, there are some technical flaws during the first fifteen minutes of the movie. Let me explain:
# 1. Six minutes into the drama, there is a knock on the front door. Cyril walks towards the door to open it. When she opens the door, we see Countess Henrietta walking up the stairs towards the door. But there is a mystery here: who knocked on the door?
At the moment when we hear the door hammer, there is no one outside the door! The countess is still sitting in her car outside the house! This is a factual mistake.
# 2. Seven minutes into the drama, Countess Henrietta is trying her new dress. She puts on her glasses to look at herself in the mirror.
In the next clip, when we see her from a different angle, the glasses have disappeared! This is a problem with continuity.
# 3. Eleven minutes into the drama, Reynolds is driving his car to the countryside. He stops at a gas station. As he pulls into the gas station, the lights of the pumps are on.
But in the next clip the lights of the pumps are no longer on! This is another problem with continuity.
Finally, I have to mention a medical concept: fabricated or induced illness by carers – previously known as Munchausen Syndrome by Proxy. But I cannot say more about this issue without revealing too much.
Daniel Day-Lewis has explained that Phantom Thread is his last movie. He wants to retire. I cannot understand why he decided to end his career with this movie. He could (and should) have chosen something that was better than this.
The costumes are impressive, but the main story is a big disappointment.
In my opinion, this drama highly-overrated drama does not deserve more than two stars (40 percent).
*****
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