Among Paul Thomas Anderson's films, "The Phantom Thread" is relatively easy for the public to accept. It does not have the so-called epic temperament (such as "The Blood Will Come", which tells the history of capital's fortune), and does not reflect a certain The era (for example, "Boogie Nights" in the 1970s in the United States was recorded using the pornographic film industry as a window), but a certain vacuum is drawn from the background of the story, and a love story of mutual abuse is told with light and shadow, costumes, and music.
"The Phantom Thread" can be seen as a three-act play, each of which undergoes a strong dramatic transformation through the continuous accumulation of contradictions. The story constructed in this way is in line with the audience's viewing habits, and is not as difficult to understand as "The Master" or "Inherent Evil."
Phantom Thread actually tells the story of how a country girl conquers a talented, spoiled, high-society old boy.
The story progresses step by step. First of all, the girl's temperament is fresh and refined, and her figure Billy happens to be the favorite of Reynolds, the picky seamstress. Secondly, the girl was conquered by the talent of the seamstress, and the dress of the seamstress made her "reborn". The above two are the basis for the attraction of male and female protagonists to each other.
Then the girl makes sacrifices like following the sewer's rules, adapting to his rhythm, and they have a common pursuit (preserving beauty, grabbing a fat woman's dress back). Then, the girl discovers that the sewer loves only who he sees as himself and not who he really is (the princess' visit can make Reynolds stop working at breakfast and make her understand her place in the sewer's heart), so she decides Allowing him to accept himself as unpretentious (preparing surprises for him in her own way), which sparks a paradox of motivation, followed by her domineering assertion of being unique (the first poison), and taking the The mother's position in the heart of a seamstress. Finally, and most importantly, the girl removed the sewer's arrogance and let him face up to his own weakness (the second poisoning).
Phantom Thread begins with a series of foreshadowing episodes. Explain the identity and personality of the famous seamstress.
In these plots, the director subtly planted a very important foreshadowing. At the banquet, the Countess found that only she was still wearing a classical dress, while the other ladies had already changed into fashionable dresses. This leads to the "mutism" of the countess in the film's final scene, which makes the tinker feel "out of favor", and the incident stimulates the arrogance and fragility in the deepest part of the tinker's character: he is unwilling to admit his "outdated", will "fall out of favor" Falling out of favor" blamed her, and even drove her away. Only by letting the seamstress face him, can the male and female protagonists truly be together as equals. The heroine had to repeat her old tricks, using poisonous mushrooms to break down the barriers of the male protagonist, knocking down the male protagonist in a manner that was both decent and violent, so that he, who was suddenly in a weak position, truly realized his weakness, thus sweeping away their relationship. the most powerful obstacle.
We have to admire the handling of light and shadow.
In the conversation by the fire, the male and female protagonists sat opposite each other, and the firelight hit their faces. The firelight and shadows on the faces of the male and female protagonists emphasized that this conversation was a tentative defense based on desire. This is their first encounter. The heroine took the initiative to attack: "A man like you must be surrounded by many girls." The male lead responded: "I'm cursed, I can't get married." The heroine continued to make moves: "Maybe you are not that strong." Then the male protagonist revealed his stubborn and arrogant side like a boy: "I'm just that strong." In the end, the conversation ended with the male protagonist "do me a favor".
Equally pleasing to the eye is the acting of the male and female lead. When Reynolds first met the heroine in the restaurant, the lines were very common, and the content was nothing more than ordering food, but DDL used his eyes to express the character's true motive: flirting with girls. In the last scene, when Reynolds begged his sister to send the heroine away, he behaved like a child complaining to his mother. DDL's seamstress, elegant but not mother.
If the fat woman's wedding is the climax of the first act, there are too many trivial plots before that. The director's approach is to use the background music as a sound bridge, or use the narration to connect. Those beautiful melodies are so in line with the mood of the characters, which is also a kind of enjoyment for the audience.
To sum up in one sentence, this is a love story of an old boy who kept acting as a demon and was directly KOed by two big moves of Miu Ling Yu.
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