''Phantom Thread'' is a 2017 American romantic

period drama A historical drama (also period drama, period piece or just period) is a dramatic work set in the past, usually used in the context of film and television, which presents history, historical events and characters with varying degrees of fiction s ...

film written and directed by

Paul Thomas Anderson Paul Thomas Anderson (born June 26, 1970), also known by his initials PTA, is an American filmmaker. Often described as one of the most preeminent writer-directors of his generation, List of awards and nominations received by Paul Thomas Anders ...

. It stars

Daniel Day-Lewis Sir Daniel Michael Blake Day-Lewis (born 29 April 1957) is an English actor. Often described as one of the greatest actors in the history of cinema, he is the recipient of List of awards and nominations received by Daniel Day-Lewis, numerous a ...

, Vicky Krieps, and Lesley Manville, and follows an

haute couture (; ; French for 'high sewing', 'high dressmaking') is the creation of exclusive custom-fitted high-end fashion design. The term ''haute couture'' generally refers to a specific type of upper garment common in Europe during the 16th to the ...

dressmaker in 1950s London who takes a young waitress as his muse. The film is the first time Anderson shot outside the United States, with

principal photography Principal photography is the phase of producing a film or television show in which the bulk of shooting takes place, as distinct from the phases of pre-production and post-production. Personnel Besides the main film personnel, such as the ...

beginning in January 2017 in Lythe, England. It is Anderson's second collaboration with Day-Lewis, after ''

There Will Be Blood ''There Will Be Blood'' is a 2007 American epic film, epic historical drama, period drama film written and directed by Paul Thomas Anderson, loosely based on the 1927 novel ''Oil!'' by Upton Sinclair. It stars Daniel Day-Lewis, Paul Dano, Kev ...

'' (2007), and his fourth collaboration with composer

Jonny Greenwood Jonathan Richard Guy Greenwood (born 5 November 1971) is an English musician. He is the lead guitarist and keyboardist of the rock band Radiohead, and has composed numerous film scores. He has been named one of the greatest guitarists by numer ...

. ''Phantom Thread'' premiered in New York City on December 11, 2017, and was theatrically released in the United States two weeks later. It received acclaim for its acting, screenplay, direction, musical score, costume design, and production values. The

National Board of Review The National Board of Review of Motion Pictures is a non-profit organization of New York City area film enthusiasts. Its awards, which are announced in early December, are considered the first major harbinger of the film awards season that ...

chose it as one of the top ten films of 2017, and it is widely considered one of the

best films This is a list of films voted the best in national and international surveys of critics and the public. Some surveys focus on all films, while others focus on a particular genre or country. Voting systems differ, and some surveys suffer fro ...

of the 2010s. At the 90th Academy Awards, the film was nominated for Best Picture, Best Director for Anderson, Best Actor for Day-Lewis, Best Supporting Actress for Manville, and Best Original Score for Greenwood; it won for Best Costume Design. It also earned four nominations at the 71st British Academy Film Awards, winning for Best Costume Design, and received two

Golden Globe The Golden Globe Awards are awards presented for excellence in both international film and television. It is an annual award ceremony held since 1944 to honor artists and professionals and their work. The ceremony is normally held every Januar ...

nominations.

Plot

In 1954 London, fashion designer Reynolds Woodcock creates dresses for members of high society, including royalty. His clients view him as a genius whose creations enable them to become their best selves, but his creativity and charm are matched by his obsessive and controlling personality. Cyril, his sister, manages his fashion house's day-to-day operations and tries to protect him from anything that might distract him from his work. The superstitious Reynolds is haunted by their mother's death and often stitches hidden messages into the linings of the dresses he makes. After designing a new gown for a revered client, Lady Harding, Reynolds visits a restaurant near his country house and meets a foreign waitress, Alma Elson. She accepts his invitation to dinner. Their relationship blossoms, and she moves in with him, becoming his model, muse, and lover. Cyril initially mistrusts Alma but comes to respect her willfulness and determination. At first, Alma enjoys being part of Reynolds's work, but he proves aloof, hard to please, and finicky; as a result, they start to bicker. When Alma tries to show her love for Reynolds by surprising him with a romantic dinner, he lashes out, calling it an "ambush" and questioning her motive. Alma retaliates by poisoning his tea with wild mushrooms gathered outside the country house. As he readies a wedding gown for a Belgian princess, Reynolds collapses, damaging the dress and forcing his staff to work all night to repair it. He becomes gravely ill and has hallucinations of his mother. Alma stays by his side, nursing him back to health. After Reynolds recovers, he tells Alma that a house that does not change "is a dead house" and asks her to marry him. Taken aback, she hesitates, but then accepts. After a honeymoon in

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

, Reynolds and Alma start bickering again as Reynolds's domineering personality reasserts itself. Cyril tells Reynolds that Lady Harding is now a client at a rival fashion house and suggests that his classic, conservative designs may be going out of style. Reynolds blames Alma for upending his routines, saying she doesn't fit in and has turned him and Cyril against each other. Alma overhears him. At the country house, Alma makes Reynolds an omelet poisoned with the same mushrooms as before. As he chews his first bite, she informs him that she wants him weak and vulnerable, then strong again after she has taken care of him. Reynolds realizes the omelet is poisoned, but ostentatiously swallows the bite and tells her to kiss him before he is sick. As he lies ill again, Alma imagines their future with children, a rich social life, and a bigger role for her in the dressmaking business. She acknowledges that while there are challenges ahead, their love and their complementary needs can overcome them.

Cast

Production

Anderson became interested in the

fashion industry Fashion is a term used interchangeably to describe the creation of clothing, footwear, Fashion accessory, accessories, cosmetics, and jewellery of different cultural aesthetics and their mix and match into Clothing, outfits that depict distinct ...

after reading about designer

Cristóbal Balenciaga Cristóbal Balenciaga Eizaguirre (; ; 21 January 1895 – 23 March 1972) was a Spanish fashion designer, and the founder of the Balenciaga clothing brand. He had a reputation as a couturier of uncompromising standards and was referred to as "th ...

. Reynolds Woodcock's obsessive fastidiousness is loosely inspired by English-American fashion designer Charles James. Daniel Day-Lewis, a

method actor ''Method Actor'' is an eponymous album of the band Method Actor released in 1988 featuring American singer Eva Cassidy. It was unofficially re-released on CD in 2002. Track listing # "Getting Out" (David Christopher) – 4:19 # "Look in to My ...

, spent a year learning dressmaking from Marc Happel in preparation for the role. He gained enough skill to enable him to recreate an iconic Balenciaga dress.

Filming

Principal photography Principal photography is the phase of producing a film or television show in which the bulk of shooting takes place, as distinct from the phases of pre-production and post-production. Personnel Besides the main film personnel, such as the ...

began in late January 2017 in Lythe, England, United Kingdom, with a number of other locations in the

North York Moors The North York Moors is an upland area in north-eastern Yorkshire, England. It contains one of the largest expanses of Calluna, heather moorland in the United Kingdom. The area was designated as a national parks of England and Wales, National P ...

also featuring, including Robin Hood's Bay and

Staithes Staithes () is a village in North Yorkshire, England, situated by the border between the unitary authorities of North Yorkshire and Redcar and Cleveland. The area located on the Redcar and Cleveland side is known as Cowbar. Formerly a hub for f ...

. Filming also took place at Owlpen Manor in the

Cotswolds The Cotswolds ( ) is a region of central South West England, along a range of rolling hills that rise from the meadows of the upper River Thames to an escarpment above the Severn Valley and the Vale of Evesham. The area is defined by the bedroc ...

and in the London neighbourhood of

Fitzrovia Fitzrovia ( ) is a district of central London, England, near the West End. Its eastern part is in the London Borough of Camden, and the western in the City of Westminster. It has its roots in the Manor of Tottenham Court, and was urbanised in ...

, in

Fitzroy Square Fitzroy Square is a Georgian architecture, Georgian garden square, square in London, England. It is the only one in the central London area known as Fitzrovia. The square is one of the area's main features, this once led to the surrounding di ...

, and in Grafton Mews. Woodcock drives a maroon Bristol 405 in the film. Filming also took place at the Grandhotel Giessbach,

Brienz Brienz ( , , ) is a village and Municipalities of Switzerland, municipality on the northern shore of Lake Brienz, at the foot of the Brienzer Rothorn mountain, and in the Bernese Oberland region of Switzerland. Besides the village of Brienz, th ...

Lake Brienz Lake Brienz () is a lake just north of the Alps, in the canton of Bern in Switzerland. It has a length of about , a width of and a maximum depth of . Its area is ; the surface is above the sea-level. It is fed, among others, by the upper reaches ...

, and

Brienzer Rothorn The Brienzer Rothorn is a mountain of the Emmental Alps, in Switzerland. With an elevation of above sea level, the Brienzer Rothorn is the highest summit of the range. To its west lies the Tannhorn, whilst to its east are Arnihaaggen, Höch G ...

. The New Year's Eve party was filmed at the Blackpool Tower ballroom with approximately 500 supporting artistes.

Cinematography

While

Robert Elswit Robert Christopher Elswit, (born April 22, 1950) is an American cinematographer. He has collaborated with Paul Thomas Anderson from 1996 to 2014, winning the Academy Award for Best Cinematography for ''There Will Be Blood''. Elswit has also co ...

had served as

cinematographer The cinematographer or director of photography (sometimes shortened to DP or DOP) is the person responsible for the recording of a film, television production, music video or other live-action piece. The cinematographer is the chief of the camera ...

for most of Anderson's previous films, Anderson ultimately served as his own cinematographer for ''Phantom Thread''. No cinematographer is listed in the film's credits, but Michael Bauman, who previously worked as Anderson and Elswit's gaffer, was credited as the "lighting cameraman". Anderson and Bauman pushed their 35 mm film stock and filled its frames with "theatrical haze" to "dirty up" their look; according to Bauman, "One of the first things aulsaid was, 'Look, this cannot look like ''

The Crown The Crown is a political concept used in Commonwealth realms. Depending on the context used, it generally refers to the entirety of the State (polity), state (or in federal realms, the relevant level of government in that state), the executive ...

''.' That was a big thing. When people think of a period movie it becomes this beautifully polished, amazingly photographed—I mean, ''The Crown'' looks beautiful—but super clean, gorgeous light, and he was clear it couldn't look like that." In 2020, Elswit publicly expressed skepticism of Anderson's cinematography, saying in an interview, "He just threw a lot of smoke in the room. Which he never would let me do, he never let me smoke a set... I enjoyed the film utif I shot that movie I would not be happy with it ending up looking like it looked, that's all".

Soundtrack

The soundtrack is by

, who previously worked with Anderson on the soundtracks for ''

'' (2007), '' The Master'' (2012), and ''

Inherent Vice ''Inherent Vice'' is a novel by the American author Thomas Pynchon, originally published on August4, 2009. A darkly comic detective novel set in 1970s California, the plot follows sleuth Larry "Doc" Sportello whose ex-girlfriend asks him to i ...

'' (2014). It was nominated for the

Academy Award for Best Original Score The Academy Award for Best Original Score is an award presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) to the best substantial body of music in the form of dramatic underscoring written specifically for the film by ...

, Greenwood's first Academy Award nomination. The soundtrack features prominently in the film, with nearly ninety minutes of music during the film's 130-minute runtime.

Reception

Box office

''Phantom Thread'' grossed $21.2 million in the United States and Canada and $26.6 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $47.8 million, against a production budget of $35 million. After three weeks in

limited release __FORCETOC__ Limited theatrical release is a film distribution strategy of releasing a new film in a few cinemas across a country, typically art house theaters in major metropolitan markets. Since 1994, a limited theatrical release in the Unite ...

, where it made $2.8 million, the film was added to 834 theaters on January 19, 2018 (for a total of 896), and grossed $3.8 million over the weekend, finishing 12th at the box office. The next weekend, after the announcement of its six Oscar nominations, and having added 125 theaters, the film grossed $2.9 million.

Critical response

''Phantom Thread'' received widespread critical acclaim. On

review aggregator A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews and ratings of products and services, such as films, books, video games, music, software, hardware, or cars. This system then stores the reviews to be used for supporting a website where user ...

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee ...

, the film has an approval rating of 91%, based on 358 reviews, with an average rating of 8.5/10. The site's critics consensus reads: "''Phantom Thread''s finely woven narrative is filled out nicely by humor, intoxicating romantic tension, and yet another impressively committed performance from Daniel Day-Lewis." On

Metacritic Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...

, the film has a

weighted average The weighted arithmetic mean is similar to an ordinary arithmetic mean (the most common type of average), except that instead of each of the data points contributing equally to the final average, some data points contribute more than others. The ...

score of 90 out of 100, based on 51 critics' reviews. ''

The A.V. Club ''The A.V. Club'' is an online newspaper and entertainment website featuring reviews, interviews, and other articles that examine films, music, television, books, games, and other elements of pop-culture media. ''The A.V. Club'' was created in ...

''s A.A. Dowd gave the film an A−, calling it a "charitable and even poignantly hopeful take on the subject f being in a relationship with an artist and writing, "in the simple, refined timelessness of its technique, ''Phantom Thread'' is practically a love letter to classic aesthetic values—cinematic, sartorial, or otherwise". ''

The Observer ''The Observer'' is a British newspaper published on Sundays. First published in 1791, it is the world's oldest Sunday newspaper. In 1993 it was acquired by Guardian Media Group Limited, and operated as a sister paper to ''The Guardian'' ...

'' critic

Mark Kermode Mark Kermode (, ; ; born 2 July 1963) is an English film critic, musician, radio presenter, television presenter, author and podcaster. He is the co-presenter (with Ellen E. Jones) of the BBC Radio 4 programme ''Screenshot'', and co-presenter ...

gave the film five stars out of five, calling it "a deftly spun yarn" and praising Day-Lewis's performance, calling his role a "perfect fit

n a N, or n, is the fourteenth letter of the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages, and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''en'' (pronounced ), plural ''ens''. History ...

beautifully realised tale of 50s haute couture".

Christy Lemire Christy A. Lemire (née Nemetz; born August 30, 1972) is an American film critic and host of the movie review podcast ''Breakfast All Day''. She previously wrote for the Associated Press from 1999 to 2013, was a co-host of '' Ebert Presents at ...

of the

Los Angeles Film Critics Association The Los Angeles Film Critics Association (LAFCA) is an American film critic organization founded in 1975. Background Its membership comprises film critics from Los Angeles–based print and electronic media. In December of each year, the organi ...

placed the film second on her list of the ten best films of 2017, calling it "captivating" and "one of Paul Thomas Anderson's absolute best" and singling out Greenwood's score as "intoxicating". Michael Wood, for the ''

London Review of Books The ''London Review of Books'' (''LRB'') is a British literary magazine published bimonthly that features articles and essays on fiction and non-fiction subjects, which are usually structured as book reviews. History The ''London Review of Book ...

'', wrote that the film unsuccessfully references other gothic films such as ''

Rebecca Rebecca () appears in the Hebrew Bible as the wife of Isaac and the mother of Jacob and Esau. According to biblical tradition, Rebecca's father was Bethuel the Aramean from Paddan Aram, also called Aram-Naharaim. Rebecca's brother was Laban (Bi ...

'' from the

1940s File:1940s decade montage.png, Above title bar: events during World War II (1939–1945): From left to right: Troops in an LCVP landing craft approaching Omaha Beach on Normandy landings, D-Day; Adolf Hitler visits Paris, soon after the Battle of ...

. He also wrote: "Can we imagine a long future for this couple? The film can, and does, but the picture is so hackneyed—pram, baby, walk in the park—that it has to be a dream, or an irony."

Top ten lists

''Phantom Thread'' was on many critics' top ten lists for 2017. * 1st – Marlow Stern, ''

The Daily Beast ''The Daily Beast'' is an American news website focused on politics, media, and pop culture. Founded in 2008, the website is owned by IAC Inc. It has been characterized as a "high-end tabloid" by Noah Shachtman, the site's editor-in-chief ...

'' * 1st – Scott Tobias & Keith Phipps, '' Filmspotting''https://www.filmspotting.net/top-5-lists-archive/2017/12/22/661-top-10-films-of-2017 * 1st – Ben Kenigsberg, '' RogerEbert.com'' * 2nd – Sasha Stone, ''

Awards Daily ''Awards Daily'' (formerly known as Oscarwatch) is a website primarily focused on the film industry and the film awards seasons that was established in 1999 by American editor Sasha Stone. History ''Awards Daily'' was started in 1999 by Sasha ...

'' * 2nd – Alison Willmore, ''

BuzzFeed BuzzFeed, Inc. is an American Internet mass media, media, news and entertainment company with a focus on digital media. Based in New York City, BuzzFeed was founded in 2006 by Jonah Peretti and John Seward Johnson III, John S. Johnson III to ...

'' * 2nd –

, '' RogerEbert.com'' * 3rd – Justin Chang, ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' is an American Newspaper#Daily, daily newspaper that began publishing in Los Angeles, California, in 1881. Based in the Greater Los Angeles city of El Segundo, California, El Segundo since 2018, it is the List of new ...

'' * 3rd – Glenn Kenny, '' RogerEbert.com'' * 4th – Mark Olsen, ''

'' * 4th – Tomris Laffly, '' RogerEbert.com'' * 4th – Michael Phillips, ''

Chicago Tribune The ''Chicago Tribune'' is an American daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Founded in 1847, it was formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper", a slogan from which its once integrated WGN (AM), WGN radio and ...

'' * 5th – Eric Kohn, '' IndieWire'' * 5th – Brian Tallerico, '' RogerEbert.com'' * 5th – Tim Grierson, ''

Screen International ''Screen International'' is a British film magazine covering the international film business. It is published by Media Business Insight, a British B2B media company which also owned '' Broadcast''. The magazine is primarily aimed at those involv ...

'' * 5th – Joshua Rothkopf, ''

Time Out New York ''Time Out'' is a global magazine published by Time Out Group. ''Time Out'' started as a London-only publication in 1968 and has expanded its editorial recommendations to 333 cities in 59 countries worldwide. In 2012, the London edition became ...

'' * 5th – A.A. Dowd & Ignatiy Vishnevetsky, ''

'' * 6th – Matt Zoller Seitz, '' RogerEbert.com'' * 6th – Richard Brody, ''

The New Yorker ''The New Yorker'' is an American magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. It was founded on February 21, 1925, by Harold Ross and his wife Jane Grant, a reporter for ''The New York T ...

'' * 6th – Richard Lawson, '' Vanity Fair'' * 6th – A. O. Scott, ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'' * 6th –

Todd McCarthy Todd McCarthy (born February 16, 1950) is an American film critic and author. He wrote for '' Variety'' for 31 years as its chief film critic until 2010. In October of that year, he joined ''The Hollywood Reporter'', where he subsequently served ...

, ''

The Hollywood Reporter ''The Hollywood Reporter'' (''THR'') is an American digital and print magazine which focuses on the Cinema of the United States, Hollywood film industry, film, television, and entertainment industries. It was founded in 1930 as a daily trade pap ...

'' * 7th – Lindsay Bahr, ''

Associated Press The Associated Press (AP) is an American not-for-profit organization, not-for-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association, and produces news reports that are dist ...

'' * 8th – Manohla Dargis, ''

'' * 8th – Matt Singer, ''ScreenCrush'' * 8th – Emily Yoshida, '' New York'' * 9th – Christopher Orr, ''

The Atlantic ''The Atlantic'' is an American magazine and multi-platform publisher based in Washington, D.C. It features articles on politics, foreign affairs, business and the economy, culture and the arts, technology, and science. It was founded in 185 ...

'' * 9th – Peter Rainer, ''

The Christian Science Monitor ''The Christian Science Monitor'' (''CSM''), commonly known as ''The Monitor'', is a nonprofit news organization that publishes daily articles both in Electronic publishing, electronic format and a weekly print edition. It was founded in 1908 ...

'' * 10th – David Ehrlich, '' IndieWire'' * 10th – David Edelstein, '' New York'' * 10th –

Peter Travers Peter Joseph Travers (born June 27, 1943) is an American film critic, journalist, and television presenter. He reviews films for ABC News and previously served as a movie critic for ''People'' and ''Rolling Stone''. Travers also hosts the film i ...

, ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. The magazine was first known fo ...

'' * Top 10 (listed alphabetically) –

Peter Bradshaw Peter Nicholas Bradshaw (born 19 June 1962) is a British writer and film critic. He has been chief film critic at ''The Guardian'' since 1999, and is a contributing editor at ''Esquire'' magazine. Early life and education Bradshaw was educat ...

, ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'' * Top 10 (listed alphabetically) – Ty Burr, ''

The Boston Globe ''The Boston Globe,'' also known locally as ''the Globe'', is an American daily newspaper founded and based in Boston, Massachusetts. The newspaper has won a total of 27 Pulitzer Prizes. ''The Boston Globe'' is the oldest and largest daily new ...

'' * Top 10 (listed alphabetically) – John Powers, '' Vogue'' * Top 10 (listed alphabetically) – Dana Stevens, ''

Slate Slate is a fine-grained, foliated, homogeneous, metamorphic rock derived from an original shale-type sedimentary rock composed of clay or volcanic ash through low-grade, regional metamorphism. It is the finest-grained foliated metamorphic ro ...

'' * Top 10 (listed alphabetically) –

Joe Morgenstern Joe Morgenstern (born October 3, 1932) is an American writer and retired film critic. He wrote for ''Newsweek'' from 1965 to 1983, and then for ''The Wall Street Journal'' from 1995 to 2022. He won the Pulitzer Prize for Criticism in 2005. Morge ...

, ''

The Wall Street Journal ''The Wall Street Journal'' (''WSJ''), also referred to simply as the ''Journal,'' is an American newspaper based in New York City. The newspaper provides extensive coverage of news, especially business and finance. It operates on a subscriptio ...

'' * Best of 2017 (listed alphabetically) – Bob Mondello, ''

National Public Radio National Public Radio (NPR) is an American public broadcasting organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It serves as a national Radio syndication, syndicator to a network of more ...

References

External links

* * * * {{Boston Society of Film Critics Award for Best Film 2017 films 2017 romantic drama films 2010s American films 2010s English-language films 2010s historical drama films 2010s historical romance films American historical drama films American historical romance films American romantic drama films Annapurna Pictures films BAFTA winners (films) Films about fashion designers Films about fashion in the United Kingdom Films about food and drink Films directed by Paul Thomas Anderson Films produced by Megan Ellison Films scored by Jonny Greenwood Films set around New Year Films set in 1954 Films set in 1955 Films set in London Films shot in Lancashire Films shot in London Films shot in North Yorkshire Films shot in Switzerland Films that won the Best Costume Design Academy Award Films with screenplays by Paul Thomas Anderson Focus Features films Films about poisonings Universal Pictures films English-language historical drama films English-language romantic drama films English-language historical romance films

Plot

Cast

Production

Filming

Cinematography

Soundtrack

Reception

Box office

Critical response

Top ten lists

See also

References

External links