Phantom Thread - SPOILERS!

Started by matt35mm, November 24, 2017, 07:59:23 PM

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Drenk

I haven't read it, but I suppose there are spoilers in it. I like the writer.

Love, After a Fashion

https://www.filmcomment.com/article/paul-thomas-anderson-phantom-thread-love-after-a-fashion/
Ascension.

csage97

There are a few new/not-shown-before short clips in this segment. The segment focuses on the dress design for the film: https://twitter.com/WhoWhatWear/status/949021189736824832

As a side note, I still haven't seen the film as it looks like it'll open where I am on the wide release date of the 19th. I decided to keep up with the press, trailers, spoilers threads, etc. for this film, so it's been an interesting experience. I've seen the limited shots and scenes from trailers and such, so I've gotten a small taste for the cinematography and feel of the film. I've read and listened to the available articles, interviews, and most of the reviews that don't seem redundant to what I've already read, so I have an idea for the general story and some limited plot details. That being said, I still haven't seen the film, so I just don't know how all the scenes and things that critics have mentioned are actually executed. I've heard it's really funny in a certain way, but I just haven't had the experience of witnessing it yet. I've heard that Vicky Krieps gives a wonderful performance to rival DDL's and Lesley Manville's, and that she may even have the best performance, but again, I haven't seen it, so I have to use my imagination and don't actually have any idea of the execution.

It's an interesting position to know about the performances, have a few short scenes and trailer bits to go off, have a general outline of the story, but still be totally in the dark about how these things will actually be fleshed out on screen. I'm really excited for it and it's not spoiled for me. At this point, I'm wondering how the details will be filled in and how all the plot points and scenes will look and feel. I'm wondering about what the tone of the movie will feel like when I'm watching it.

For The Master, I wasn't yet a major PTA fan and went to see it with a friend because I knew Jonny Greenwood did the score. I had no idea what to expect. For IV, I read a bit about critics' and audience responses during the festival period, but nothing surprised me and I'd already read the book, so the anticipation there was based on how the plot of the book would be adapted to the screen, and I knew what to expect from the comedy because it presumably would come right from the book. Phantom Thread is different than both of those for me. I'm still in the dark about how all the things I've read will actually manifest on screen. For example, I just don't know how PTA and the actors will execute the funny scenes that reviewers have mentioned. I don't know the details and intricacies of the relationships in the story, but only have a very general idea of what it'll be like.

Anyway, I thought I'd share that. Still a couple weeks to go until I see the film. Ugh ....

jenkins

i read your whole post and got into it. i think you have a good amount of remaining mystery and a healthy perspective. the movie's tone is something that's far easier to experience than describe. the tone isn't like Rebecca or any of the classics he mentions, you know. what i can elaborate upon is its humor, and i'll refer back to a PTA quote, when he said it was obvious to him that PSH was hilarious in The Master, since anybody with that type of perspective is hilarious. what DDL does in PT is he says shit so harsh you can't help but immediately see he goes too far, and overblown people are funny.

jenkins

will you guys help me remember some of the funniest lines? wilder you've got the script lol


1

Cyril
He doesn't like to get upset at breakfast because it ruins his day.

2

Reynolds Woodcock
Something about taste.

Alma
Likes her taste.

Reynolds
Change.

Alma
Never

Reynolds
Can we not do this now, for real.

3

Reynolds
You came into my house with a gun? You snuck inside my house and hid and now you're going to assassinate me? This has been your plan and that's how you treat a person!

4

[on a balcony during a vacation]

Alma
*makes the sound of a knife scraping against a piece of bread*

5

Reynolds
(The sass he gives the woman at the breakfast table before Alma.)

csage97

Quote from: jenkins on January 05, 2018, 05:17:46 PM
i read your whole post and got into it. i think you have a good amount of remaining mystery and a healthy perspective. the movie's tone is something that's far easier to experience than describe. the tone isn't like Rebecca or any of the classics he mentions, you know. what i can elaborate upon is its humor, and i'll refer back to a PTA quote, when he said it was obvious to him that PSH was hilarious in The Master, since anybody with that type of perspective is hilarious. what DDL does in PT is he says shit so harsh you can't help but immediately see he goes too far, and overblown people are funny.

Thanks for reading the whole thing and the reply. Heheh. Interesting that the tone is not like Rebecca and those others. I'm expecting tone very similar to The Master.

I have read interviews in which PTA describes the humour you've mentioned, so I guess I'm not totally blind there. There was a scene they played during a podcast or radio interview in which Reynolds mentions how he's admiring his gallantry at not scolding Alma for preparing his food with butter instead of his preferred oil. I did laugh out loud at that one. So I suppose I know what to expect there. Nonetheless, I'm not sure how sustained or frequent that humour will be. I also don't know if Reynolds is the only one who exhibits such extreme and ridiculous behaviour. Maybe Alma or Cyril do similar things, but if so, how often? I'm sure you can see what I mean here. I know that A, B, and C general things happen, but of course know nothing about the pacing, editing, exact use of score, and so on, to really have it spoiled.

wilder

Quote from: jenkins on January 05, 2018, 06:41:33 PM
[on a balcony during a vacation]

Alma
*makes the sound of a knife scraping against a piece of bread*

That's the best. His nearly uncontrollable discomfort there makes me lose it.



This whole interaction:




Also when he and Alma go to retrieve the dress, Reynolds standing in the doorway holding her clutch...this exchange (which isn't scripted):

CAL
Mr. Woodcock...

Beat.

REYNOLDS
Cal.


And his general pacing and puttering after Alma defiantly leaves the house for the New Year's Party, right before he decides to go retrieve her.

jenkins

the retrieval of the dress is a riot. earlier i mentioned how just after then they kiss, and how great that moment is. based on my memories that's my favorite sequence

wilder

Yeah agreed. The movie is fully doing its thing at that point... The bit of score that plays through there is my favorite part, and I'm in love with the rhythm of the cuts in the scene when Barbara Rose sways back and forth before passing out face-first at her wedding reception.

jenkins

lol. and from a logic of love the sequence provides foundation and makes you believe in them, has you see them as they see each other.

wilberfan

[SPOILERS]

Had my second viewing (70mm at the ArcLight in Hollywood) this morning.  I enjoyed this viewing more than my original viewing, as I think there are more mental CPU cycles available to watch for nuances of story and performance, etc.   Made a bunch of new observations--none of which I can share, as I had nothing to write them on (and which have since evaporated or gone into hiding).

The other two of my party--both women (one a psychologist, the other a medical professional) found the film interesting and impressive from a performance and art direction/cinematography perspective, but "unrealistic".  The psychologist found fault with the psychodynamics of Alma and Reynolds, the doctor obsessed with the idea that mushrooms provide a horrible death regardless of the type or amount consumed.

I found those two perspectives overly literal.  (I find it hard to believe that there isn't a spectrum of toxicity in fungi, too, for example.)   We'll have to research what kind of mushroom Alma was working with here...  I'm not yet prepared to address the validity of the psychology of the central relationship...

Alethia

Quote from: jenkins on January 05, 2018, 06:41:33 PM
will you guys help me remember some of the funniest lines? wilder you've got the script lol

Some of my favorites:

Reynolds, to Cyril: "It's comforting to think the dead watch over the living...I don't find that spooky at all."

Alma, to Mrs. Rose's maid: "It is no business of ours what Mrs. Rose wishes to do with her life...but she can no longer behave this way dressed by The House of Woodcock."

Reynolds, to Cyril, after the fawning girl says she wishes to be buried in one of his dresses: "You'd dig her up and sell it again, wouldn't you?"

I love this movie so much.

jenkins

"spooky" is glorious

anybody: what was the thing he became upset about concerning the woman at the breakfast table before Alma?

Alethia

I seem to recall she tries to give him something (a pastry perhaps?) and he rejects it, claiming to have told her something about it - "No more stodgy things." -  and she argues that he must have told someone else, not her...then says something to the effect of, "Where are you Reynolds? How can I get your attention aimed back at me?" (paraphrase) and he claims he cannot "begin the day with a confrontation". I would consult the script if I had my copy on hand, for I recall that scene including some lines that didn't make the final cut...

BB

Finally saw this at my absolute first opportunity. Had to sit in the front row, which hasn't been the case for anything else this year. Made me feel good sitting in a packed house. The room had great energy too.

Just an overall wonderful experience from beginning to end that lent an enchanted air to the rest of my day. A truly ROMANTIC film in a way that nothing has been in forever. The first time, I would argue, that you can really really sense the influence of TCM and this very specific but also pretty common genre of the 30s, 40s, and 50s. I think a lot of people have problems with IV because it too draws on a very specific but also pretty common genre of the late 60s and early 70s (Candy, What's Up Tiger Lily, maybe Hot Rods to Hell, The Acid Eaters, Robert Downey Sr. movies) that not a lot of people are that familiar with or into. But they don't tend to play those movies on TCM. And The Master has a far more modern sensibility.

Quote from: csage97 on December 14, 2017, 01:21:18 AM
I read somewhere that there are lots of cross fades in the film. Anyone care to confirm who's seen it?

There is one particular cross fade that stands out on first viewing. When they are at the ski resort and they cross to snow then to the stairway. Such a classic technique. It's so achingly steeped in the period.

Still have a lot to catch up on from 2017 but I doubt anything else is going to be quite like this. He's just such an interesting filmmaker.

samsong

favorite funny moments would include: (in completely random order)

- alma's reaction after cyril says she has the perfect figure because reynolds "likes a little belly."
- cyril's disdainful responses to reynolds acting out: (butchering it) "don't you speak to me that way, i will walk through you and you'll end up right on the ground.  don't pick a fight a me, you will not come out of it alive.", and "no one does, but i don't want to hear it because it hurts my ears."
- dinner
- barbara rose drunkenly taking off her jewelry.  as she goes to place the second earring in the bag, she begins to put it on, forgetting what it was she was doing.
- reynolds: "aren't you two the absolute model of politeness."
- reynolds: "alma, there's a strange boy in the room, can you please do something about him?  fuck off.  yes, fuck off."
alma: "i believe this is clear.  he wants you to fuck off."
- reynolds: "frankly, i'm applauding my own gallantry for having eaten it the way it was prepared in the first place."
- reynolds: "whoever came up with that word should be spanked in public.  fucking chic!  what a filthy little word!  hung, drawn, and quartered, fucking chic!"
- alma: "you will not die.  you may wish you could rather die, but you will not die.  i will take care of you."
- priest: "please remember that when you were saying these vows to look at each other, for it is to each other that you're being wed, not to me."
- approached at dinner by aspiring woodcock dress owners, one of whom would like to be buried in one.  reynolds to associate: "you'd have her dug up and try to sell the dress again."
- reynolds's response to finding out he'd been invited to barbara rose's wedding: "what do you want me to do with that?"/"i find this very disconcerting.  i wish i hadn't heard it until later in the afternoon."

---

something i noticed and found interesting about that "i cannot start the day with a confrontation" scene is that same pastry he got annoyed at makes a reappearance when alma disrupts breakfast.  curious as to whether or not it was an intentional detail... hard to think it isn't, as it communicates so much.