Seamless from the start

Phantom Thread (M)

130 mins ★★★★★

I don’t even want to try to understand how Paul Thomas Anderson knows what to do to make exquisite films. Watching Phantom Thread, I just want to let him get on with it.

Although probably best known for his ensemble romps such as Magnoliaand Boogie Nights, Anderson has varied tastes. The director of superlative period-piece fare such as There Will Be Blood and The Master has made another film in that vein, focusing on strong central performances of characters so complex and yet beguiling, you find yourself transported into their world.

Here, that world is owned by dressmaker Reynolds Woodcock, a man whose whole life is peopled by women – he wears memories of his mother, works and dines with his sister, and employs a band of seamstresses who don’t blink an eye at his obsessive nature. A confirmed bachelor for whom work is all, Reynolds falls unexpectedly for a young waitress, Alma (Luxembourg actress Vicky Krieps in a careerdefining role) but soon finds the balance between sartorial and romantic passion difficult to negotiate.

If anyone is going to convince you that ‘‘the most demanding man’’ alive has redeeming features that you might put up with, it’s surely Daniel DayLewis. As in all his roles, Day-Lewis is sensational – a true chameleon of an actor who manages to inhabit a whole new person entirely, without changing his appearance much at all.

For an actor of such acclaim (three Oscars, four Baftas, etc, etc) and reputation (a demanding method actor – he learned to sew in preparation – who is constantly on the brink of retirement), his leading lady might justly harbour some trepidation. But Krieps is enchanting and remarkably assured – simply wonderful to gaze at, so honest, so naively mesmerising, and then delightfully bolshy in response to Reynolds’ attempts at control. But as Alma morphs from mannequin to muse to model, the balance of power shifts.

Although the plot is simplicity personified, Anderson treats cinema like a work of art, shooting on 35mm film and using thoughtfully considered camera shots and an occasionally stressful score (incessant piano and strings, provided by Radiohead’s Jonny Greenwood). Apart from one confrontation which feels awkward, all the performances are deeply felt, from the immersive world of the workaday seamstresses to the glorious cameos of Woodcock’s fashionable devotees.

Anderson’s last feature film, Inherent Vice, was my biggest cinematic disappointment of 2015. By comparison, Phantom Thread may wind up being my greatest delight of 2018. Sarah Watt

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Phantom Thread might have a simple plot but its performances, camerawork and score turn it into a work of art.